Daisy - some quck sketches

Some of you might remember Daisy, my sister's dog.
Today she was my - not really willing - subject for some very (!) quick sketches. She was watching the kids play, and couldn't hold still for more than a few seconds. So for me these sketches were all about overservation and memory... and not expecting too much from such a quick drawing session.

Number 15 in my '30 Days of Daily Sketching' challenge - halfway through my challenge!

I still need some good ideas for what to sketch in the next two weeks!
Let me know by commenting here or on Facebook at facebook.com/regulascheifeleart.

Mr Wilson

Meet Mr. Wilson!
He's a lovely, adorable dachshund, small dog, big personality!

I met him a few years ago when I was staying with my friend Nancy in Scottsdale. Two weeks ago, she challenged me to paint him...

"Mr. Wilson"

Oil on panel, 6" by 6"
USD 85 (plus shipping)

- sold -

Oh, by the way: Wouldn't it be just great to paint a cat (or dog) called Dr. House next? - so if you have or know of such a cat or dog, send me a picture!

Daisy Beckett

If you've been following my '30 in 30' journey this month (and I hope you have!) you know that Daisy is one of my three subjects. Painting her has had it's ups and downs but has definitely been a great learning experience.
The last painting I did of her - 'Miss Daisy' - is my favorite so far, so I was apprehensive to paint her again today. But keeping with the spirit of the 30 in 30 challenge I went ahead.
Now the story would have a great ending if this one turned out even better... it did not. But that's ok. I will surely try again. And again.

And this is how the title of the painting came about - I was reminded of a quote by Samuel Beckett:

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

"Daisy Beckett"

Oil on panel, 6" by 6"
USD 65 (shipping included)

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This is painting Nr 29 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook or subscribe to my blog!

Miss Daisy

As you know, I've painted Daisy a few times now, but this painting - almost a portrait - shows an aspect of her I haven't been able to capture yet. It's not the fun, happy, young and energetic dog, but the moment when she's at ease, watching (over) her family.

I feel like this painting is showing the 'true' Daisy. I'm really happy with it.

"Miss Daisy"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"
USD 65 (shipping included)

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This is painting Nr 26 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook or subscribe to my blog!

Green Light

I came across this tube of color and wanted to use it for the longest time - ' Permanent Yellowish Green'. So I decided on the green background first, even pefore I decided on a reference to use.

I think it's just fitting to put the 'green' it the title of this...

"Green Light"

Oil on panel, 4" by 4"

USD 65 (shipping included)

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This is painting Nr 24 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook!

Yoga Daisy

Isn't that almost the 'downward facing dog' pose???

Anyway, Daisy obviously is a fit dog, and now I know she gets her energy from yoga.
Or maybe from being a young, happy dog?
Whatever the reason, I just felt she needed a colorful, radiant background.

"Yoga Daisy"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"

USD 65 (shipping included)

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This is painting Nr 23 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook!

Shadow Play Daisy

Taking a walk with Daisy recently, she stopped just below a street lamp, once again noticing something incredibly important.
I noticed her shadow....

"Daisy - Shadow Play"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"
USD 65 (shipping included)

This is painting Nr 20 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook!

Daisy 53

Today would have been a 'Daisy-Day', but I've caught the flue and was sleeping the whole day. So - no painting... Still, I have a quick sketch that I made of Daisy while she was sleeping. I used the iPad app 'Paper fiftythree' ... and my finger...

"Daisy 53"

Digital Sketch done with 'Paper fiftythree'

This is painting Nr 16 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook!

Daisy... staying alert!

Taking a walk with a - young! - dog is like playing with a young child. They both are seeing everything, commenting on everything (at least the child is!), noticing things an adult often ignores. Excited about everything, curious. I don't know what Daisy saw or heard, but she literally froze. Totally focused on the most important thing in the universe for these three seconds. I get the feeling I might have missed something there...

But then again, seeing the world anew each day, noticing the beauty in everyday things, getting excited about a shape, sound, color... I see how artists can relate to this!

"Daisy - stying alert!"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"
USD 65 (shipping included)

This is painting Nr 13 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are also posted on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art - I'd love to have you follow me on Facebook!

Not all days can be daisy...

.. or rosy, but that wouldn't make for a good play on words.

Well, Daisy is such a lovely dog, but this time she did not behave. Or maybe I overdid it with my expectations. I wanted brighter colors, a more graphic approach, and - a limited pallett. Cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, black, white. What was I thinking...

I did whipe out part of the painting and start again, but should probably just have started all over. But it is called 'challenge', so I wanted to stick with it, and also post today. And the nice part about it: I'll get to paint another one today!

"Not all days can be daisy..."

