animal

Sammy Sampson

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 8 Comments

It’s been a month since Sammy suddenly passed away from an aneurysm.

He was stolen so quickly from us, it came as a complete shock. He had been playing and chasing his toys that afternoon and when he laid down I thought he was simply enjoying the sun. Tallie let me know that something was wrong and he passed away in my arms that evening.

I am distraught and yet I know that as much as he liked Tallie and enjoyed playing with her, he was never the same after Zeus passed away. He loved Zeus and missed him so so much. Zeus was his feather, Sammy could always be brave and big when Zeus was around. After Zeus passed, he was inconsolable. Tallie’s friendship brought back moments of the old Sammy but he never really recovered from his loss.

I am grateful that his suffering wasn’t long. That he had no lingering illness. That his last day was spent playing and tossing toys around and generally making a big mess. That he was able in his last moment to know I was there and give me one last doggy kiss.

When I look at this photo, it makes me smile every time. He was so joyful and charming and stubborn and funny. And that smile. I loved that smile.

I know in my heart that in his last moments, he was at peace and that gives me peace.

But I miss him so much.

Sammy Smile

My eternal gratitude to the staff of our local Animal Emergency Hospital. They were indescribably caring, kind and honest on a horribly difficult day.

Return of the eagles.

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ Leave a comment

The eagles are back!

I live in an area where bald eagles flock to breed. They come back every year in the hundreds.

I haven’t been taking too many photos as my camera’s shutter seems to be wearing out but I did take these while I was walking Sampson. This one seemed very interested in Sampson.

This one did too. His claws are in such sharp focus.

I was playing with some white ink on black paper. The paper seemed a bit soft, it wanted to absorb and absorb which ended up working in my favor, I was able to put many layers. Now in my first eagle here which is about 5×7, I went a little too crazy with my top layer and lost some of the shading.

This one is better. I would have continued down the shoulders but it ended up in a card frame for a friend who likes eagles. The one thing I love about ink, is that it tends to look complicated but it’s all just little dots and lines. Pretty relaxing to do.

I used a dip pen with a G nib on it. I buy the ones that are marketed towards anime online. They flow well and you can make thick or thin lines depending on how much pressure you use.

Since I mentioned Sampson, here’s a quick one of him in white ink on card stock.

I also did a squirrel in the white and grey ink who looks a bit of a know it all.

I did a polar bear too but had to weigh down the paper afterwards as it buckled. He looks like he’s fretting, given that the icecaps are melting fast, I can’t say I blame him.

If you have questions, please ask in the comments.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2020

Ink ink ink…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

I recently bought some dip pens and have been playing with them. I love the G Nib though for some reason it’s hard to find in my area. I ordered some online since I’ve already killed the one I had.

A fish.

A quack.

A grrr.

A hedgehog with a little teeny tiny woof and a flower.

The sausage woof that I live with.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2019

Groundhog

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ Leave a comment

This is a 6×4 pencil crayon drawing on pastel paper.

Now if you’re wondering what pencil crayons are, they are what Americans called coloured pencils. Even though I’ve lived in the States for many years and sometimes use color instead of colour, and I almost never say toque and I  rarely drink a mickey or two-four… sure rarely sounds about right…anyway I can’t give up my pencil crayon terminology ..

Anyway here’s a grumpy groundhog. Not sure what he’s grumpy about unless he’s an American groundhog and would have preferred to be done with colored pencils. Sorry buddy..not in this house!

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2019

December Acrylics

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ Leave a comment

These are some cards I made for a trade. They are all acrylic and in various card sizes, all smaller than 5×6. The first five were done with palette knives, some have a bit of brushwork.

It’s a challenge to use a knife on small pictures but it is entertaining.

This deer makes me laugh, he looked rather affronted at being painted.

“Deer Interrupted”

painting acrylic deer

“The Tree and the Icy River”

“Red and Gold Berry Christmas Tree”

“Snowy Path and Tree”

Palette leftovers.

The following are brushwork.

“A Small Fir”

“The Birches”

“Under a Purple Sky”

“The Firs”

.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

My favorite watercolors of the year.

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t wrote on here in awhile. I don’t know if people read blogs much anymore but I do enjoy writing so I’ll keep on keeping on even if I’m only entertaining myself. 

To catch up, with everything I meant to post this year, I thought I’d do a couple of year blogs to showcase my favorite creations of the year.

These are some ATC’s, that is cards that measure 2.5 by 3.5 inches. These are all done with watercolor. These were done for a trade. watercolor painting Virginia Spencer vmrs ATC

This is also a watercolor but is a little bigger at 7×4 inches.

Here’s a warmer watercolor,  also a miniature at 4×6 inches.

And here’s a watercolor of a leaf and acorn. I think this one was 5×4 inches.

.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

How did that happen?

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

I took a little break and somehow almost two months went by!

Funny how that happens.

What happened was that I was kidnapped by a sea monster.

(“Octomonsteria” in ink)

.

Ended up in a pretty cool town under the sea, where Octomonsteria was promptly arrested for all sorts of misdeeds and general shenanigans.

It’s all very interesting but our storm alarm just went off and there is much thunder and lightning so I will tell you about it later!

Take care and keep your heads down and your umbrellas up!

.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017

.

.

 

 

 

 

April Showers Bring..

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 1 Comment

Much smorgasborgery.

Starting with some watercolor cherries from a Challenge on WetCanvas (in the miniature forum, thanks Lil, for the photo).

On this, I used only Alizarin crimson, ultramarine and yellow cadmium light.

Keeping it simple.

This dragon was also for a WetCanvas Challenge (in the Sci-fi/fantasy forum, the theme was wings). It doesn’t have any limbs as I am a bit of a defeetist.

Hahahahahahahahahaa..haha..ha..

*cough cough*

Ahem, pardon me.

This was done from a scanned sketch I did then I added the colors with a photo program. That’s about all digitally, that I know how to do.

.

My original sketch of the defeeted dragon.

Next up was this oddity. She’s a masthead that has escaped from her ship.

Metallic watercolors.

.

I’m still working on the linocutting. Having a great time of it.

I decided to make rampants for us. I was going to go traditional but then I thought why use a lion rampant or a unicorn rampant when you can use a Westie Rampant and a Labrador Retriever Rampant.

I intentionally left the rough bits in on this. I liked the look of them.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, everything is growing.

I love Spring!

.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017