painting animals – Daily Fiber

A New Stay At Home Round Robin

Posted on January 14, 2026January 14, 2026 by Laura Kate

Yes, friends, Quilting Gail and her talented co-horts are at it again. The Stay at Home Round Robin for 2026 (better known as SAHRR 2026) is on, starting this week. For readers who are unfamiliar, I offer a link to Gail’s post, which explains it all.

https://quiltinggail.com/2025/12/18/announcing-the-2026-sahrr/

. As usual, there will be six rounds, plus the kick-off round. That’s happening now. Each participant makes or chooses a center block from which to build the quilt, then adds a border to it each week. This will be my sixth year to make one. The thing I love about SAHRR is how it provokes my creativity while providing a gentle amount of structure to keep me corralled and focused. For 2026, I want to make an art quilt that tells the story of our Costa Rican adventure last September. My DH took terrific photos, which support my memories of what we did and saw.

My center block is a fiery-billed aricari, a smallish toucan.

Using one of Bill’s photos as my subject, I painted the background fabrics with Jacquard Dyna-Flow, fused appliques into place, stitched them down, and painted details with Jacquard Textile paint. I’m pretty happy with my choice. If all goes well, I will draw on other vacation photo images to incorporate into future rounds.

I’m aware that my choice is complex and unconventional. But that’s just me. If you want to participate in SAHRR 2026, you can start with any block you have left over from a past project, or sew up a new one. There are no rules, only suggestions.

To see the co-horts who are providing the weekly clues, check out their posts from the list here:

The Schedule

January 14 Each of the co-leaders will be sharing their centre blocks (you will have to visit each of their blogs to see them). Gail will host the first linky party where you can show your centre block.
January 21: 1^st Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
January 28: 2^nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
February 4: 3^rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 18: 5^th Round: ME!!! @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6^th Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
March 25: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

painting

Friday Finish: Dash for the Splash

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Laura Kate

A baby sea turtle, hurtling its little body toward the safety of the sea. This watercolor painting was made as a donation to the 2025 6 by 6 art sale for my local art association. The reference image was found on Unsplash – so many years ago that I lost track of the photographer.

Friends, I know that I have been inactive for three weeks. Life has been full of other stuff. But the turtle painting marks the start of what I hope will be a steady flow of new objects on Daily Fiber.

I liberally applied masking fluid with a toothbrush for the wave action, and with a tiny brush for the white shell markings on the turtle. Pigments were yellow ocher, burnt umber, burnt sienna, Winsor Green blue shade, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white gouache. A few Micron pens stipples were added to suggest motion.

painting

Friday Finish: Two Dog Portraits

Posted on December 13, 2024December 12, 2024 by Laura Kate

I got both paintings finished on Tuesday and took them to the framers. It was in the Nick of time to get them matted and framed before Christmas. I felt lucky to have made the deadline, without knowing the deadline!

The framers did a computerized mock-up of the portraits with my mat and frame selections. I snapped a quick photo of the mock-up on their computer screen and sent it to my client. She was elated, despite the poor quality of the image.

What I hadn’t foreseen was the framers keeping my paintings while the job waits in line to be finished. I have been spoiled by my past experiences, during which the mats were cut while I wait. Without the painting on hand, I can’t do anymore “final adjustments.” On second thought, that’s a good thing.

Here are the last photos I took before rushing off to Hobby Lobby.

And Reggie:

Finished sizes are 6.5 by 9.5 inches, or as close as the mat cutter can get to that size. The dogs will be matted side-by-side inside a 13 x 19 inch frame opening.

I used Arches cold-press paper. Pigments include raw sienna,

painting

Fun Painting Dogs

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Laura Kate

Now that I am warmed up, I have been working diligently on the two dog portraits requested by a friend. It’s been satisfying work, with just the right amount of frustration thrown in, to make the experience authentic!

The black dog – Reggie – has the most progress:

Reggie is at the stage where I pause to consider more carefully what adjustments and final touches are needed.

Yesterday I started painting Daisy, the little white dog.

Beginning to add darks and various tones.

I’m enjoying watching their little faces emerge from the paper. My secret pleasure is to discover the dog’s personalities from studying their photographs and translating the shapes I see into colors.

Do you experience a secret pleasure while engaged in your craft? Do tell about it!

painting

Saturday six by six

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Laura Kate

My local art association is having a fundraiser. I agreed to make some artwork on six-by-six canvases that will be sold for $66 each at the event.

Because of the small size of the canvas, I decided that I would paint only small creatures. This choice allows me to make them life size. Last month I completed a butterfly and a nest full of sparrows. This weekend I am painting a hummingbird. I was inspired to paint one in a hand when a woman at our farmer’s market presented me with a hummingbird she had found on the ground. The bird was alive, but stunned. She wondered what to do with it. I suggested she find a place in the shade of a tree where the bird could recover safely.

The image of that tiny, but alive bird in her hand lingered in my memory. Today I finished a six by six painting that depicts the event.

The hand model was me.

I used a photo on Unsplash taken by Osvaldo Pompa for the hummingbird reference.

For my final submission to the fundraiser, I cut down a painting that I completed in 2020 and attached it to the six-by-six canvas.

This cute beetle was crawling around on the brick planter in front of my house. I snapped some photos and did the painting. While I loved rendering the bug, the real challenge for me was painting brick, mortar and shadows. I’m pleased that after four years I still like this painting. It’s on cheap watercolor paper with student-grade paints. A few lines with an ultra-fine sharpie did well for the legs and antennae.

I’ll turn these in next week. Hopefully someone will be willing to buy them for $66.