A Tall Bud and A Day Off

Tall Bud
Originally uploaded by artpaw

I shot this tall and happy flower in the sky today. I actually took a day off and played with my camera this morning. If you like this you might check out
the other macro shots I have in my Flickr stream.

We also finished the new Harry Potter book today and took in Bourne Ultimatum. It was sort of a jam packed day off.
Ah, and tomorrow is Monday... back to work.

Bonkers ... New Cat Artwork

This is Bonkers. He is one stunning kitty cat. He and his brother Yikes are together in a 4-panel painterly piece. Poor Bonkers is not doing so good in real life and our heart goes out to his human as we know how hard it is when our babies are sick.

I am not a terrific writer and not knowing what more to say during hard times I share some cat quotes with very warm thoughts going out to Bonkers today and always ...

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece" --Leonardo Da Vinci

"The cat has too much spirit to have no heart."
- Ernest Menault

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function."
- Garrison Keillor

"All loyalty has a little fur in it."
- M. Malloy

"There is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest, for there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion."
- Christopher Smart

"If cats could talk, they wouldn’t."
- Nan Porter

"Happiness is like a cat, If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay not attention to it and go about your business, you’ll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap."
- William John Bennett

Noisy Dog Studio

Special thanks to Leigh at Noisy Dog Studio for a recent client referral. Leigh Jackson is a talented painter with a very slick website. I was just over there earlier this week and she has changed her site design slightly. It looks great, as does all of her artwork. She has a new logo banner at the top of her site with a lime green Boston Terrier ( maybe her own Hugo). Check out her unique pet portraits and while your there order a print or two as gifts for the dog lovers in your life.

Just a Really Cute puppy

Too early to write much so I offer this cute video found while stumbling on the web. Turn your volume up.

Whistling Puppy

Cute puppy imitating his owner…

Stumble it!

Draw Partner!

Ok 2 posts in one day ... that does not happen often. Had to post this early sketch of Merlot in progress. I love this gal so much! I plan to play some more with her later tonight. Be sure and scroll down to see her buddy Martini.

Art-Dogs In Caps

Today I have around 6 portraits I am focusing on including 2 little dogs in caps. I love it when my clients get creative with their photographs and try adding in clothes, toys and other props. This Bichon is Martini, and I am also working on her sister Merlot.
This is my first tame version of Martini and now I have to come up with a few wilder options to proof my client with.

You can see from the before picture below that my first step was to eliminate the tear stains, and then rotate Martini a bit to give her a more playful posture. Once I had my basic composition I started playing with color and digital paint strokes. This painterly portrait will take a few more hours to complete and proof. By playing a bit with the paint strokes around her mouth I have almost given her a subtle little grin. Yes she looks quite happy in her pink cap.

Max & Guinee

Today we are printing a Calico kitty named Guinnie, and a colorful Bichon named Max.

Happy Birthday Bear!

Bear is 3 today. This good looking young Retriever is on the project board for today and I am going to be working on him this evening trying some close-crops and adding in more paint strokes. This will be his 2nd portrait. The image above is a working sketch of Bear's portrait in progress. We have a more relaxed shot this time. Below you can find his fun "Bear with Stick" portrait.

Bear's humans are professional wildlife photographers and so their photographs are always a pure joy to play with.

New Candle Project

Below are some pics of the candle project I did for a local soy candle company called Jimmy Belasco. I created 9 different box-sleeves with custom artwork of the owner's rescue pets. A portion of the proceeds are donated to animal charity groups by both Jimmy and his retailers.

Add to my blog

Help Australian Shepherd???

Help Australian Shepherd???
Originally uploaded by artpaw

This is our newly found stray "Luna" . Can anyone tell me what kind of dog she is ... she is petite, and looks like she has a lot of Australian shepherd in her or maybe she is a full Aussie and just still a puppy. We are posting signs and trying to find her humans ...no collar, no tag , no chip.
She is so stunning. Dan named her Luna after Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.

Microchip your pets people!!!

5 More Tips For Pet Portrait Artists

Last week I posted a top 5 tips list for pet portrait artists and quickly realized how incomplete it was and so I decided to ask a couple of my fellow artists to share their ideas.
In the order they were received here are 5 more great tips for pet portrait artists...

From Kathy Weller

#1 " More information is better than not enough.

The last thing you want before starting to work is to realize that you are missing information - - be it the proper spelling of the pet's name, the name of the type of tree or flower that will be integrated into the portrait, the photo of your kitty subject's special collar that needs to appear around her neck. The more info you have up front the better, even if you don't think you will use all of it. Because down the road, you might have an opportunity to add something extra and unexpected into the portrait, and that seemingly minute, superfluous detail stored in your your client kitty file might just prove to be the icing on the proverbial pet portrait cake."

