Dog Paintings

I met this gorgeous Dogue de Bordeaux some time ago at a dog show and new straight away that I would paint his portrait which I have finally managed to do.  Actually, I ainted him a while ago now, but I’m still playing catch up with my blog!  The Dogue de Bordeaux is still a rare breed, but most people will remember Tom Hanks’ co-star in the 1989 comedy “Turner & Hooch” and camera chomping dog in the Olympus Digital Camera advertising campaign.

Dogue de Bordeaux are believed to have originated in France over 600 years ago and are also known as the French Mastiff, Bordeaux dog, Bulldogue Francais, or simply DDB.  They were originally bred to hunt, guard and fight and these imposing, fearless dogs were popular protectors of the noble and wealthy.  Today, Dogue de Bordeaux are prized family companions for their loyal, devoted, playful and affectionate nature and sweet, balanced temperament and courage as a guard dog.

More information about this lovely breed can be obtained from the newly formed Dogue de Bordeaux Club of Australia.

Stormy Dogue - Dogue de Bordeaux painting by Michelle Wrighton

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Stormy Dogue” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:

A variety of other prints, tshirts, mousepads, coffee mugs and other items featuring ‘Stormy Dogue’ are available at my Zazzle giftshop.

Product selection from Zazzle

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Many people have never thought of having a portrait of their pet dog, cat, horse or other favourite animal painted, or plan to but never get around to it and there are also who love the idea but may not be able to afford to commission a portrait.

I’ve come up with an idea that I think will be a lot of fun for me and will give everyone a chance to have there own pet portrait painted for free! That’s right, I will paint pet portraits for free!

All you have to do is submit your favourite photo’s to my Facebook page – Michelle Wrighton Artist - and inspire me to paint your pet’s portrait! Dog, cat, horse, cow, lizard, bird – if you have an animal that is a big part of your life, let me know what makes him or her so special to you and tell me a little bit about their unique character and personality. If your photo inspires me to paint, I will send you a digital image of the finished portrait for you to have printed or share online with your friends.

The catch, the Cost and the Conditions? Ha! You were waiting for it wern’t you?

The catch?

I would like you to share my website url / facebook page with your friends and family – but only the ones that would be interested in paintings or prints, I hate spam as much as the next person! I’m not sure how many free portraits I will paint, or how long I will continue with this project for, so if you are interested, don’t delay in joining in!

The cost?

If your photo inspires me to paint, I really won’t charge you anything for the image I send you by email. But I would like you to pay it forward and make a small donation to one of the animal rescue organisations listed on my Facebook page. In your name and you can usually get a tax deduction for donations over $2.00. Consider it your random act of kindness for the day (btw I’m not interested in checking up to see if you donated or not).

The conditions:

Entry is free and is open to members of my Facebook Page – Michelle Wrighton Artist only. Photos need to be added to photo album on my Facebook page only. Submitting a photo signifies that you have copyright ownership and permission to use it – this usually means you took the photo! Submitting a photo signifies your permission for me to use the photo as reference for artwork that may be publicly displayed and offered for sale (original or prints).

Submitting a photo does not guarantee your pet portrait will be painted or that it will be painted within a set time frame. I have three children, a husband with a serious illness, five horses, five dogs, 2 cats, fifteen sheep and a dozen chickens to look after which means as much as I’d like to, I can’t paint 24/7:) Besides, I want this project to remain fun, not work!

So join the page, submit your photos, tell your friends and INSPIRE ME TO PAINT!

Oh, and if you are involved in an animal rescue organisation (dogs, cats, rabbits horses, wildlife) and would like to join this project, please let me know!

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Solar was another beautiful dog that I had the pleasure of photographing several years ago.  Sadly, he is no longer with us, but I hope his Siberian Husky spirit still shines through in his pet portrait painting.  Before I started Solar’s portrait, I knew that I wanted to put him in a setting suitable for his breed.  I only wanted the background to be a subtle suggestion rather than a highly detailed landscape, so I avoided using any reference images to make sure I wouldn’t keep fiddling and adding more detail!  I’m quite pleased with how this turned out, I think it portrays his bright, happy personality quite well.

