Otto The Shepherd

Working on this sweet puppy today. I have a lot more work to do.

New Jack Russell Portrait

"Tyson" (See All Proofs)
34x54 inches

The orange ground above was the client pick.
A very good choice I think.

This happy little fellow is Tyson. He is a very large 34 x 54 inch portrait. We will be printing & stretching this guy later tonight. It will take us most of tomorrow afternoon to package him up. I love doing these larger prints. They are really impressive big. They can be a challenge to package up as we have to build a special sized box and we really bubble the heck out of them to protect them in transit. They are worth the extra care and work, I can't wait to see him stretched.

Learning how to say no

Today I received a very nice e-mail from a terrific non profit group that wanted to know if I was interested in helping them with a logo design. When I first started this business 11 years ago I thought I really had to say yes to every request that came across my desk from a non profit. It seemed to me that if I was truly going to be devoted to my 4-legged subjects that it would be wrong to not help small orgs even when I may not be the best person for the task at hand.

 

The reality is that logo design work is hard. Getting it right is hard for seasoned graphic designers and twice as hard for a fine artist like myself. Many times people think they want a terrific animal image or wonderful furry mascot incorporated into their logo. A pro will be able to explain to them the realities of how many places that logo will need to look good. Is it simple and clean enough to work on a business card, web banner, small magazine ad, and so on. A good logo really needs to say a lot with what looks like very little effort.  

Anyway if you are an artist reading this I know at some point someone has or will ask you to illustrate a children's book for them, create a logo, or design a website.  It can be very hard to explain to people that you may not be the best person for the job, but it is important that you learn how to do that sooner than later.  Below is my e-mail letter. It was very hard to write as I hate saying no, but it is better than creating a logo that I know would not be the best solution for them.

"Thank you so much for the kind words about my work. Unfortunately I will have to pass on the logo work.  Creating logos stresses me out beyond words. A logo is such a crucial and important part of any business or organization. It is very hard to get it just right. In the last 11 years I have reworked my own logo 3 or 4 times. I just honestly do not feel that logos are the sort of design work that I am good at. I would encourage you to try to find a local designer, not an artist, but a graphic designer that you can meet with in person. A skilled graphic designer will be able to create something for you that will look good in print, on the web, and in a variety of formats.

Best of luck and thank you again for your interest in my work."

Art Paw Featured at Daily Candy!

Thanks to the folks over at The Dallas Daily Candy for featuring us yesterday. Our daily traffic  doubled yesterday with over 2500 visitors.  DailyCandy is a free daily e-mail newsletter and website, an insider’s guide to what’s hot, new, and undiscovered — from fashion and style to gadgets and travel. 

Mosaic Monday/ Stepping Stones

Dog Breed Stepping Stones By Karen White
Purchase your favorite breed over at Etsy.

Found these adorable stepping stones over at Etsy. They are a steal at only $30 each. It would be very cool to order half a dozen in a variety of breeds for the garden. These are created from recycled tile and Karen even creates memorial stones on request.

Happy 4rth of July weekend!

Big Tommy Says have a safe and fun weekend!

Recent Pet Portrait Projects

"Beast" ( See All Proofs)

"Alex" ( See All Proofs)

"Foster" ( See All Proofs)

Mavis ( See All Proofs)

We had to remove Mavis' Bee costume, per client request.

June was a pretty busy month. It looks like we did around 19 pet portrait proofs. These are a few projects that we are shipping this week. I have 2 more projects from last month still on the board and then I will be caught up. I am starting to get excited about Christmas already. I plan to start my Christmas in July promotions next week. Not sure what sort of discounts or offers I will be doing, but be sure and watch the blog for updates. I plan to do something special for repeat clients.

Not Just Another Pretty Voice

I have always preferred gritty, raw throated singers, but for you Ms. Robinson I will make an exception.

For years I have enjoyed the smooth and polished vocals of Sharon Robinson as the back up singer for Leonard Cohen. When I saw her live this year, every smooth and polished word she sang served to add depth and richness to Leonard's sandpaper chops.

Robinson is a talented writer and has collaborated on several of Cohen's songs. With her recent solo release of "Everybody Knows" she delivers a cool and quenching performance. Strong and sensual, Ms. Robinson's voice is the perfect answer to a hot summer evening. There are too many great tracks on this CD to list, but if you are someone that downloads individual tracks you must grab "Alexandra Leaving". Long time Cohen fans will swear they are hearing this song for the very first time. New listeners will discover a poet of great talent, and yea she happens to have a very pretty voice.

Where is my magic keyboard button?

Kedron ( See All Proofs)

This very handsome Springer Spaniel is Kedron. Is that a cool name or what?  This artwork is coming along well. I think I have done a pretty decent job of painting in a lot of missing detail and texture. Now I just need to find my magic button on the keyboard that will erase the scarf and fill in the gaping hole with  hair. 

Taking off hats, shirts, and scarves is one of the most common requests I get. I have seen many portrait artists, both digital and traditional that have strict photo guidelines that encourage folks to not send in these types of photos.  The reason is simple, it is pretty hard to fill in hair that you can not see. How is it supposed to fall? Is it curly or straight?  In this case I will spend a few hours pouring over photos on-line of similar dogs to try to mimic what that chest "might" look like.  I don't mind a challenge, I just always hope folks understand that my keyboard looks just like theirs, not like the sample below ... that is just me having some fun by creating a dream keyboard ... with special dog art commands. I do wish Apple would get busy and create that.

I am having fun here and teasing a bit. As frustrating as challenging photos can often be I have to remind myself of what I tell my assistants:  " you learn twice as much from hard photographs as you do from perfect snapshots".  Ok, I am signing off to go study chest hair now.

Mosaic Monday/ Blue Dog

Blue Dog
Originally uploaded by siriusmosaics

I think I have blogged Lynn's work before. She does many realistic style doggy mosaics, and yet this fun and rather playful find in her Flickr stream made me smile this morning, love those Tennis balls. Below is an image of a Hybrid Husky she has been working on. You can see more of Sirius Mosaics over at flickr.