#2 "Treat each customer like gold.

"Word-of-mouth and referrals are HUGE in this business. Besides the fact that you are so happy and thrilled that that this person is paying you for your hard work and unique talents, she will be sure to tell all of her pet-parent friends about her experience with you, be it positive or negative. Think about what great cocktail-party conversation starter her pet portrait experience would be!� Keep that in mind during the tough times.�"
Kathy Weller is a portrait artist and accomplished illustrator. Last year she worked on a sweet and lovely portrait of my girl Pixel.

From Linda O'Neill

#3 "Take great care in packing and shipping your artwork...it shows how much care and effort you put into your business."

#4 " Gladly offer to do some minor revisions once you present the final 
painting to a client. There might be some eye color, coat color,
background details that they would like changed...and it usually means
capturing that extra essence of their dog that means the world to them."

#5 "In addition to that...include something extra when you ship out a painting to a client. Even if it's just a greeting card, it makes them feel unique and special and that you took the trouble to do it. Going that extra mile is what's it's about."


Linda O'Neill is one of my first pet portrait pals and she is a gifted painter. A few years ago she beautifully memorialized my boy Atticus.

The artwork in the screen-shots above are copyrighted by the respective artists.

My Glass Squid

I have been taking a mosaic class for the past few weeks and I am very close to finishing my first project. I am really excited about it and quite proud of my efforts. I am sure if I continue on with this media I may look back in horror at my craftsmanship on this first piece, but that is ok. You have to start somewhere. I need to finish the head on this guy and then grout the piece so I can start on my next squid.

You can see from the image above that there is a layer of text beneath the glass in the area that is the water. The text is wikipedia info about the octopus. I also have some of my own squid drawings beneath the surface. The words are meant to be a visual texture more than anything else. Working this way feels a bit like collage.


People have asked me if I am going to start doing people's dogs in mosaic. I do have plans for a few Scottie dogs for myself, but I do not think I want to do this on commission. This small 13 x 13 piece will probably end up having over 30 hours of work in it by the time I finish, and so it would be very tough to price work of this nature. I think I would also be frustrated by the limitations you feel when trying to achieve detail. Most clients want their pet portraits to really have a lot of detail and to look a lot like their pets, something hard to achieve in mosaic. Besides, it is fun to be doing something just for me.

Dog Muralist

donut&friend8
Originally uploaded by nina camplin

This week I met a very talented dog artist on Flickr. Her name is Nina Camplin and she works in Poole England. Check out her photo stream at Flickr. She has one set of photos that are just dog murals.

Oh Those Puppy Eyes

Around here the eyes have it! I spent last Friday afternoon going over the fine art of painting eyes with my staff. Too often our glow eye originals do not even have a hint of pupil showing and so we often have to paint in all of the parts of the eyes. The tricky part is often getting that glassy quality.

Max is an adorable dog with a happy smile. He is one of those adult doggies that will always look like a puppy. This pic had so much going for it we could not let a little thing like glow eye get in the way of creating a fun and happy pet portrait.

Murphy The Doxie on Etsy Homepage!

Our artwork of Murphy the Doxie made the Etsy homepage this morning. Our 15 minutes of fame has faded already though as I just checked in and Etsy has refreshed the homepage content already. That is one thing I do adore about Etsy though, their back-end tech guys really have designed a great site that always has something new, and fresh happening wherever you look. Allision went in today and beefed up our offerings so check out our Etsy Shop when you have time. I am taking a tile Mosaic class and hope to be listing tile mosaic pieces within a few weeks. I also want to create a section for original drawings.

Working with clients / 5 Tips for the pet portrait artist

Over the past 9 years I have learned a lot about working with my clients and I offer up a few tips here for other artists. Every artist has to develop their own business model and their own strategy for working well with their patrons. I hope something here may help someone, or stir new ideas.

#1 Remember that the client is always right.
I learned this little jewel in retail and it still serves me well. Yes, you as an artist are the one with an art degree, and maybe you are the one with years of experience behind you. That may all be true and nice and dandy. The thing is, as soon as you agree to do portrait commissions you have hopped straight from the elitist world of "fine art" and you are now in the murky waters of "commercial art". I am not saying that the two art worlds do not overlap and intertwine. The thing to keep in mind is that as a portrait artist your own personal tastes and preferences may on occasion have to take a backseat to that of your clients. You are creating artwork that must fit their lifestyle, their interior design aesthetic, and sometimes their budget. With that said you still have the ability to guide your clients and work with them in making good design decisions. Some of my pet portrait clients have never worked directly with an artist before and so they are often quite open to my creative input. By also being open to their ideas I make the entire process more fun for them and allow their own creativity to come into play.

