"Dog and Man" oil on panel

I finished a portrait this week, that I have been working on for awhile. It is 24" x 36", oil on panel. The subject is a Boykin Spaniel and his man. The Boykin's name is Willy and he is the most cheerful dog I have ever met. I first prepared the panel with 5 coats of gesso, sanding between each coat. For this kind of portrait I like a very smooth surface because the paint strokes are so small. Next I put an imprimatura over the gesso, using a mixture of Gamblin Transparent Orange and Alizarin Crimson. I thin this into a transparent glaze with Galkyd. I like to get rid of the white gesso before starting the underpainting. I then proceeded with the underpainting using Gamblin Chromatic Black and Titanium White, keeping the tonal range in a higher scale since darker glazes would be going over it in the following layers. Here are some links for more information.
http://www.boykinspaniel.org/ for more information on wonderful Boykin Spaniels
http://www.gamblincolors.com/ for more information on Gamblin colors and mediums

Ceramic Tiles after Firing

I am happy to say that all 38 tiles were fired without any breakage. They are going to be installed later this week. The contractor has come up with a way to install them so that they can be removed as one piece if the owners ever decide to move. I think the plan is to mortar them to a separate board which will then be attached to the wall, rather than simply mortaring each tile individually to the wall.
And a special thanks to "All Fired Up" on Bethesda Avenue for being so accommodating and fastidious firing these for me.

Ceramic Tiles before firing

I have been working on an interesting project, painting tiles for the wall behind the range in a new kitchen. I am working with ceramic underglaze paints, on bisque tile. Here is an image of the tiles before firing. The concept is to create tiles for the client that are personal icons from her life.