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"

This is painting Nr 10 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are posted both here on my blog and on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art.

Lazy Daisy

I did tell you before that Daisy is quite a whirlwind. But of course after a day of running around in the snow, even Daisy.... gets lazy! (sorry, I couldn't resist....).

"Lazy Daisy!"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"

USD 65 (shipping included)

... and here's my quick sketch - as usual: quite sketchy... (ok, I'll stop now!).

This is painting Nr 7 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are posted both here on my blog and on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art.

Snow Daisy

I've started this month with a painting of Daisy, my nieces' and nephew's dog. Here she is again, enjoying the snow on our morning walk, probably watching some kids sledding down the little hill.

"Snow Daisy"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"

USD 65 (shipping included)

 

Speaking of snow: I hope all my friends in the north-eastern US states and Canada are staying safe and warm!

Btw: my younger niece saw the two Daisy paintings today and was really excited to know that - as these paintings are for sale - Daisy might soon be on her way to somewhere far away!
This is painting Nr 4 in the "30 in 30" challenge, the paintings are posted both here on my blog and on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art. Also have a look at Leslie Saeta's blog to see the wonderful art that's being produced by around 400 artists each day as part of the 30 in 30 challenge!

"Daisy Prime"

This is my first painting in 2014, and also the first of quite a lot I'm planning to paint in January: Ready or not, I've decided to take part in Leslie Saeta's artist challenge "30 in 30" during the month of January where we paint 30 paintings of the subject of our choice.

"Daisy Prime"

Oil on panel, 5" by 5"

USD 65 (shipping included)

sold 

Let me introduce Daisy - she is my nieces / nephew's dog, and she's only 6 months old, so quite a whirlwind! She's a crossbreed, but we don't know what's in the mix. Probably part Labrador. She's definitely a cutie!
I've originally looked for one subject for this whole challenge but couldn't decide on just one. Still, you'll probably see more of Daisy in the weeks to come!

The idea of the challenge would be to paint and post one painting a day - every day! - during January. I honestly don't expect to find the time for 30 paintings, but I guess I'll just jump in the deep end. Let's see how many I will have managed by end of January.
Stay tuned for the paintings, I'll post them both here on my blog and on my Facebook Artist Page Regula Scheifele Fine Art. 

HH4 Challenge #2 - 'Bright and Early'

I've been busy since the last HH4 Challenge - though not really painting and posting. So it's good to have the challenge to keep my on a schedule.

This month's challenge was set by Maria Bennett Hock and is another reference from Hilton Head Island. We encountered this lady and her dog on one of our strolls on the beach.  I honestly think it might have been at sunset rather than in the morning, but the finished painting has this early morning feeling to me. It's going to be a wonderful day, but it's still rather fresh and you're happy to have a warm jacket with you.
I miss the beach....

All four of us - the Hilton Head Four - enjoyed painting from the reference, and the resulting pieces show our individual styles and takes on the picture. But we also agreed that we're looking forward painting the next reference - it will NOT be a white dog!

So here's my rendition - 'Bright and Early'.

'Bright and Early'

Oil, 8'' x 8''

And my HH4 friend's paintings - take a look at the artist's blogs by clicking on their names. 

'Red'

Maria Bennett Hock

 'The Look'

Lydia Jechorek

 Chris Werst

The first ever HH4 Challenge: 'Snoopy Guys'

HH4 Challenge? - Let me explain...

Last month I was lucky enough to attend Karin Jurick's workshop on Hilton Head Island - for the second time. Apart from painting, the great beach and wonderful Beach House, I got to spend the week with three amazing artist and dear friends. We painted, strolled along the beach, took hundreds of photos (each, every day) and sat together in the evening talking about art, life and everything.
That's how the Hilton Head Four (HH4) were born.

And we decided to keep each other motivated and challenged by having a fortnightly challenge set up. We take turns in setting the topic of the challenge - either a theme, a reference photo, a style, whatever. We have two weeks to paint and then we all post on our blogs at the same time and reveal all our paintings.
Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

This week to start it off it was my turn to set the challenge. And of course it just had to be a Hilton Head reference. A guy walking his dogs on the beach - it doesn't get more typical than that. We talked to the gentleman and he actually told us that he had a painting done of his dogs, and how hard it is to paint WHITE dogs. Well... yes!

So here's my rendition - 'Snoopy Guys'.

'Snoopy Guys'

Oil, 10'' x 8''

And - in no paticular order - the other paintings from the HH4. I just love to see them all together. Please make sure to take a look at the artist's blogs by clicking on their names. 

Lydia Jechorek

Maria Hock

Chris Werst

Stay tuned for the next HH4 Challenge in two weeks! - a small hint: we'll stay at the beach for now....