#2 Listen well
Communication is everything. I find that simple e-mails are great to get started on a project and yet once a portrait goes into design revisions I really need to have a personal phone call with my clients so I know that I am getting to the heart of what is not yet working. Too often I skim through reading e-mails and I can miss an important item that someone may have mentioned and I often can misinterpret what has been written in an e-mail.

#3 To proof or not to proof?
Most clients love a proof, or in the case of Art Paw they love seeing a set of proofs. If you choose to send a client a proof you must be ready to do some tweaking on request. That is too often the nature of proofing. I know of one artist on-line working in traditional media that provides a proof and the client can either choose to accept it or ask for a refund. If the artwork is rejected it goes up for auction and other dog lovers can bid on it. She then donates a portion of the proceeds to charity. I actually think this is a brilliant way to work, and if I were to ever start working in oils I may adopt this approach myself.

#4 Project Reports
This goes back to communication and this is an area I am always trying to improve on myself. If you have a busy studio and you are juggling well over a dozen clients a month you will find that sending out project reports once a week will keep folks in the loop and let them know that you have not forgotten about their commission. I have even seen some artists use their blogs for this and that seems to work well for them.

#5 Ask your clients to help you
OK the project has been delivered and they are thrilled ... now ask your clients to tell their pet loving pals about you. They probably will anyway, but I do make a point of asking folks to spread the word about Art Paw.

New Pet Portraits

We will be posting a handful of new portraits to the web this week. I am working overtime to try and get working sketches to new clients and get older projects completed. Today I am posting Oscar & Huckleberry to the blog. These two look like best pals to me. I do not do very many cooler hued backgrounds and I do not know if it is the heat of summer or the warm orange coats on these guys, but blues seem to work well for me this time.

"If it smells good, roll in it"!

One fun thing about being a full time pet artist is that your friends send you links, jokes, quotes, funny pics and so on about dogs. This morning my good pal Sheila sent me a great link to a very sweet short movie that is also a marketing promotion for a book.
Check out this link for "Do you Remember Love" and click the "watch movie" button on the right. My favorite words of wisdom from the movie:
"if it smells good, roll in it".

Hoppy Monday!

Wow, two weeks ago I thought I was going to clear my plate completely and be caught up. Now I am feeling totally swamped again. My apologies to any client out there that is feeling like their proof is not happening soon enough. I am working some late days trying to get everyone proofed as quickly as possible without cutting any corners.
The good news is that Allison is totally getting the hang of the painterly process and is setting up more and more pieces for me. At this point I am still trying to get my hands on all of the painterly projects however the bunny I am posting today was almost completely created by Miss Allison Crane. She worked several hours on this portrait and it turned out great. I worked maybe an hour on Mr. Bunny this morning at the most. You can always tell when Al has had a hand on our painterly pieces as she has a softer more velvety approach to the wacom than I do. I always tend to go in and add some strong jabby paint strokes and loose line work to her projects, however lately I feel the need to do less and less to her work. She is really getting very good. I guess it is time for me to update the site and better introduce Allison as an Art Paw painterly portrait artist, she is just no longer my little "assistant".

Christmas in July

Merry Christmas! Hohoho. Time to place those holiday portrait commissions and save big money now through July 15th. We will only be accepting a very limited number of commissions this year for the holidays during October & November so you have to order early this year to have an Art Paw portrait under the tree. We will also be raising our prices slightly in August to cover a recent increase in our canvas costs. Now is the time to order and save money!
Click here to take advantage of our current Warhol Sale.

Fun At Market

Wow, I have been away from the blog for way too long. Not only have I not had time to blog I am also missing all the blogs I usually frequent during the week. Today I will post a few pics from the trade show we just finished up last Monday. I had a great time and met some terrific people. I went home with a stack of leads, and a lot of work to do. I am getting caught up on portraits now and hope to be back to my regular life by next week.

To Market To Market we go...

Visit Art Paw at the upcoming wholesale market in Dallas.
June 22 - June 26
We will be in booth # 2618
2100 Stemmons Freeway
Dallas TX 75207

Happy Father's Day!

I hope you guys all have a great Father's Day. This is a shot of my Dad & Mom from the 50's. I think he looks a little like Elvis in this photo.

