Tommy in Black & White ... and Pink

Have not been blogging much this week ... trying to get caught up on orders. Here is a recent shot of My Scottie dog Big Tommy in a flower collar.

Please Light a Candle For Abby

Please light a candle for Miss Abby Louise tonight. She got her wings Thursday night and her humans miss her so much. This sweet girl is the mascot and inspiration for Linda O'Neill's Abby Creek Studios. Linda is a very talented artist that immortalized our own Atticus in oils after we lost him to cancer in 05. I know too well how hard it is to loose a pup that is such a muse and an inspiration not only in art but in life. Our hearts go out to Linda and James today.

Dog Shredding Toy

Gotta love this animation ... recent You Tube find:

Taxidermy as art?

I just stumbled across an interesting article from the Norwich evening news titled
"Animal art form has come back from the dead". It talks about the old "art form" of Taxidermy and covers a little of it's history and mentions the work of an artist working today by the name of Emily Mayer's . While it is not my cup of tea it certainly has that train wreck quality of having to look, no matter how gruesome it may seem. I found it interesting that most taxidermists do not depend on animals being hunted, shot or killed. The article is a very good read and while it may not necessarily make you a fan of taxidermy it may indeed give you new insight into the subject and a respect for those that enjoy the practice.
Article link

Click image to play slideshow

Red Prickies #3

Red Prickies #3

Yesterday I went outside and started playing around with my new macro lens. This is one of my favorite shots.

Cane Felice ( Happy Dog) Wine

Art Paw was recently approached with a very fun project of creating a wine label for Jaffurs Wine Cellars. The company mascot is Kava who reportedly has personally inspected the grapes as they were growing on the Italian Hill section of the Stolpman Vineyard. Each year David Yates creates a limited production of the Cane Felice label. Proceeds benefit the Elings Park Foundation off-leash dog program (EPDOG).

Our popular chocolate lab artwork of Mr. Big Paws caught David's eye and we have been working together this past month to design the label. Jaffurs will not be bottling until April 6th, however you can preorder now by clicking here.

Modern Dog Art

Thanks to Moira at the Modern Dog Art Blog for posting on Art Paw today. Moira is a fellow dog artist and a rather scrappy one indeed. I use the term "scrappy" because this talented gal creates all of her artwork from scraps of paper, bits of fabric, paper and glue. Check out her Dream Dog Store . In my past career I designed and distributed a rather large line of handmade greeting cards so I am always delighted to discover new collage artists. I often miss working with rice papers, glue and a straight edged ruler.


Moira's Dachshunds

Cock fighting ban passed

Why did the chicken cross the road ... certainly not to slash his opponent to death with razors strapped to his talons.
This week New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill banning cock-fighting in his state. This leaves Louisiana as the only state condoning this barbaric blood sport. Will Louisiana's Gov. Kathleen Blanco follow suite? Time will tell.

To learn more about this issue visit the Humane Society's Fact sheet on Cock Fighting.

Sugar The Pit Bull

Today I am battling a terrible head cold. I did manage to get down to the post office and I also proofed one client. I am quite pleased with my initial proofs on Sugar. This is an important memorial portrait project that I have been playing with for a couple of weeks now. This sweet girl has left a hole in her human's heart. I do hope I have captured her unique personality.


"... what we have enjoyed, we can never lose ... all that we love deeply becomes a part of us." — Helen Keller

The Liquify Tool In Photoshop

Sometimes our clients send us great photos that may have very minor quality issues that we address in Photoshop. I feel that the most important feature on a pet is their eyes. Sometimes a little too much sun or flash photography can cause an animal's eyes to squint in an uneven manner. Miss Auburn had one wide open eye and one that was slightly smaller. My favorite tool for opening up eyes is called the liquify tool. It is found under the filter menu. The images below show the difference this tool can make.

Original eye on right is a little squinty

Below image after using the liquify tool
Image below shows final eyes with white dot highlights added.
Final Golden Retriever dog portrait below

One more octopus

Ok, just one more octopus post and I promise I will get back to talking about dog art later this week. This guy does not have a name yet. I really like the dirty goldish yellow ground on this one. The colors sort of clash in a fun way.

Sid The Squid

The digital art above is another piece created from one of my original octopus watercolors. The original watercolor sketch is shown below.


Octopuses have the ability to squeeze through tiny crevices, cracks and holes. The video below shows an octopus squeezing through a tiny one inch hole.

Ozzie The Octopus

This is Ozzie the Octopus. I created this digital work from a scan of an original watercolor painting I did. Last month I created a series of 6 octopus watercolor paintings with pen and ink details. I was longing to pick up some traditional tools and get my hands dirty so to speak. It was quite fun to take these pieces into the computer and add some digital paint strokes via the Wacom tablet along with a fun half tone pattern that created the dots in certain areas. More and more commercial illustrators today go back and forth from the sketch pad to the mouse. Working in this way you really do get the best of both worlds.

The original unaltered painting is shown below. It is a little messy and unpolished. Really more of a sketch as I try to get a feel for watercolors. The original is quite small, just a little larger than a business card. The digital Ozzie is set to print at 8 x 10. I think once I get some watercolor paper back on the printer I will go ahead and print the digital series.

Last spring I worked on a series of insects. Since I spend my days working on beautiful furry animals I find it quite energizing to branch out occasionally and focus on some of nature's less cuddly creatures.

Picasso Art Stolen and Other Art News

Most of you have probably heard about the two paintings stolen from Picasso's granddaughter. Valued at over 66 million dollars these Picasso paintings are unlikely to re-sell for much at all. Fine art thefts are not exactly something that are easy to fence.

In other art related news:
Well known street artists in New York are having their works defaced with globs of green & purple paint. According to the New York Times word among the street artists spread quickly on-line and the unknown attacker has been dubbed the "Splasher". There is of course a reluctance to report the splatterings to the police, because city laws say that the art that was defaced is just as unlawful as the paint splashed onto it. Street artists usually put up their work without permission, and some people consider the work itself to be vandalism.
read more (link)

Ok and speaking of paint splashers you have to read this story on a new scientific method of authenticating Jackson Pollack's work.

Fractal or Fake? ( link)

Persian Kitty Cat Art

This week we finalized a Persian kitty cat named Tandy. She is a real stunning kitty, and this old girl is twenty. We have had a handful of cat portrait orders latley. I guess it is often true that whatever you are focused on is what the universe will send to you. Allison finished up a new site for us last month that is a total playground for the cat lover. Check out Cat-Quotes.com when you have time. There are puzzles to play, freebies to download and the first page is chocked full of fun Cat Quotes.