Thank you to all who have liked my blog and "The Gilded Stroke" facebook page.  In order to be considered for the 16x20 Free Collage Portrait raffle, you must "LIKE"  The Gilded Stroke Facebook page...I cannot tell who's liking my blog but Facebook records who's liking its specific pages.  Make sure you 'In-box' 10 friends directly and have them 'LIKE' "The Gilded Stroke" Facebook page, attached to your name, to be included in the raffle.

Enter now.Time's running out!!!


Wednesday's promotion: Get 10, or more, of your friends to like this page :The Gilded
Stroke-in your name) on Facebook to have your name entered to win a FREE 16x20 watercolor or
collage painting of your own favorite Kitty or Pooch. Deadline, Friday June 8th
at 12noon EST. The winner will be notified on Friday at 7 p.m. EST, June 8th. This will make a terrific gift for you or you may want to have this customized picture done of someone else's pet!!!
Enter now!!!

My first 10 underpaintings are done so it's now to the collage table!  Collaging is sure to take much more time than the underpaintings so stay tuned for my daily progress!!!

Tuesday's promotion: Get 10, or more, of your friends to like this page :The Gilded
Stroke-in your name) on Facebook to have your name entered to win a FREE 16x20 watercolor or
collage painting of your own favorite Kitty or Pooch.  Deadline, Friday June 8th
at 12noon EST.  The winner will be notified on Friday at 7 p.m. EST, June 8th.  This will make a terrific gift for you or you may want to have this customized picture done of someone else's pet!!!
Enter now!!!

Today is day six of my 57 days of summer break.  Thank you to all who've liked my blog and posted my new website's information on your facebook page.

Since yesterday, I've added 5 new paintings to my series.  After these are painted, the collaging will begin soooooooo stay tuned!

The 2011-2012 school year was officially over at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29th.  During this school year, I've been unable to create as much as I'd have liked so during my 57 days of summer, I plan to create a little of something everyday and document my process and progress.

In May I donated a painting titled, "Juno's Journey"  to Lifeline Animal Rescue located in Atlanta, Georgia. Juno is actually a dog up for adoption in their rescue center.  I chose to make Juno's painting a collage after concluding that she'd been through a great deal during her short time here on earth that had left her homeless; she had a story that was worth telling.  Maybe, just like us, all beings have a story to tell that they probably would tell if they could speak.  I often wonder what my pets are thinking and what they are up to when I'm not at home. 

I've decided to create a series of animal collage paintings to document their life stories.  We're all  composites of our life experiences.  We are who we are because of the things we've been through...isn't this true for our pets as well?  This series of paintings will reflect the stories I think they would tell if they could...some fact, some fictional.


It's day 5 into my summer break.  This is what I've accomplished so far.



I first began by drawing quick sketches of the dogs and outlining them with black paint.

Next, I painted the backgrounds....

A complete under painting was done for each image.  An under painting is a quick painting that is the first layer of a painting that will have multiple layers on top of it.  It is used primarily as a color plan and/or value guide for subsequent layers of paint.  My color under painting will be used as my guide for adding collage.  These may look almost finished but I have a long way to go!