Recent Pet Portraits Painted on Canvas

I'm one of those people who grew up with animals, so naturally they are an essential part of a happy life for me. Pets are little pleasures that grow with us. I started doing pet portraits a few years ago and it something I really enjoy. 

These are two recent ones that I painted with acrylics on canvas.

"Maulie" by Danielle Trudeau. 16"x20", acrylics on canvas. Commission.

This one here was done for a lovely local lady of her Staffordshire Terrier, Maulie, featuring a background that was inspired by vacation photos they sent me. 

"Kodi" by Danielle Trudeau. 11"x14", acrylics on canvas. Commission.

While I do love painting backgrounds (especially if it has significance to the client, such as a past vacation spot), I love focusing on their wonderful faces. This was a fun painting to do, with all that lovely long fur. 

Angle view of "Kodi".

Interested in owning your own customized pet portrait painted by yours truly? All of the information you would need is located on my website. 

http://danielletrudeaustudios.com/custompet/

Towards the bottom of the page there is a form that you can fill out in order to get a customized quote as well.

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Primal Endurance - Hyena Illustration

I've always been one to fall in love with things, especially animals, that most people may think are ugly or bad. Hyenas, vultures and Sphynx cats (I swear I will own one some day!) are just a few that are on that list. Somehow hearing and seeing people recoil in regards to a certain critter makes me like them even more. Go figure. 

I was happy to find out that a friend of mine also has a huge love for hyenas! There are some very neat facts about hyenas, plus they can be absolutely adorable. I personally am a bit on the fence as to which species I like best, as I love the facial features of Spotted Hyenas (like seen in this blog post), but love the coat pattern of Striped Hyenas. 

"Primal Endurance" by Danielle Trudeau. 11" x 14", ink on bristol paper.

That friend decided to commission me for an ink piece featuring a spotted hyena, and I must say that it was an absolute pleasure to work on. Its been awhile since I've gone into crazy-detail-mode with ink, I really missed it. 

It measures 11"x14", and was done on bristol paper with various pens and a bottle of India Ink. I also use a waterbrush (from Pentel I think?), and load that baby up with diluted ink for some washes. That is one of my secret weapons when it comes to working with ink. Wash wash wash away~

Angle view of "Primal Endurance".

Although the original already has its new home, there are prints for sale on FineArtAmerica!

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/primal-endurance-danielle-trudeau.html

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Mind Wide Open - When Tigers Wear Galaxies

Its been far too long since I've posted here! I'd love to get in the habit of posting every week at least, let's see if I can manage!

"Mind Wide Open" by Danielle Trudeau. 16"x20", acrylics on canvas.

I adore tigers, they're easily one of my favorite critters to paint. In fact when this piece was still in progress, it was one of three tiger pieces that were in different phases. They're just so damn pretty.

Awhile back I saw some cool galaxy paintings that someone on Etsy did (I didn't bookmark the listing and now I can't find the artist), and was totally inspired to paint some galaxy art of my own! Naturally I have to include a critter in all of my work so I sketched a bit until I came up with this.

Since painting anything space-related is a very new topic for me, it was a trial-and-error process. Definitely. I repainted the area entirely 3 times, and even still I would like to repaint it again! It was a fun thing to paint, but its not without its difficulties. Originally I didn't want to use the splatter method to create the stars (something about not wanting paint flecks on the walls...), but my attempts ended up looking too...predictable? The stars were not as random and natural looking as I would have liked. So I gave the splatter method a shot and it worked! And I somewhat managed to control it so there was only minor clean up, haha!

An angle view of "Mind Wide Open"

I was afraid the orange and blue combination would clash far too much, but I think it actually worked out okay!

This piece is painted with acrylics on a canvas that measures 16" x 20" (approximately 3/4" thick).

This piece is looking for a new home! It is currently for sale in my Etsy shop here!

Etsy : https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/233916224/original-surreal-tiger-with-starfield?ref=shop_home_active_1

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Newlight - Eagles and Cat Skulls - Learn How to Apply Gold Leaf

 "Newlight" by Danielle Trudeau

Butterflies and Moths - With An Edge

So I'm not a fan of bugs.

I'm more like a gets-deep-spine-shivers-of-terror kind of gal when it comes to creepy crawlies.

Yet I completely adore moths and butterflies. I mean, who doesn't? There is so much amazing variety in their shapes, sizes, colours and patterns. They're stunning.

So naturally they show up a lot in my artwork.

I'm not sure how I came upon this technique, but it works wonders with snazzy colourful subjects like butterflies and moths.
And it leaves you very light-headed.

First one, a made-up girly little thing.

 

Swallowtail Butterfly

This one was a volunteer piece for my university's Graduate studies journal.

Both of these are African species that were done as a commission for a biologist from Russia.

Blue Morpho

Sunset Moth
This one was a commission.

Luna Moth
[For Sale]

Enjoy!

- D

Lady the Kirin - Sculpture

I've been in a sculpture mood as of late, creating mystical beasts is wonderful.

This is Lady the Kirin, a pretty quiet little thing. 

Recent Pastel Craze - Finished Pieces

Way back in 2008 I was introduced to soft pastels as a medium, and something else that has captured my heart since that time - velour paper!

I've only used soft pastels on two types of surfaces, watercolour paper and velour. And let's just say that I will not be doing more work with the watercolour paper.

Velour is a nifty paper that actually has a layer of fibres on one side, imagine something similar to velvet. The fibres capture the pastel dust perfectly, the colours are vibrant and in my eyes it gives everything a lovely dream-like quality. I simply love the stuff.

I took a break from the medium for a few years, and finally felt the urge to give it another shot recently. That sent me digging through my supplies for my trusty soft pastels and velour paper!