Rascal aceo

Here's my latest painting, entitled Rascal aceo. My brother-in-law was live trapping squirrels to release else where, when he accidently caught a racoon. My mother-in-law called to tell us about it and to ask my husband if he could go to Tim's and release him since Tim wasn't home. I had been wanting to see a live racoon in person for quite a few years, so I was very excited when this opportunity presented itself. We quickly grabbed the cameras and jumped in the car. When we got there, here this cute racoon sat, stuck in a cage, so we quickly took a few pictures of him, trying not to freak him out more than he already was. Boy did he keep his eyes on my husband the whole time, following his every move.

While standing as far back as possible, Paul used a crowbar to open the cage. I was sitting safely in the car at this time. Once the cage was open, Paul quickly ran to the other side of the car to get more distance between him and the racoon. The racoon slowly came to the door of the cage, looked around, and then took off to a wood pile. It was very exciting to see him be released. Thank you Tim.

I have this painting for sale at my etsy shop, http://luvs2paint.etsy.com/

Pink

These are my latest two aceo's I did. Why are they pink, you ask? They are for a charity auction for Breastcancer, and they are suppose to be pink. I came up with these two ideas. First I created the bird, named it PRETTY IN PINK, then I came across a picture of this tiger we took at the zoo, and couldn't reisist creating this PINK TIGER.

Three Butterflies

I know the sketched canvas doesn't show up real well through the acrylic glaze, but I have 3 butterflies on flowers. Here are the photos that I am working from.

I love that excited feeling that I get when my painting is planned and ready for me to pick up the brush. That's my favorite part, starting the painting. The sky's the limit. My least favorite part is planning out the painting. Sometimes the idea comes quickly and the sketch goes smoothly , I like that. But too often I just am not sure what I want to paint, so that becomes a real struggle. Even though I have tons of ideas for future paintings, it may not feel right at that time. It has to feel right, that's when I can put my heart and soul into it and its like magic, for lack of a better word.

Spread Your Wings

I feel like I got quite a bit done today, and that feels good. I finished up this painting. I Sketched out my next painting on a canvas and got some marketing things done.

The colors in this pic didn't come out quite right, but I like how the painting turned out. The titles of the paintings have actually been coming to me much easier- yah!

I am hoping to start my next painting tomorrow.

Fishy Fishy

This is a fun little 5x7 oil painting I did. I love using colors that I don't use regularly on my palette. It's funny how I tend to use certain colors most of the time. I love how paintings turn out when I spread my wings a bit and use one or more of the brilliant colors that is out of the norm for me. Reference photo was taken by Jessica Lee Olson.
You will soon be able to find this painting on my website, http://www.brendathour.com/ under Pet Portraits. I uploaded Fishy Fishy to my website, but just noticed that it's not showing. So I will have to go on my desktop computer and upload it again.

Baby Llama aceo

I painted this baby llama today.
This is a sold aceo oil painting.

Reference photo taken by Pat Otten.

I've been doing quite a few aceo's lately, and I am starting to want to go a little bigger, or alot bigger...well, bigger anyways.

This weekend we are going up to Duluth to see the big sailing ships come in. I am hoping to get some good reference photos for future paintings. Wish me luck.

Brown Swiss Calf aceo

Baby cows are adorable, and Brown Swiss Calfs are VERY adorable. I saw this little guy, at the Minnesota Zoological Zoo, and knew I'd end up painting him for sure. So last night I cleaned off my palette, got out fresh paint and here he is.

You will be able to find him at my website, http://brendathour.com,

Swimming ACEO

I saw this little guy at the Minnesota Zoological Gardens, and I just love his coloring. I haven't been able to identify what kind of duck he is yet.

You can find him at my etsy shop at http://luvs2paint.etsy.com

Bunny Dreams

This little guy is from another photo we took at the zoo, in the farm area. He is such a cute little bunny that I couldn't resist. He was in a hutch, so I of course changed the background.

This one is 5x7 inches, oil on gallery wrapped canvas, with the sides painted as a continuation of the painting.

He can be found at http://brendathour.com

and I'll be putting him in my etsy shop here in a few minutes at http://luvs2paint.etsy.com

Jersey Cow aceo

We went to the Minnesota Zoological Gardens the other day, and of course I brought the cameras. I noticed that there were two very cute, even pretty cows. This one, which is a Jersey, and another called Brown Swiss (which I am sure I will end up painting. )

My favorite cow was a 3 month old Brown Swiss calf named Tolbie. You guessed it, I'll be painting him soon too.

This one is an original aceo oil painting on watercolor paper. It can be purchased through my etsy store, http://luvs2paint.etsy.com or through my website at http://www.brendathour.com.

Rhino

I started this painting on Thursday, and finished it yesturday, (Friday). It is 12"x12" oil on stretched canvas. I really like how he turned out.
Photo reference came from Dr. Thomas Trainer, with permission of course. I've really been having fun with these African Wildlife paintings. I'm sure you will be seeing more of them coming up.