I finished a painting today! My son commissioned it to give his girlfriend for Christmas. We made a deal for him to work it off on the farm. I'd much rather have the work done than the money!

Here it is. It is 16" x 20"   She loves elephants! I am going to paint two more elephants like this to sell on EBay, I think. its the first elephant I have ever painted.

I am glad you like it, Chris!

It is acrylics on stretched canvas. Wildlife is what I usually paint, although I have never done an elephant before. I usually paint wolves and dogs. Lots of pet portraits, always dogs. (Why don't people ever want portraits of their cats? ) I like elephants and plan to paint few more. I am tired of painting dogs, especially collies. This is something different. I want to paint a few chickens and roosters too and maybe goats and other farm animals. I painted some pigs for someone once, years ago.

I am painting a landscape with a kayak right now, that is almost finished. I left it to do the elephant for my son. I am currently looking for lots of things to paint, other than wolves and dogs. The wolves and dogs sell so well, they have been my "bread and butter" for the past few years and I will probably still paint some, if asked, but I am tired of them.

Now that I am not working and winter is upon us, I have a lot more time to paint (and can use the money).

You can see some of my other paintings on my art site - www. artbysheryl.com. They are all sold at the moment, just displayed there.

If ayone has suggestions for paintings that will sell and be unusual, I am always looking for suggestions and inspiration.

Thanks so much for the reference, Chris! I will look him up. I like to look at other artist's work. Its a good way to learn little things. My favourite artist is Carl Brenders. His paintings are so lifelike that they sometimes look like photographs. "Down for the Count" is my favourite painting of all time (by Carl Brenders). His master of the fur and the detial of the surroundings really is amazing! I think he is a better wildlife artist than Robert Bateman. Robert Bateman is so very good but there are better ones out there, they just haven't spent the money on advertising and putting their paintings EVERYWHERE. Terry Isaac is another good one, as is Guy Coheleach, especially his wolves.

I painted a couple of aircraft once, many years ago. They're not great and I was just starting to paint seriously. Here are they are. This is many, many years ago, long before I started painting wildlife. They are small 10 x 12″ and they are Canadian planes.

I could discuss art all day long, until everyone around me has glazed eyes. lol! I don't want to hyjack this thread.  

I spent awhile doing antique cars for people who owned them, about that time too. I don't mind that kind of work but its rather boring. They might as well have paid me to paint their fridge. lol

I guess if you love something its interesting. I love animals and nature, so that's what I like to paint.

Love the Snowbirds painting .looks like a Jet Provost? similar paint scheme to Cranwell.I had one painted of a Sunderland,used to fly them in the early fifties and my Dad was a flying boat man.Ill see if I can photograph it.

Thank you Jane!

I have been asked by a couple of galleries, but in Toronto, while I live in Barrie about 1.5 hrs away. They usually want me to do a lot of the work, which I am not able to do from Barrie. I just want to paint. I would love a gallery to just take my work from me and show it, while I paint.

I have had shows and done craft fairs, but I usually sell the paintings on EBay almost as soon as I finish them, so I never have enough paintings to do those things. They're a lot of work and just too stressful to do anymore.

I just finished this one of the kayak. I have been working on it for a long time. I am relieved to have it finished and be able to move on.