I just finished a particularly enjoyable portrait of a sock monkey commissioned by a very lovely woman as a gift for her nephew via my Etsy shop Curious Portraits. She shared with me how much he loves this sock monkey and thought dressing him up in formal attire would make it special and memorable. The original monkey had a striped body which would of course be covered by the tuxedo. Since it was this characteristic that made him stand apart from any other sock monkey I decided to incorporate his stripes into his bow tie to portray his own personality. These whimsical projects are just about my favorite to work on and I never get bored with all the interesting requests that come my way.
Pieps the mouse
I am so happy to finally be able to start my portrait of Pieps the mouse (by Steiff). I won him on Ebay back in June and I knew already how I wanted to paint him. I love how his arms are outstretched, it gives him so much emotion! I decided to leave the little hole in his ear left by the Steiff button that is lost, I think it gives him character. This is the underpainting done in burnt umber and white but I imagine the final won't be far from this as he is all beige with just touches of pink in his ears.
Parisian Puppy Portrait
It's been awhile but I managed to finish the Parisian Puppy Portrait. So named because I found him in a shop in Paris in 2000 and thought I'd love to have a real puppy just like him. I never guessed that Bingo, who looks so much like him, would come into my life the very next year! I started painting him weeks ago but have been busy setting up my new Etsy site Curious Portraits which I hope will be up and running by next week. Here is the final and two shots of the portrait in progress.
