Paintings With Soul

"The Ninth Life," 11" x 14", acrylics on museum quality panel, $499 plus s&h to the first one asking nicely. Inquiries can come to   me . Starring one of my current studio kitties Mona Lisa, but harkening to memories of Turtledove, the studio namesake, who passed away on Thanksgiving Day eleven years ago. There's something tender and precious about the delicacy of old age; the lines of a life well lived, battle scars and smile lines both. The surface of this painting bears those same sorts of marks, telling the story of a peaceful rest after a grand adventure. Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork. Warmly, Kim

"Catnap," a portrait of studio kitty daVinci, 12" x 12", acrylics on panel. Available to the first daring to invite Vinnie into their home. He's been peeling wallpaper from the walls and taunts the crated puppy ridiculously. Although the painted version should behave far better. $200 will get you a cat. Inquiries to me , and thank you so much. And yes, I am still doing commissioned pet portraits, starting around $300 for a museum quality painting. A portrait is a fabulous way to honor our four legged family members. Reach out if this is something you are considering - I do a couple of them each month. Thanks for supporting my art, Warmly, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

"Nest II (daVinci)," 12" x 12" x 1-1/2", acrylics on museum quality panel, depicting everyone's favorite studio kitty daVinci. I think I can part with this painting. Well, provided the right family comes along. The piece is $699, which includes shipping and handling to a US address. Email me if you would like to bring daVinci (the painted, sleeping, well behaved daVinci) home. This painting has been on my wall for over 2 years. I loved it, but it was a sentimental sort of love for that particular memory of a tiny kitten. It wasn't the sort of love I have for pieces that are exquisitely painted which I can't believe came off my brush. Today I thought I'd try to capture that second sort of love. I repainted the entire surface with a combination of spatulas, wedges, fingers and tiny brushes.  There is a fabulous amount of texture and subtle layering of color happening here that just makes me grin ear to ear. And ...

"Swishy," 18" x 24" x 1-1/2", acrylics on museum quality cradeled panel (no need to frame!), depicting an unusually still Border Collie (she's not always like this!). Reference photo used with permission from Linda Shantz  (my Derby date!). This painting can be yours for $2299, including delivery to your doorstep (inside the contiguous US) - inquire directly to moi . Oh, and there are in process photos  here. pARTy, pARTy, pARTy !!!I It's our fourth pARTY since the beginning of the year!   What's a pARTy? It's where artists use the same photo (with permission, of course) to create work. In this case, our muse is Swish , belonging to my friend Linda, who has graciously allowed us to work from her photo. (Please respect that this photo is being shared purely for the creation of artwork, and is not to be repurposed in any other way.) I take the pARTy one step further by creating a photo album on Facebook where arti...

"Let Sleeping Dogs Lay," 11" x 6", acrylics on an Ampersand gessobord, this year's Valentine painting giveaway. My apologies for the bit of glare on the right side of the piece - this one needs to be cut out of the larger board I painted on, so I had to photograph it (vs scanning). This painting will shortly be headed home! In process photos are here and inquires about getting your own pet portrait come directly to me .  Last week I put out a call for photos - it was time for my annual Valentine's Day Painting Giveaway. I received 77 entries and narrowed them down to 9 wonderful finalists . Today I chose one of those 9 photos, and created the piece at left. Ultimately, this guy (or girl - I have no information on the dog's name or sex) won because he was all warm and cozy, something I totally envied given our extreme cold here in Michigan this week. I painted him while standing in front of a portable heater, swathed in layers o...

There is fresh snow on the ground from last night, yet it's been raining all day - not your typical late January Michigan weather. Although I suppose nothing is quite typical of Michigan weather anyway.  It IS good napping in a warm spot weather, though! To implement this month's desktop calendar, simply download the file  directly from my website . I've set up a couple different ways to do this, either via the photo album or a direct link. I am by no means an expert on the variety of operating systems, so I highly recommend that if you don't know how to change your desktop wallpaper, don't email me for advice. Instead consult your computer's help files - they will be more concise, more knowledgeable and more responsive than I could ever hope to be.  I've sized this to fit a standard screen height of 768 - I realize there are lots of variables that could impact how the file displays on your screen. Let me know if,...