Eye Spy Cardinal Bird, pastel on Strathmore tinted paper

Eye Spy Cardinal 7, the esteemed redbird of your ❤️ in a lovely piece of art. 

Go to https://www.etsy.com/listing/544151431/special-cardinal-7-one-of-a-kind-drawing or click on the Etsy preview window in the sidebar of this blog to learn about this artwork and more. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. 

The SPECIAL SALE price will be good on this piece and others in my Cardinal series "20/20 I Can See Clearly Now" until all 20 Cardinals have been completed. These are the lowest prices ever offered on an original VBHoyt artwork. This is not a print. It is an original one of a kind artwork. 

Learn more about this piece at https://www.etsy.com/listing/544151431/special-cardinal-7-one-of-a-kind-drawing

#vbhoyt #pastelart  #favoritebird #cardinal #redbird #txsauce #etsyshop #specialsale #etsyseller #txsaucestudio.etsy.com

Great Dane Study

Art and Life 

Sketchbook Art

13015sk - Great Dane Study, pen and ink/pencil on Raffine sketchbook paper, 100 lb. acid free, 8.5 x 5.25 inches. This small study is in preparation for a larger commissioned piece.

copyright Vernita Bridges Hoyt 2013

My artworks are copyrighted and I reserve all rights to reproduction, print or otherwise. Images may be shared by back link to this blog address. Licensing is negotiable, but my express written permission is required before any image is reproduced in print. © Vernita Bridges Hoyt ... Thank you for observing copyright law.

GREAT DANE STUDY
work in progress

Directly above is an image of an early phase of my Great Dane study showing the initial pencil sketch and a few ink lines as I started to define the detail.

Commissioned pet portraits.  vbhoyt@me.com

dog, Great Dane, drawing, pencil, pen and ink, line work, illustration, black and white, artist Vernita Bridges Hoyt

Life 

Allergies are bothersome this springtime. Blustering winds are stirring pollen through the air ... and simultaneously through my nose. Even the dogs have allergies. Two vets have told me that if a dog consistently chews on his/her paws, it is a sign of allergies, most likely to the same allergens that effect humans. Dogs have their noses on the ground sniffing, sniffing, sniffing.

I must run now. Today is a busy, busy day here.

As a child, I was reprimanded for daydreaming. Today my daydreams morph into paintings.

V. Bridges Hoyt — painting the sauce of Texas. 

Ink Sketch of Boy with Dog

13011-sk. Pigma Brush, Ink Sketch on Archival Heavyweight Sketchbook Paper, 8x10 inches.

This 10-minute ink sketch is a study for a larger painting to come. 

There is just something really satisfying about doing a quick sketch in ink. Artists must learn to draw without erasing, and ink sketching forces that practice. A quick ink sketch records an artist's first impressions of a subject. My next study of the boy and his dog will be a small watercolor painting. I'll share it in a few days. In the meantime, I am back to commissions and other projects. 

As a child, I was reprimanded for daydreaming. Today my daydreams morph into paintings.

V. Bridges Hoyt — painting the sauce of Texas. 

The Graduate, Boxer Puppy Dog, a Work in Progress

ART. The Graduate! Maybe I should call this The Kindergarten Graduate! Work is still in progress but almost complete. Click here to view earlier progress images.
LIFE. I don't work on this painting as frequently as I would like. There is the old guilt factor that I'm doing something for myself and not for someone else. My lesson in life must be to learn to care for myself as much as or more than I do for others. We are here to first and foremost take care of the very life God gave us. Then I ask myself, "Why don't I?"

Everything changes. Just like water that becomes stagnant with no flow, life becomes dull without change. I am thinking that I need to stir up some change before Life does it for me.

Want to talk? Just click here to contact me or leave a comment on the blog.

Yorkie Dog Portrait

"Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it." —Robert Motherwell.

Click image to enlarge.

I have painted homeless dogs and I have painted upscale dogs. Last week I was commissioned to design two tote bags with a Yorkie on them—my first Yorkie ever.

My client wanted only totes—so the original painting is in my inventory. This small work is waiting for somebody somewhere who will be reminded of their Yorkie and give this painting a home.

• Yorkie jr.  © Vernita Bridges Hoyt 2011
• mixed dry media on Arches 140# cp paper
• 10x8 inches
• artist@vbridgeshoyt.com

Click here to view purchase details.

... and then there were totes.

ART. My newest tote bag design ... "Yorkie jr" personalized for the granddaughters of my collector. She is giving them as back-to-school gifts and really liked the way the Yorkie sits on the name. I can very easily personalize the Yorkie design with a different name. You won't find these at Zazzle or Cafe Press or anywhere but here. Email me for more information on the totes—txsauce@txsauce.net

When we look around us, we find art everywhere. Art is on labels of products, in our TV ads, on t-shirts and other clothing items, on all our greeting cards (which are a huge market), on the covers of books, on the pages of children's books, etc.—not to mention hanging on our walls and in our museums. Robert Motherwell was right when he said, "what a poor life without [art]."

Find yourself an artist to follow. There are many of us. I hope your artist will be me.

Visit my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/TXsauceArtStudio.

Also, please check out my oil painting auctions at the DailyPaintworks Gallery, or you can view all available works at the Daily Painters Art Gallery.

Any questions, click here to contact me.

If you'd like to view my daily painting without the ramblings, click here to view the simplified One Painting a Day.

