Moo.. and My Excuses for Not Blogging

Moo-12x12-$75

 Hi All,
Yep, it has been awhile. I have been enjoying the last days of summer and doing a little touch up. First, I wanted to paint a cow because they just seemed to be the thing, whatever that means. I took a photo of longhorns near some apartments by my house but when I got home I couldn't see what was happening in the photo because I was too faraway. See what I mean? Then I found a cow by LA Fitness.          
                         

Yeah, score!

Then there was the tricky bad lighting problem. Oh Moo! So I lightened it up. And the chunks of concrete became bluebonnets and the parking lot became a lake. These cow problems never happened in the Texas Panhandle!

 So while this was home drying I was on the road to El Paso to see my inlaws and the hubby's Grandmother who just happens to be 100+! Pretty cute, huh?

And then I went to Ruidoso, NM to have a fried green chili spear and look at pine trees, mountains and wildflowers.
And came home and started the The Exotic Night Blooming Cereus for my friends. I am still trying to tackle that one and it is eating my lunch. White flowers are hard, ya'll. Green shadows or grey. Cool shadows or warm shadows. I keep painting so tight. Ugh!

 Then, this dog -                                                                                            

                                            

became this dog... 

    

 And I went to Florida. Ahh... much better!!!

And those are my excuses. They are the best I've got. 

These are the things I have learned. Cows are not The Thing. Sometimes people are more important than paint. You have to have a good photo to paint a good picture. Don't paint a flower straight on, it is harder. Everyone isn't crazy about high- key crazy sky just because you are. Don't do crazy stuff on a commission. The beach is a very peaceful place.

Today I got this Facebook message from a friend I used to pray with:
"I had a dream about you the other night. You walked into the room and I was surprised to see you were about 9 months pregnant! I had brought you a small gift, but you gave me a gift of $700.00!! In praying about this dream, I know that 9 represents spiritual gifts and 7 is divine or "of God". I just love your paintings, so much, the colors so reflect the glory of God's creation. I just sense that this is a wonderful gift God has given you and He is so delighted in you!!

I am so grateful for my life and family and what I am doing right now. And for friends who pray about their dreams about me and encourage me and for opportunities to try to reflect God's beauty in some humble way. And for the beach and fried green chili spears!
Have a Great Week!
Lana

Big Beautiful Sunflowers!

Cheerful Sunflowers 2 -18x36 panels -commission

Hi Friends!

It was extra sunny at my house for a couple of weeks. I recently delivered these two sunny panels to a friend who asked for yellow and red cheerful sunflowers. I did my best. 

Working on such a big canvas was fantastic and terrifying. These together were the largest paintings I have done and making them work together and as individual paintings was tricky. The scale was also a challenge. The flowers kept growing and growing after the initial underpainting. As you can see below I had to use multiple photo references and that is something that I am still learning to do.  Scary! Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with these two as I prayed over them and their recipients, scrubbed paint on and off, thought I was done until I took one more photo and realized I wasn't. I would put them outside to dry and then added two more highlights... and then I didn't want to say goodbye. But I did. Now its on to the next commission, an exotic night blooming cereus! 

                             

I had to go get a bigger easel to hold them up! 

 

My Newest Pet Painting!

Somehow I missed National Dog Day. Chester didn't say anything but I could tell he was offended. Skylar didn't seem to care.

Chester

I just finished this beautiful German shepherd. He is a huge dog and a very important family member to my new friend. I wanted to highlight his size and the peach undertones in his coat. He also has a very kind face and demeanor so I wanted you to know what a sweet dog he is! His pet momma wanted to include his whole body so we went with the 16x20 horizontal. I really liked the bold sunlit background to show off his coloring. I tried to keep the accent on him by simplifying the background.
Hope you enjoy seeing what I have I've been up to!

If you would like a pet portrait of your pet friend email me at lanabrowne@me.com. 
Portraits start at $75.