Tuesday...Hol-ified

Tuesday's owner asked me to design a Holiday Greeting Card that incorporated the Pet Portrait that I painted of her dog Tuesday, last spring. I love how it turned out, it helps that there was already a lot of red and green. If I did a portrait of your pet and you are interested in something like this let me know and I'll send you the details.

A happy new collector!

Last weekend I got to meet Shellie Olson, who came to the studio with my pal and amazing artist, Cathi Bouzide, or as I call her the "Corn Lady". Cathi gave this Pink Poodle Print to her sister Shellie as a gift..because she is a fan of the color pink and dogs of course!

Puppies! Anti-Cruelty Adoption Event at my Studio on November 21st!

Have you been thinking about adopting a dog lately or maybe getting some bold beautiful new art for your walls? On the 21st you can do both! We will have pups from the Anti-Cruelty Society on hand for you to meet, a Raffle for Art and Gifts and 20% off all of my Original Paintings!

Painting again...

This is one of several commissions that I'm working on. The original 7"x14" painting titled 'Field Days', has since sold so I am recreating it much larger at 24"x48". I created the first one at the 2007 Fields Project Artist Residency, the same year I created my Flower Frolicking Dog Field Sculpture. That experience definitely inspired the painting, that and staying on a farm with beef cattle. It's an amazing program...and I've been fortunate to have particpated 3 different years. You can check out photos here....and here.

 

...And as long as I'm sharing,this is the painting that I created at the residency in 2008 chronicling my entire experience with the field sculpture the year before:

 

Pink on Pink...

My art fair pal Jill Miller of Hooey Batiks tagged me (facebook) in this great photo of her dogs, Emma in the foreground and Fausto...I was confused and then noticed a painting I did MANY years ago up on the shelf behind them. She said it's titled "red trees and pink sky" dated 2000. It's pink on pink on with red...haven't done that in a awhile..I'm inspired! Check out Jill's beautiful batik work on Etsy, here's a sample:

October 2009, what I didn't have time to blog about...

 

It's been mostly work the last 3
months but we have managed to sneak in
a little bit of R&R. Labor day weekend, Rich bought us an old
Schwinn Twinn Tandem bicycle on Craig's List, we've only been able to
take it out on 4 occasions but every time it's been great fun and a
challenge! We have to go out to the suburbs to the forest preserves to
ride, it's too tricky with all the intersections in the city...so we
had some beautiful fall days, these photos were from early October. (I
told Rich it was one of the most romantic gestures he's made in our 18
years together...that he would want to share a bike and ride that close
to me after all these years!) We are going up to the Racine area to ride tomorrow...good reason to work so hard today.

My dear friend Kate Strong came under the darkness of night a few weeks back and generously planted these perennials outside my shop so I will have them next spring...hope this means I get to stay for a 2nd year! (Kate had been planning to do this since June as a "studio warming gift" she is the busiest artist that I know - she does shows nearly every weekend between April and December and production in between. She still insisted on doing it..I'm grateful and look forward to seeing them next April or May).

And my clay class is already half over. This is Shorty...it's great to be back in class with all those amazing women. We have a great time on Monday nights at Lill Street.

And my dear old Izzy is slowing down, it's heartbreaking. This past week has been especially difficult for her to get going in the mornings...just doing our best to be patient and keep her comfortable, she gets lots of massaging. She's still eating well and excited for treats but getting around is getting harder and I'm afraid the sparkle in her eye is waning.

Alice on the other hand is still our comic relief. She is very compassionate and patient with Izzy. Her chest has grown enormous in the last 2 years, I like to think it's because her heart has grown bigger.

 

These last two weeks have been so incredibly beautiful with all the fall leaves, it is my absolute favorite time of the year. But as of today the trees are getting bare and daylight savings time is here...so mixed emotions, the good part is I will be closer to the time zone my body works best in. (In a perfect world I would live in Pacific Time).

So good by October and Happy Halloween to you!  

Raffle Winner...!

Charlotte Goldman was one of our Raffle Prize Winners from the Grand Opening, she came by to pick it up the other day and was thrilled when she saw her prize...I love a happy ending!

Rusty...

 Doing Rusty's portrait was bittersweet, between the time Rhonda ordered the portrait and I started on it, he passed away...so very sad. So now this Portrait has become a colorful reminder of her very best friend. Rhonda was in town last week, we both got teary when she came to see it, I sent her on her way with a magnet that I had made as a little gift for her to keep until the print arrives to her in California. When I did the sketches I created a younger Rusty, solidly colored and the senior Rusty with the lighter face, I am humbly adding younger Rusty to my portfolio of breeds as the Golden Retriever. Bittersweet.

This is the first order I received for the larger Pet Portrait Print size...it really came out beautifully. I just ordered another to put in my window display with Jack's portrait...this is a good comparison of the two sizes, Jack's Box Frame Print Portrait is 12x12 ($250) and Rusty's Float Back Print Portrait is 18x18 ($350). My deadline for Pet Portrait Orders for guaranteed delivery by the holidays is November 13th...so if you are considering this as a gift please place your order soon! Gift Certificates are also available.