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!

Life and Death and Life - Tiger's Tale

Title : "Life and Death and Life"
Medium : Acrylics on a wooden panel
Size : 14" x 18"
Date : April 2014

 

Bighorn - Mixed Media with a walkthrough!

Now and then I get the opportunity to do an excellent commission, something that feels like fun time rather than work time.

This piece is a mash-up of mediums. The paper was dyed with tea, then baked in the oven on low with a sprinkling of coffee grounds for more colour and texture, then painted.

First step was a rough sketch with a mechanical pencil, knocked down some details. 

Inked those lines with an assortment of Staedtler and Faber-Castell fine liners. I typically use an assortment of pens for my artwork, but these lines needed to survive through a good soaking, hence the use of my waterproof \staedtler and Faber-Castells. Got rid of my pencil lines to avoid any sort of water-soaking mishaps.

I mixed up a strong brew of cheap Earl Gray tea, cutting open the tea bags to release the leaves for their texture. Settle that paper onto a baking sheet, poured the tea in and piled the leaves on the surface of the paper.

Next step was to let that soak for as long as you can manage (usually I let it sit for at least an hour). I got impatient and pulled it out of the tea after 20 minutes, which resulted in it being paler than I would have liked. I drained the tea but left the leaves on top, then sprinkled some coffee grounds (the paper still smells heavenly) onto the surface and popped it in the oven at 200-250 degrees F for around 10-15 minutes. Make sure you watch it, although I've been lucky so far and haven't experienced any burning.

I never leave the paper in until its completely dry, usually I let it sit overnight to let it dry, then rub all of the leaves and coffee grounds off.
Look at all that lovely texture! The ink sketch becomes pretty tough to see at this point, but its still there!

Now the painting begins. I decided to use watercolours to start bringing out some tones and shapes.

Then I brought out some details with white acrylics.
And then I do it again. I bounce back and forth between the watercolours and the acrylic until I'm happy with the details and tones.

Keep at it until you're done! Voila!

Here are some close-up photos of the detail and texture.

Enjoy!

- Danielle

Deity - African Elephant

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Title : "Deity"
Medium : Acrylics on a wooden panel
Date : April 2014
Size : 10" x 20"

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Welcome! This is my first real post within this blog, still deciding on an overall format of my posts. I have plans of posting finished pieces, occasionally work-in-progress stuff, little how-to pieces, sources of inspiration, etcetera.

Here we go!

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For those that are fresh to my artwork, I love painting wildlife. Painting animals is a release for me, nature has been a passion of mine my entire life (a nickname as a child was "The Walking Animal Encyclopedia" - it was well chosen). I've cycled through favorites like any person, but seem to settle on a few oddballs, or rather the critters that aren't as common (vultures, anyone?).
Elephants have always had my heart. They're enormous, magnificent and wrinkly, and have eyes that seem to hold all of the world's knowledge.
They're beautiful, in my eyes.

My boyfriend spent the first 13 years of his life in South Africa, so naturally that has stemmed a huge portion of my inspiration. This piece here is the first of a series of five, featuring the wonderful African Big Five.

Elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, and cape buffalo.

I knew I was going to end up doing a series featuring the Big Five before long, but like a lot of my pieces, I couldn't settle for just a typical realism portrait. I needed something extra. I hemmed and hawed, and settled upon a central idea.
Gods.

I wanted to give the Big Five a god-like appeal, with a sort of tribal flair. They would be the center of a sort of dogma, the five would be worshiped and loved by all. Festivals and ceremonies would be held in their name, where they would adorn the Big Five with totems and items of power. 

So out came the pencil and my boyfriend's photos from his last trip to South Africa.

It was my first experiment with a wooden panel, and I fell in love. Canvas is wonderful, but fine detail can be a struggle due to the texture of the fabric. With a sanded wooden panel, its smooth as can be.

I knew the pieces were going to be greyscale, most likely with a pop of colour. Just happen to be gold leaf. I love the effect that gold leaf has, wonderfully shiny and metallic, with a tiny hint of gaudiness.

"Deity" is not currently for sale. I most likely will finish the series and offer a price for the five collectively.