Women In art

Saturday and so little to talk about. I will post a viral web video below that most of you guys have probably seen by now unless you are living under a rock. Ok, Ok I should not beat up those of you that do not eat, sleep and breath the web ... there are other things in life. IF you have not seen it do hit the play button and turn up your volume.

I wish I knew more about creating and editing video, because this would be way cool to do with dog art. There are just not enough hours in the day to learn everything I want to know. Hmmm maybe if I would quit surfing the web for 10 minutes I could pick up a book on video editing ... yea maybe.

5 Tips for Commissioning a Pet Portrait

Here are my top 5 Tips For commissioning a Pet Portrait

#1 Remember that in most cases you do not pay an artist by the hour.
Faster does not equal better.

What this means to you is that while it might seem super cool to place a rush on your project or beg and plead to have the artist create you portrait in a day or an hour (Uncle Benny's birthday is next week), when it comes to custom artwork faster is not always better. Plan your project ahead of time and allow your artist the time they need to create a masterpiece for you. This does not mean that desired delivery dates should not be discussed as most artists are usually willing to try to hit target dates on request. Here at Art Paw we do our very best to never miss a deadline, and I know several other talented artists that provide the same level of service to their clients.

#2 A question of decor, will it match the sofa?

Most artists are more than happy to work with a little color direction on your part. I am always tickled when folks send paint chips, however a simple shot of the room where the artwork will be placed can really clue me in on tastes and style. The best way to give your artist some creative elbow room is to just suggest either a "warm" palette (reds & oranges) or a "cool" palette (blues & greens).

#3 A good photograph makes all the difference ...shoot, shoot and shoot again

In the old days film and processing cost money, today the majority of my clients have digital cameras which should allow them to take a hundred or more shots if that is what it takes to get one great shot. My biggest tip on shooting digital is set that camera at your highest quality setting. High resolution files are the best. Also get up close to your pet, they should fill the frame.


#4 Choosing an artist

When I started my business back in 1998 there were very few artists on the web offering their talents. Today it seems like 100 more new names appear on-line each day. The best way to find an artist on-line is to just google around and look at portfolios. Find someone working in a style you like, and then check out their working terms. Do they offer a money back guarantee or proofing. Here at Art Paw we do both and yet I will be the first to admit that there are tons of great artists that do neither. If an artist does not offer you safety net terms and yet you love their style, I suggest you check out their length of time on-line, or customer testimonials. Do they have a professional looking site with their own domain name? If for any reason you are not comfortable dealing with someone via the web try to find an artist in your own city that you can meet with in person.


#5 Order your holiday gift giving pet portraits in the summer

Pet portraits have grown in popularity over the years and every portrait artist I know is totally swamped from November to Christmas Eve. Most artists have strict deadlines that they adhere to during the holidays. Order early and get your favorite artist's best unhurried work.

Next week I will post my top 5 tips for artists on managing their commissions.

2 New Painterly Dog Portraits

Rusty

Today we uploaded 2 new painterly projects. Rusty and Tupelo are two terrific big dogs with strong lines and pretty eyes. I am very close to being caught up for the first time all year. Yay for me. We only have a few portraits in-house to start from scratch.

Tupelo

And Now For Something Completely Different ...
Other Dog Art Stuff In The News:
A British performance artist and Yoko Ono have eaten a Corgi dog in public to protest the Royal family's love for Fox hunting. This seems a bit extreme to me. I have a hard time believing this person could really be a sincere animal advocate.
Read more on this story here.

One More for Georgia & Pudge

This is a new version of Georgia & Pudge. I took my detailed painterly work and then abstracted it with more filters. I sort of like this one, and at least now the earlier proofing options will seem tame. This one is nice and flat & graphic. I think for canvas I prefer the more detailed painterly work, but this might be yummy on thick watercolor paper.

Where do you find inspiration?

This weekend I found my muse at Half Price Books. When I walk into a book store I take my creative "artist brain" and my creative "business woman brain" and usually one brain will win the day and garner all of my time in their favorite department. Well Sunday I got lucky and found 2 books for each of my creative brains.

First I have to tell you about a really brilliant book for kids and adults and especially for artists. Run out and get a copy of Dr. Seuss' old book " On Beyond Zebra". I love love love this stunning book.
Here is an excerpt:
" In the places I go there are things that I see
That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.
I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends.
My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!"


This thin little children's book is the best book on creativity I have ever seen. Oh and if you do not have kids it is ok to read it out loud to your dogs.

