Resting, a Great Dane painting

Bingo. With this painting, I finally got things figured out. I've been playing with many different techniques over the past several weeks, and while I do love all of the paintings I've completed, this one has the "look" I'm after. More free-flowing...more expressive.

This is another one of our dog show models. Just like the other paintings, the original photograph stunk. Okay, it wasn't soooooo bad. But still, not anything I'd publish. The dog, however, was very handsome, and I loved his pose. So he became my next painting, titled "Resting", as that's what he's doing after a long day in the show rings.

Prints can be purchased through JaiAllyson.Com and other gifts and cards through GalleryJai.Com.

White Poodle Portrait

This is a painting of a standard white Poodle...another one of the gorgeous show dogs who was here last year. Most dog show photos I took turned out like crap, by the way. That's why you won't see them on JaiAllyson.Com. There is NEVER a wasted photo though...the photo might stink, but being an artist, I can paint it any way I want! For this painting, I got rid of the horrid background featuring a handler's chunky legs and too-tight, too-short skirt. By painting the dog with a plain background, it helps the true essence of the animal shine!

Armed with a new camera and new lens, maybe next year my photos will be better. In the meantime, I'll keep doing paintings of the dogs from last year. :)

Prints of this painting are available through JaiAllyson.Com and gifts are available at GalleryJai.Com.

Orange Medley Tufted Titmouse painting

Wild bird lovers will adore this image of the Tufted Titmouse sitting beside an orange daisy. The color of the daisy and the color of the bird's feathers under his wing blend together, creating the perfect "Orange Medley". :) Prints are available through my website...just click the link under the painting image to purchase prints, matted prints, framed prints, or gallery-wrapped canvas prints.

June's Pink Rose painting

This is a painting of one of my neighbor's beautiful roses. June has the most striking flowers in her garden every year. This single pink rose was exceptionally stunning this past year! Purchase a print and enjoy this rose year round in your home or office!

Big Eyes Dog Painting

"Ooooohhhh what BIG EYES you have!" A little Chihuahua inspects the eyes of a young Great Dane in this painting.

I captured a photo of these two at our local dog show. There was lots of background "stuff" and a leash on the little dog, and it just didn't work well as a publishable photograph for our website. All this time I've saved it and been thinking and thinking...this scene is just too cute to go to waste. So I created a painting instead. :)

This art is available on prints, cards, and other cool gifts at GalleryJai.Com.

New paintings

I've been working on some new paintings of my favorite subjects...my cats. :)

This first painting features Nikko, doing her morning grooming. All cat owners have seen this pose many, many times. It's amazing to me how agile these creatures are. And Nikko...well she's a bit on the chunky side...but she still manages to reach all the places she needs to. :)


In the second painting, my dear little Oreo is featured. I miss her so much. I thought this makes the perfect painting to release on Valentine's day. In the original photo, she had another toy clasped between her toes...I decided to give her a heart, because she will always have my heart. It is fitting that I gave the painting the name "Always Have My Heart", because it is so true.

I'm putting these paintings up on our photography website. Prints and gifts can be ordered through the links on the website.

Gracie Needs Help

One of my neighbors works with Companion Pet Rescue here in TN fostering dogs. This lovely female shepherd named Gracie just recently had puppies and had been elusive to being caught. The day after we photographed her here in our neighborhood, her caretaker was able to catch her and get her to the vet. She has now been spayed, but it was also discovered she has tested positive for heartworms. They need about $300 more to be able to get her treated! Can you help?

You can donate to Gracie's cause directly through their website. Also, my daughter and I will donate 50% of any sales of our jewelry made by January 30 to help with Gracie's care as well!

Pet Caricatures

Who doesn't love caricatures? I've loved them since I was a kid. On a trip out west when I was 13, we went to several tourist theme parks. An artist drew a caricature of me and I thought it was just the neatest thing.

My interest lies in pets though. So after many years of painting both traditionally and digitally...I finally decided I feel comfortable enough with my skills to try this.

Here are my first pet caricatures. The first one I did was this bulldog. I love Bulldogs! Their expressions are so animated, and they make a perfect subject for any artwork, in my opinion.

I thought this fella in looked like he wanted a date. :) So he became my "Be My Valentine" design for this year. His artwork is on a variety of gifts in my shop.




After Mr. Bulldog, I decided I wanted to try a cat. So I pulled out a sweet pic of our little Oreo, and her caricature is the subject on my new "Kittens Rule" design at GalleryJai.

The next caricature is a Schipperke who owns a facebook friend of mine. :) I also thought of a Valentine's day design for her. Her caricature and her Valentine's day design are also on gifts in my shop.


And last but not least, there is my German Shepherd, Max. Since he's carrying a football, I decided to make his design relate to the sport. His caricature is based on this photo in a previous blog post. And his designs are also on gifts in my shop.

There's something about each and every one of these that makes me smile. After the last year, I'm certainly ready to smile again, and what a better way, than through the joy animals bring to me!

Hope everyone is having a good new year. :) --Jai