Lilian Marie in Fendi SS'14

A couple of days ago I finished a painting of my childhood dog, so this time it felt right to paint my parent's dog Lilian Marie, who they had before I was born.  She was a sweet black and white Shih Tzu and was their little baby when they first got married.

I chose to paint another Fendi bag as I'm still fairly obsessed with the SS'14 collection (and this bag in particular), possibly because I've always been drawn to geometric designs, so I had to paint it.  The blue geometric background was also inspired by the collection in it's color and you can see the same pattern in the cut of several of the dress's hems.

The line is definitely worth checking out: http://www.fendi.com/us/en/collections/woman/spring-summer-2014

xoxo

Ray

Bunny l'Amour in Fendi SS'14

My mom has been asking me to paint a Westie in honor of my childhood dog Mummer (who we nicked named Bunny l'Amour) for weeks now and I finally finished this one for her.  I've been wanting to use Fendi's fun Buggie Bags in a painting so this seemed to come together perfectly.  I was inspired to do a geometric pattern in the background based off of other Fendi bags in the SS'14 collection.  Also Bunny's shirt is based off of the Fendi SS'14 collection as well.

Here is the photo of the bag I used for this painting:

And here's one of my favorite childhood photos (you can see little Bunny hanging out in the background!)

xoxo
Ray

Paco in Deap Vally Knitted Hat

This is one of my favorite paintings so far - little Paco wearing a Deap Vally band knitted hat.  Deap Vally is one of my favorite bands (they're amazing - listen to them here: http://deapvally.com/splash/)  Not only do those two ladies kick ass, they knit band merch (and actually met at a crocheting class!)

This concept was first inspired when I saw a photo of a dog wearing a winter hat, and then as I was randomly checking out Deap Vally's Instagram photos I discovered their amazing knitted hats.  It pretty much worked out perfectly like it was meant to be!

xoxo
Ray

Lola in Elsa Schiaparelli's vintage wedding veil

I've recently been working on a new series of pet portraits inspired by high fashion and based on pivotal fashion designers and their signature designs.  In this portrait little Lola has found Elsa Schiaparelli's vintage wedding veil (Circus Collection SS 1938).  Schiaparelli was at the forefront of avant guard fashion of her time and was known in the same circles as Duchamp and Dali.  

The veil is incrusted in sapphire bead designs to look like "hair" or (medusa-like) "snakes" and makes a statement about Elsa's personal views of marriage. 

Below is her beautiful design sketch, as well as it being worn and on display at the Philadelphia Museum of art.

xoxo
Ray

Jonesy's Vivienne Westwood Let It Rock Dog Portrait

I just finished painting this portrait of a cute Yorkshire Terrier wearing a vintage Vivienne Westwood t-shirt.  

I started this painting knowing that I wanted to do something inspired by Vivienne Westwood's early punk collections, and I've always loved her chicken bone "Rock" shirts.  It seemed perfect (and humorous) to have a dog wearing a bone shirt spelling out "Bones."

Vivienne Westwood Collection "Let It Rock" Chicken Bone T-shirt - 1972

I decided to paint a Yorkshire Terrier because they're so cute, but can look a little scruffy and can be a bit feisty (and can pull off punk).  I named this little guy Jonesy after Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols (who is amazing).  Also, if you look closely you can see that Jonesy is wearing Sid Vicious's iconic chain necklace as a collar and I added a few safety pins for effect.

xoxo

Ray