"Dinkie"

Copyright 2010 Maria Soto Robbins

This sweet little pup is Dinkie. He belongs to Deb, whom I blogged about last week.

She tells me that "Dinkie is such a sweetie. He has his own blog at: MisterDinkie.info. We rescued him August 4th, 2009. He is well-mannered and such an angel. We call his little white spot on his head his "kissing spot". We also say that it is where his halo is. It is a wonderful painting of Dinkie!"

I'm so pleased, Deb, that you liked my little painting of "Dinkie"!

Deb-Practice Portrait

Copyright 2010 Maria Soto Robbins

This pretty lady is Deb from my online ebay yahoo group. She took me up on my offer to do an oil painting portrait. I don't really know too much about her but she seemed to me to be an outdoorsy-California-girl type! She has a warm smile and lovely eyes, so those were some of the thoughts crossing my mind as I was painting her!

Practice Portraits~Patron's Comment

Although I've been selling my paintings a short time, I've had the pleasure of connecting with a number of wonderful people, via my art. One of these is a patron who appreciates my work tremendously and I appreciate him for his kind comments each time he's purchased each of my paintings (6 so far!).

I've been doing Practice Portraits and I painted him from a photo he sent me. Here is a part of his note:

"I just wanted to let you know that I received your painting and I really love it! I think you did such a fantastic job with it that I have decided to place it in my living room in a nice spot for all to see. I think you did such a great job with the colors. I really love that pink sweater that I have and I must say it came out AWESOME in the painting. You did a GREAT job on it. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to create this beautiful piece of art for me. I know you mentioned that you wanted the practice for self portraits but I really want you to know that I really am VERY appreciative your work. I really cannot thank you enough for this.

I was looking at my Avalon picture today (everyday) and wanted to tell you again that I really love that one. That piece is awesome as well. I jog on South Beach from time to time and always stop in front of the Avalon and think of my picture. I will probably do the same thing again tomorrow when I am down that way.
In any case, thank you so very much again Maria. Your art has been such a great addition to my home, life, and well being and I thank you for it!"

Isn't he great? :)

My Unnamed Artist

2009 Maria Soto Robbins

For those of you who don't know, Different Strokes From Different Folks is Karin Jurick's very cool blog. Each month she puts a challenge photo up and artists will paint different renditions or interpretations of the challenge photo and it's neat to see the same subject painted differently by everyone. The "Year-End Challenge-Swapping 180 Portraits" is now in it's second year. And I decided to participate.

My subject is a beautiful young woman, unknown to me of course, but by the time I finished painting her, I felt as if I did. I really don't think my little painting does justice to her looks. She's so lovely but as Karin Jurick says "don't worry about the likeness - it's about the process". And I did enjoy the process!

Dimension: 5x7 canvas panel

Media: Oils

Maria Soto Robbins

Miami, Fl

msr107@gmail.com