You can order a newer copy at Amazon:


The other book I just finished reading today is Seth Godin's book "Permission Marketing". I found it dry, tedious, and repetitive. With that said I would also highly recommend it. I did gain some working knowledge that I will apply to my business. The man is no Dr. Seuss ok., and business books are as a rule not as fun as a romp in the park, but if you have an open mind you can find what you need in them. I also try to check in on Seth Godin's Blog from time to time. He has some other business books that I plan to read soon, so don't let my negative comments on his writing style keep you from learning from him. This guy knows his stuff.

English Bulldog art

Georgia & Pudge are two of my new favorite Bullies. The client requested a sort of "neutral toned" Bulldog portrait to work on a nice red wall. Sounds like they really do have great taste with lots of silver, and modern warm neutral tones in their home. The image posted here is my splashy and maybe way too colorful version that I sort of did for myself. When I proof Pudge & Georgia's humans I will be sure and include some more conservative or "toned down" options as well. While I always love design notes and input from my clients I also have to just go crazy sometimes and have fun, throwing caution to the wind. They have a signed Dali print for goodness sake, my colors can not be all that bold (crossing fingers).

Detail showing digital "paint splashes". (click to enlarge)

If you click to enlarge the detail above you will see where I have tried to get a bit messy. I used a cool splatter brush to create some fun paint texture on this piece. It is always a challenge to get loose and get messy with digital art, but when you can find your groove with it the results can be very fun. I feel like the more intentional drips and splatters I can work into a painting the more I can separate my work from more filter oriented artists. One of my favorite parts on this piece is that red splotch on the red pillow. I know, 2 adorable sweet pups and I am in love with a pillow splotch. I do also love the tiny beauty mark on Georgia's right cheek and the freckles on her left ear.

Miniature Schnauzer Dog Art

"Skye with Bone"

Yesterday I talked about American Bulldogs, today I want to talk about Mini Schnauzers and my most recent Aussie client Skye. Skye looks adorable chewing on that tasty bone. This commission is a surprise Birthday gift portrait for Skye's Dad. He will get to choose his favorite proof to be printed. This portrait is a good example of how a special candid photograph can turn out really great as a painterly style portrait.

I have not had the opportunity to create very many Schnauzer portraits in the past 9 years however I have done a few Mini Schnauzuers that I am quite proud of. Last month I worked on Micah ( see below)

"Mod Micah"

My first Mini Schanuzer was a local Dallas pup named Fannie, and she was a real cutie pie.

"Fannie on Green"

I love this breed. Of course as a Scottie person I am fond of any pup with shaggy eyebrows and a beard. I see the Mini Schnauzers as sort of a less serious version of the larger breed. They just look like little wind-up toys, and I love their playful faces.

American Bulldog Art Projects

Thunder & Taylor

Casino

It is odd how we go in breed cycles around here. Some months we will have several of one breed come in at the same time. Last week I worked on Casino an American Bulldog with a card themed background while Allison knocked out a really terrific Warhol inspired portrait of Thunder & Taylor. We are still fine-tuning both portraits a little this week.

American Bulldogs have long been a favorite breed of mine, I just love their strong lines and sleek muscles.

The American Bulldog is a working dog developed for catching livestock and for protecting property. There are generally considered to be two types of American Bulldog, the Johnson type and the Scott type, named after the breeders who were influential in developing them, John D. Johnson and Allen Scott. These are more commonly known as Classic or Bully type and Standard or Performance type. More from Wikipedia

Austin Break

We took a very brief break on Sunday and drove down to Austin. We stayed at the lovely San Jose and we hung out with Big Tommy at Barton Springs. The pics are from Monday. I figured it was about time I added a current pic of me to the web. All my pics from the bio pages are about 9 years old now, and 36 looked a lot different for me than 45.

Tommy had a blast retrieving his ball from Barton Springs. He was not a natural water dog like our Nessie, but he eventually got the hang of it.

3-D Dog art at the push of a button?

Ok so in my last post I ended by talking about a desire to get back to working with my hands a little and create some things in 3-d. Oh what a wicked harpie technology is! Now I know what the next big visual arts thing is going to be for those that are ready to take the plunge into 3-d design work. Check out the video below to see what is possible in the world of 3-d printing and model making. What a world!!!

I still remember staring at the fax machine 15 years ago in awe at the magic of technology, and now we can create 3-d objects with the ease of using a printer and computer software. It may be a few years before the price tag is feasible for a small art studio like Art Paw, but who knows maybe pet sculptures will be our next big adventure.
You can also read a great article on 3-d printing by clicking here.