Jumping for Joy

I am dancing with joy! This beautiful watercolor of my girlfriend just arrived. 

It was done by my favorite Key West artist, Sean Callahan. He owns Dog Tired Studios. I took a watercolor class with him several years ago, as some of you might remember, and I was a total failure. We kept bumping into each other at various artsy events.  Then one day last winter, I was on one of my walks about town with Bailey, and I happened on his newly opened gallery. He was well known years ago on Martha's Vineyard for his dog portraits, but he had stepped away from doing them and had explored other topics, but had stuck with watercolor. With the opening of his gallery he decided to go back to what he loved, painting dogs, which also would pay his bills. 

To help support my friend and to have a meaningful portrait of Bailey, I commissioned a painting. We used a photo of her in my bicycle basket, a common place during our stay in Key West. I left KW in February and have been patiently waiting for its arrival. Woo Hoo!

Bailey approves. 

I Got My Art Fix

Sean Callahan had a demo on Saturday at his new gallery on Whitehead St, here in Key West.

Sean is an amazing artist.  His medium is watercolor.  I met Sean a few years ago when I attempted to learn how to paint.  He was the teacher.  He is a "learn the basics" kind of guy.  It did not work well for me. I was impatient and I felt like I was back in Jr High School art class. 

 But I think he is a great, giving guy.

He opened the gallery about 2 months ago.

It is a charming space.

Sean has been painting for 27 years and specialized for quite a while, painting dogs.  Bailey and I sat patiently watching him turn that piece of white paper into a dog.  Well, almost a dog.  We couldn't stay all afternoon.

He painted and talked and shared so many details about his journey from VT to Provincetown to Key West, including his battle with HIV.  He shared his philosophy about being a watercolorist and the years and years it takes to befriend the paints.  He told us his paint is his best friend. The things he said I found powerful and inspirational and all while he continued to paint.

When he does the dog portraits he works from a photo.  

Often he will grid the photo and draw the outline of each section with pencil.

You can see the pencil in this photo.  Then the pencil outlines just become guidelines for him.

I was not there from the beginning, but he told me that he paints the eyes first.

 It looks so realistic, doesn't it?

There was a dog portrait that is almost done.

He truly is a master of watercolor and you can see on the walls that he paints a lot of other topics. You can see more of his artistry at www.DogTiredStudio.net

What a great way to spend the afternoon.

I think I may need a painting of my girlfriend, maybe on a quilt?

Watercolor Wednesday

I know today is not Wednesday, but to follow up on my Wednesday's Wanderings, I thought I would start a Watercolor Wednesday blog post.  Accountability! 

 But I did these today and painting these cone flowers was a lot more fun than marbles.