A brief update on my tri colour Aussie boy - he's gone to the salon and gotten his first layer of highlights! Don't worry, they will be knocked back shortly and his eye shape (gah - too ROUND!) will be fixed so I can move onto his nose and lips etc.

Part of the inspiration for wanting to paint again comes from the a love of the works by my MIL's godmother Mania Mavro along with a few other artists that were friends of my MIL's father and taught him to paint. Ms. Mavro was an absolutely amazing painter - beautiful sense of colour, very bold and energetic. Here's a few examples of their works:





the above are Ms Mavro's, painted in the interwar period while the below are by a friend who taught Nic's grandfather to paint somewhat earlier:


After having not touched a paintbrush since I was very young, I decided to start trying to teach myself to paint instead of waiting to attend a proper course in a few years time because I loved looking at them. (Obviously I'm NO WHERE near the talent and skill here... yet!) So in November and I spent most of Nov/Dec doing 'sketch a day' challenges. I didn't touch anything in January but picked the brush up in February. I finished a few quick challenges along with a small Collie portrait. While I'm most drawn to a semi (vs photo/hyperrealistic) realistic style and animals, I also would LOVE to be able to paint like these artists. The trouble being that while it LOOKS simple it's deceptive to do so in a way that doesn't just create so much messy murky muck slopped on a canvas. And I, um... fall woefully short on those skills, along with lacking the familiarity and understanding of the subjects I have a bit of a headstart in with dogs. So in short, it's really frigging hard - as my first attempt proves!