Friday, December 31, 2010

Hapy New Year & catching up.....

Hello Everyone.
I wanted to take a few moments to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year. I am sorry it has been so long since my last post but I have recently lost my father to cancer and have not been interested in anything very much lately. I am hoping that the new year will bring back my jest for living and my passion for my art work will be renewed.

For those of you who were wondering about my new photographs in 2010, yes I did get to capture a few wonder full shots and I will hopefully get to download them to my online gallery in January for all to enjoy.

Sadly I was not able to finish my wildlife series this fall and Caden the Tiger will be added to the second series coming in 2011. For those of you who would like to view the first 3 pastels portraits completed to raise awareness for Tiger Haven, click here http://www.animalsinpastels.com/wildlife-portraits.html

Until next time, Love generously. Care deeply. Speak truthfully. Leave the rest to God...

Sandra Lee Huston

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Children and Pet Portraits

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take a moment to show you Abigail & Hyde's pastel portrait completed last week. This portrait of Abby was taken by Tammie Grieshaber from Mainely Portrait Photography Studio ( http://www.mainelyportraitphotography.com/). I first saw this photograph of Abby on a coworkers desktop last Christmas and knew I wanted to paint her in pastels. I asked Beth to give me a picture of Abby's pet so that I could paint her and feature her on my website as an example of my Children and Pet Portraits in Pastels. Beth was more than happy to send me pictures of Hyde, Abby's little kitten and after asking Tammie's permission to use her photograph of Abby as reference I was on my way. Below you will see the two photographs used for reference and the resulting pastel portrait.






Up until recently I only worked with charcoals for my children and pet portraits, as of June this year I will also offer children and pets in pastels from your favorite photographs. When a photograph is simply not enough and you would like to commission a pastel painting combining one or more photographs together, call or email me and we can discuss the possibilities available to capture your children and pets in a beautiful pastel portrait that will last a lifetime. To view more of my artwork please visit http://www.animalsinpastels.com/

My webmaster Sheri Gordon, will be updating my new prices and sizes available by the end of June 2010, please contact bornhorselover@aol.com for inquiries. Until next time, take care and enjoy the warm summer sunshine~


Sandra Lee Huston

Saturday, April 10, 2010

New artwork completed




Hello everyone just wanted to take a moment to update you on my latest pastel portraits completed so far this year. The first one was a commissioned memorial portrait of a Husky/chow mix named Java. This is a 16x20 portrait painted with soft pastels on suede mat board and was a gift my client purchased for her friend to help her through the loss of her beloved pet. The bond humans and animals have are very unique and is one of the reasons I choose to paint pet portraits. With my pastel portraits you can display the love and bond that you have developed with your animal companions and keep these cherished memories alive for a lifetime.





The second portrait completed in March was of my husband's great niece Alivia and her cat Ducey painted in soft pastels on suede which will be featured on my website's Children and Pets page later in April. This is the first time I have painted a childs portrait in soft pastels; usually I draw the children and their pets in Charcoal for my clients. But this year I wanted to expand my horizons and offer children's portraits in both pastels and or charcoal. I hope to complete two more children's portraits in pastels later this year as examples of children and there pet in pastels. If you know of anyone who would like to commission a portrait of their child and pets just direct them to http://www.animalsinpastels.com/ or email bornhorselover@aol.com and I would be happy to answer any questions.






My next project is a series of paintings for my new wildlife page dedicated to Tiger Haven, a safe place for big cats. This wildlife portrait page will feature the pastel portraits of Jabal the leopard, Tsavo a male lion, Botswana a lioness and Caden the tiger. After visiting Tiger Havens website and learning that this sanctuary is dedicated to rescuing abused and unwanted big cats I decided to help them by adopting Jabal a male leopard and painting this series in hopes to generate more awareness of the plight of these magnificent animals. If you would like to learn more about Tiger Haven and there mission to rescue these big cats please click here http://www.tigerhaven.com/ Please be aware you may end up spending hours at there web site. I know I did, and don’t miss the education page here you can listen to the sounds of many of the big cats at Tiger Haven. Enjoy~



Below is a pastel painting of "Jabal" a male leopard and the first portrait completed for this series. This painting is available for sale framed and ready to hang. You may also purchase the originals or 8x10 prints for $25.00 each of any of the other pastels paintings that I will be painting in this series. 20% of the proceeds will be donated to Tiger Haven to help with the cost of feeding and caring for more than 200 big cats still residing at their Sanctuary. I hope to have the first 3 paintings in this series completed by the end of April. Please visit my new web site's wildlife page to view the next in the series for Tiger Haven, which should be uploaded and ready to view by the end of April.




Until next time take care and happy spring~


Sandra Lee Huston

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Catching Up...

Hi, just wanted to take a few moments to catch everyone up on the latest. I will be taking the year off from any outside art shows this year and will spend this year working on original art work and updating my website. I have several ideas and will be adding wildlife art work to my website this year. As soon as I complete each new piece I will be sure to let you know on my blog.

As for my photography, sadly last year was very frustrating with all the rain we received here in Maine. But I did get to capture some stunning florals and a few new loon photographs that I will be adding to my photo gallery for you to view shortly. You can check out this link www.animalsinpastels.com/gallery for new photos captured .

As always you can visit my gift shop page and purchase a variety of items including, original art work, prints, note cards and magnets, also canvas gallery prints of any of my digital photographs. Just click on this link and enjoy: http://www.animalsinpastels.com/gift-shop.html

For those of you who are looking for copies of my book; "Loons of Tacoma Lakes" please email me @ LoonsofTacoma@aol.com and I will be happy to send you a autographed copy with free s+h. Sadly with the economy so slow bookstores have not been restocking books as freely as before so if you cannot find a copy in your area, do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to send you a copy for 24.95.

Until next time, stay warm and think Spring~
Sandra Lee Huston