Boxer Dog Art Portrait

"What is art but a way of seeing." —Saul Bellow 


The Graduate. Over the past eight months I have wanted to do a painting of my not-so-little (anymore) boxer puppy Thor. This colored pencil rendering (pendering, I like to call it) of Thor puppy will be for me, however. A few days ago, I decided to start with a sketch in colored pencil. You'll see the initial sketch [#1] near the bottom of the image lineup below.

The Graduate • work-in-progress #2b • colored pencil

Above is a close up of the pencil layering in and around Thor's right eye ... and the overall view below.

The Graduate • work-in-progress #2a • colored pencil

Aside from the composition, I have no specific plan for how I will 'pender' Thor puppy. I am winging it and developing the drawing as the muse comes to me. Stay tuned for my next progress update.

The Graduate • work-in-progress #1 • colored pencil

How to Schedule a Painting of Your Pet. I do accept pet portrait commissions in oil paint, pastel, watercolor or colored pencil. You will find examples of the different media scattered throughout my blog and website portfolio (see left sidebar for links). We may be as close as computer screens but separated by miles, thus meeting your pet is not always possible. I can work easily from a few good photo references after talking with you about your pet. As I work and get to know your pet  through my pencil, brush or palette knife, your portrait comes together. I paint what I see and add your pet's personality into the mix. As I paint or draw, your pet appears ... almost like magic! My portrait of your pet will be as individual as he or she is. Scheduling is easy. Just click here to contact me. If you'd rather talk, please email me and we'll set a time for a phone conference.

Lily White • pastel 9x12 • artist V. Bridges Hoyt

Lily White detail

 ART.  "Lily White" is up for auction at Daily Paintworks.  Pastel sketch on Canson Mi Tientes black toned paper, 9x12 inches. "Lily White" will be beautiful in a double mat (off white with a red liner, for instance) to fit a larger frame, perhaps a 16x20 inch simple black frame. Contact me if you want to talk about framing.  txsauce@txsauce.net or artist@vbridgeshoyt.com

Click on image to see detail.

Check out my other auctions at the DailyPaintworks Gallery, or you can view all my works at the Daily Painters Art Gallery. Any questions, click here to contact me.

Progress Update on the 4x4 Colored Pencil Baby Portrait

Baby Portrait in Progress
4x4 inches
colored pencil
© V. Bridges Hoyt 2010

ART. Last night I was up past midnight so worked on the portrait a little more by building up color in the hat. Progress is slow. Lighting in the studio is not the best at midnight-thirty.  Next will come the modeling of the white hat brim and collar with shadows. When I can steal another 15 minutes to do more pencil work, I will show another image. I still have to work out that rough look caused by the cold-press paper. Maybe burnishing the color after all is finished will be the answer, or maybe I will decide I like the freshness of the texture. 

Click here to link back to the last progress update on this mini-portrait.

Character Study in charcoal

Yesterday I worked with charcoal. It's perfect for sketching character studies in prep for an oil portrait. The messiness of the soft charcoal stick adds to the character and makes smudging a primary design tool. As I push the marks and tones around and erase with my fingers, a likeness emerges. My fingertips end up black. It's almost like finger painting. The tactile characteristics of charcoal can't be beat.

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One Painting a Day

Studio Dog
Cards & Gifts here

Heaven in a Wild Flower

Sunflowers grow wild in Texas ... fields and fields of sunflowers. Cultivated sunflowers typically grow taller and larger, but there is nothing cheerier than a field of wild Texas sunflowers painting a sunny picture against a blue sky.

Sunflower © V. Bridges-Hoyt 2008

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour." --William Blake

To see Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, click here.

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Sunflower Artist

One Painting a Day

Canine Art Review

As I reviewed art painted throughout the previous year, I was amazed at the numbers of dogs or other canines I had painted and sold. Each of the paintings in the video below was painted to benefit an Art Helping Animals approved animal rescue organization. I hope you enjoy watching the video.

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Click here to see more of my daily paintings: One Painting a Day

AHA for T-bar

I have just finished producing another youtube video for Art Helping Animals.  A percentage of the sale of each painting will be donated to T-bar to help animals in need. Click here to watch the video of original AHA paintings available to help animals at True Blue Animal Rescue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfzx22LnmhQ

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Click here to see more of my daily paintings: One Painting a Day

Today's Sketch - Dalmatian dog

I've been preoccupied and off line for the past week or so after a system crash, and now I'm in sketchbook mode. The above image is this morning's sketch. I may develop it more, but for now my goal is to sketch daily in an alloted time. Whatever gets done in that 30 to 60 minutes of time will be considered the sketch for the day. Maybe I'll get faster with time.

Sketch of Dalmatian
colored pencil on 4"x6" archival 93# sketchbook paper
copyright Vernita Bridges Hoyt 2007
preliminary study

not for sale

Questions or Comments?
email artist@vbridgeshoyt.com
or visit my gallery TXSauce Studio Art

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View the full blog at Texas Sauce Art Life.

Sketchbook in Review: Sean Reading

I am reposting this sketch of my son Sean at age 8. He was reading a book on the couch. It was the only way I would ever catch him still enough for a drawing. Sean is now 33 years old.

Sketchbook in Review: Chris and Mike

A Father's Day gift from more than a few years ago, this one is called The Hunters. The original drawing was on the front of a card and given to my husband for Father's Day. He and his boys made an annual dove hunting trip and never missed a year until his final year of life when he was too tired from the chemo to go with them.

I think Chris continues the annual hunting trip even today.