Siberian Husky Pet Portrait Painting

Dog Breed Info: The Siberian Husky has been a pure bred dog for centuries, originally developed by the Chukchi people of north eastern Asia as a sled dog. The breed became popular as endurance sled dgos after 1909, when a large number of Chukchi dogs were taken to Alaska to compete in the long-distance All-Alaska Sweepstakes races.

The Siberian Husky has a lovely affectionate temperament and gentle, friendly disposition. While they are eager to please, adaptable and intelligent, their independent spirit can sometimes be quite a challenge!

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Solar – Siberian Husky” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:

Redbubble now offers a selection of three card products to choose from – Greeting Cards are now available in the standard 4″ x 6″ or magnificent 5″ x 7.5″ versions. They are printed on marvellous matted card using state of the art digital printing technology and hold a remarkable external photo quality while retaining a wonderful writing surface on the inside. Greeting Cards are posted ready to fold and each with their own envelope. The new Postcards are a standard 4″ x 6″ and printed with the same technology and high degree of craftsmanship as the greeting cards and the flip side is adorned with the image name, artists details and space for your message, stamp and address details.

The quality of these Redbubble cards is excellent – certainly the quality is high enough to collect these as Art Cards and frame them to create a lovely display of small format art! Redbubble makes this an even more attractive purchase option by providing a healthy discount for multiple purchases of the same size cards – 4 greeting cards/20% discount, 8 greeting cards/30% discount, 16 greeting cards/40% discount. Similar discounts or free shipping offers apply for multiple purchases of other printed items at RedBubble, so look out for those while you shop!

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Just a quick update post this time, no art to share at the moment, sorry!

Regular visitors to my blog may have noticed the change in the Facebook buttons on the right hand side of the page. I have decided to separate my art (drawings, paintings) from my existing South West Photography page. The new Facebook page is Michelle Wrighton Artist. I’m not 100% sure how I will utilise the Facebook page as opposed to this blog which I will obviously keep updating, but the ease of sharing photos within Facebook makes me think that running a few competitions for pet portrait paintings might be easy and fun to do, so if you are on Facebook, please add my new art page Michelle Wrighton Artist to your favourite pages and you will hear from me soon about the first competition!

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Sophie is a gorgeous Shih Tzu puppy that I had the opportunity to photograph several years ago. Sophie’s all grown up now, so taking a trip back in time to capture her cheeky puppy personality in this painting was alot of fun!

Shih Tzu’s are an intelligent, active toy breed whose ancestry is rather obscure. Believed to have originated in Tibet, they are the oldest and smallest of the Tibetan ‘holy dog’ breeds.  The breed is known for their naturally long, flowing coat, however, they do require a lot of grooming and care, so many pet Shih Tzu’s choose to have their coats clipped short for easy care.

Shih Tzu puppy portrait

Greeting cards, laminated, matted, canvas and framed prints of “Sophie in The Sunshine” can be purchased from my Redbubble giftshop:

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

Italian Greyhounds would have to be one of the most elegant and delicate looking breed of dogs and they have the most beautiful eyes! Italian Greyhounds, or “Iggy’s” as they are affectionately called, are the smallest of the sighthound family and despite their Toy breed classification and companion dog status, many still retain the instinct to chase small animals and birds!

The breed has a long and noble history spanning thousands of years.  Mummified remains of dogs similar to Italian Greyhounds have been excavated from the tombs of the Pharaoh’s in the Valley of Kings and it is believed that the breed originated in Egypt around 3000BC.  These small hounds were taken to the  Mediterranean by the Romans around 600 BC, and because of their popularity in Italy during the middle ages, they became known as Italian Greyhounds and were frequent companions to European Royalty and Aristocracy including Mary Queen of Scots, Charles 1, Catherine the great and Queen Victoria.  This elegant breed has been portrayed in art throughout the centuries from paintings to carvings and ceramic statues.

I strive to capture the essence of the individual animal in my artwork and so much of this is conveyed through the eyes, which are what compelled me to paint this gorgeous Italian Greyhound from a photo reference by fellow artist C. Sheeter.  I hope I have captured that unique spark in ‘Magnifico’.

Art prints and gifts featuring my Italian Greyhound Painting ‘Magnifico’ will be available for purchase shortly,if you would like to receive notification when merchandise is available, simply follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/artistMichelleW) or on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Perth-Australia/South-West-Photography/108861603360?ref=ts).

