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Titan’s portrait is coming along. I added a favorite collar from a different photo Alicia sent.  More stories from Alicia about this funny, joyful boy are below. They explain what you see in Titan's big happy smile. Alicia wrote: “Titan rarely took anything seriously, he was goofy, cheerful, and just a bit mischievous. I used to joke that he was too light‑hearted to stay down for long. He loved being the center of attention and, if he were human, he would have been the class

I have a lot of art hanging in my house, and most of it is my own. I have looked at it for so long I don't really notice it any more. But every once in a while it catches my attention and I think, “That's a really nice piece!" I was getting ready for bed and I suddenly noticed this one on my bedroom wall. A small experimental artwork of a yellow rose, with gold leaf catching the light.  HOW IT WAS MADE: The rose was created with Prismacolor pencils on “Bisque" Canson paper, t

Small nuances in the expression are what make a facial expression and capture character. I know that Titan is a funny dog, who loves to make people laugh. The line in the middle of this tongue is not a straight line. Anybody who knows dogs really well can see that Titan is being as happy and silly as he can be. You can see it in the way he is holding his tongue.  1 I created the line in the center of Titan's tongue with four different colors. 2 This is the reference photo I’m

I often hear Colored Pencil artists say they won't use Prismacolor pencils because they are not lightfast. But that’s not true. Prismacolors have lightfast ratings 1 through 5. 1 is “Excellent”, 2 is “Very Good”, 3 is “Good”. That compares to other premium colored pencil brands that are known to be lightfast. 4 and 5 are “Fair” and “Poor”. Some artists just remove those colors from their Prismacolor collection. Still, Prismacolor makes 150 colors, more than other premium bran

This is the incredible story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, that Alicia told me about the reference photo we’re using for Titan’s portrait. It’s the reason we switched direction with how to capture the essence of him.  1 This is Titan’s portrait in progress. There’s a reason for the decision to use this particular image. Titan passed away unexpectedly last year while I was starting on a memorial portrait of Wishes for Alicia. Alicia and husband Joe considered adding Ti