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Busy, Busy Busy!  It seems like there is never enough hours in the day to get everything done – and that is my excuse for not updating my blog more regularly and I’m sticking to it!   One of the big things that is taking alot of time -many, many, many months – is a BIG PROJECT that is slowly nearing completion (click the link and follow me on Twitter for the announcement on that one).

I’ve also got a few new paintings to add to the blog, and a couple more that I am still working on, one of a dog painting, the other a horse and rider that is not flowing the way I would like it too, maybe a few days break from that one over easter will allow me too look at it again with fresh eyes.

Several people have asked how I complete my digital paintings with my graphics tablet and stylus, so I’ve also been working on a small series of articles explaining the different types of digital art and the process that I use to create my digital portrait paintings – some people seem to think that digital paintings are ‘one-click’ photoshop effects, but that explanation couldn’t be further from the truth!

In the meantime (because I have to run and feed the horses their breakfast!) this is a pet portrait painting I have recently completed of my gorgeous Border Collie dog, Taj (yes a painting for me!).  This is one of those paintings that just flowed without interuption, I suspect because I know the subject so well:)  Taj is a rather extroverted character, he’s never met a stranger and is such a show-off, he loves posing for the camera and really is the perfect photograhic and art model!  It may run in the family, because one of his uncles is the Border Collie in the Better Homes & Gardens television commercial.

Prints of Taj’s portrait painting will be available for purchase from Redbubble and Zazzle shortly.

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

My original oil painting of ‘Angel’ the American Staffordshire Terrier was featured as Today’s Best product – considering that Zazzle has millions of unique designs this really is a huge honour!

American Staffordshire Terrier Pet Portrait in Oils by Michelle Wrighton

When I painted “Angel” I really wanted to portray the loyal, loving devotion that these beautiful dogs have towards their family when they are bred and raised by ethical, responsible people.

Unfortunately not all American Staffordshire Terriers and Pit Bull Terriers are as lucky as “Angel” and don’t always end up in responsible homes.

If you would like to purchase a print of ‘Angel’ or to view a range of gifts and merchandise featuring this artwork, please visit my Zazzle Giftshop or Redbubble.

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

It was definitely time for a facelift for the old blog so the new design is finally online, just in time to celebrate the arrival of my new gift shop at Zazzle.  We have selected Zazzle for printing products, prints and giftware  for a number of reasons, primarily the high quality of Zazzle products which are endorsde and used by world famous brands such as Hallmark, officially licensed Star Wars and Disney, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet,  Mythbusters, and many more.  So this means that products featuring selected reproductions of my artwork are in very good company!

Aside from that, the Zazzle Promise is the sort of thing that I personally take a lot of notice of when purchasing anything from an online store, and I would expect nothing less for customers purchasing products featuring my artwork.  The Zazzle promise means that:

• Your satisfaction is Zazzle’s Top Priority. If you are not satisfied for any reason with the final product, you may return your purchase for a replacement or refund within 30 days of receipt.
• Your information is secure – Zazzle SSL secured servers are tested daily to ensure your data will arrive privately and unaltered.
• Zazzle produces products on demand and ships very quickly! Production and shipping is within 24 hours for everything but a few products that take slightly longer than 24 hours to produce and ship.
• And finally a great range of products and gift lines to feature my art, many that you can customise to suit your own preference!

Please click the link below to visit the new gift shop and let me know what you think!  New artwork is being added daily and if you would like to be notified of new additions, simply subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter or fan me on Facebook

Zazzle.com.au/mwrighton

Sourced from: michellewrighton.com Fine Art and Photography (© Copyright All Rights Reserved 2010.)

Well its been way too long since I have updated this blog, but we have now moved and settled into our new home in the country, got over Christmas and starting the new school year for the kids and its back to work I go!  I have some new artwork to add to this blog, and some changes and additions to the merchandise that features my artwork, but that can wait for a new blog post!  I will be updating images in some older posts, and do apologise in advance if my blog subscribers receive multiple updates, but I will have everything up to date in the next few days.

I’m also about to re-open for mixed media portrait commissions, so if you have been waiting to have your pampered pooch immortalised in fine art, I will be blogging commission information shortly, so stay tuned!

Michelle