Mosaic Monday/ Year Of The Dragon

Dragon, detail, a photo by Gila < GilaMosaics.com > on Flickr.

Today begins the year of the dragon. This lovely dragon detail is by Gila Rayberg. Be sure and check out her main site over at gilamosaics.com.  
...click through and You will get to see the entire dragon piece above and more of her terrific mosaic work.  My favorite series she has done are her fantasy faces.  Gila has a way with both color and Smalti. She has a playful imagination and she lets it run wild.

Flashback Friday

I have always loved drawing. Posted below are some old drawings I did when I was a kid I think I was probably 9 when I did these since Jim Croce was alive and well at the time. I am going to start doing Flashback Friday posts and dig into my past a bit with old photos and old stories. Not all will be art related, but many will be since I have been doodling and making "pictures" since I was a very small child. Eventually I want to create a time-line of the business too, and revisit my early days at Art Paw. Feeling very nostalgic today for some reason.

Jim Croce, probably copied from an album cover 1972-ish

I guess I was bored with the class assignment,
I have no idea who was sitting in front of me

 

More Dog Portraits

Today I updated Baron and proofed Eli & Berkely. I got up early and got tons of stuff done by noon. Had lunch with a good pal and now I get to go on a long dog walk with Whitman. It is 7o degrees outside, just not sure if Texas is going to see any real winter this year. It is making me ready for spring. Anyway ... today's projects shown below.

"Berkeley" The Golden Retriever
( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com
8x8 size (offered only on Etsy)

"Eli" The Mini Schnauzer
( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Baron"
( see all updated proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Average Day at Art Paw

Yes the holidays have officially passed and I am settling into more average days here at Art Paw.  The crazy urgency of trying to create 30 to 40 portraits a month has ended and we are back to a very normal and very healthy work flow. I just have a couple of revisions to do and 2 new pet portraits to start on this week. So what is an average day in the life of a Pet Portrait Artist?

I start my day around 8:00 when Pickle lets me know it is time to get up. After my morning Diet Coke, I leash up all 3 dogs and we go on a dog walk. On my dog walks I often pick up found objects to use later in my glass mosaic work. Now I am on a new quest and I am also picking up stuff that I can use to create texture in ceramics.

mirror & rubber washers  for mosaics, plastic shim for ceramic texture making

After the walk I take an hour to get stuff printed for Lola to stretch & ship. 

Mona Lisa & Westie prints for Amazon orders
and Yorkie Portrait that will ship today

Lola arrives at noon and we try to make Whitman sit like a gentleman before she comes in.... it half works, half of the time. He needs training.

Lola will spend 2 hours on production & shipping and then 2 hours organizing all of my digital files from Nov. & Dec. First she has to do a quick supply run because we just ran out of 14 inch bars

I will be answering e-mails today and organizing the rest of the month's work load. It is very much a boring office day for me today. There is always so much to get caught up when it comes to managing the office part if my work life. Even with boring paperwork facing me I do have the best job on the entire planet! Life is very good.

Pugs Pugs Pugs

"Goober" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Today I proofed Goober the Pug and yesterday we shipped 2 portraits with 3 puggies. It seems to be raining pugs around here. I am cool with that. I love working on Chinese Pugs ... the face wrinkles are extra fun to play with.
Recent Puggies  shown below:

"Ellie & Lucy" (see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Prada" (see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Mosaic Monday/ New ATC

© rebecca collins

Above is another ATC I have created for a local card swap in Feb. I have not been doing very much mosaic work so far this year, just a couple of little cards and yesterday I had a few pals over and we each worked on some unfinished projects from last year. I got back on Chip the 3-d robot fellow. I had been missing him.  I am giving myself a pass for about 6 weeks on mosaics in terms of having to work hard at it each week, and that is because I am taking 2 art classes in other areas.

I am taking ceramics with Linda Gosset, and mixed media painting with Katherine Baronet.
I decided to revisit ceramics because I was never all that good at it and I really want to get my brain to work in a new way. All artists have favorite mediums and yet I think it is important to revisit techniques and materials that you may not have as great an affinity to. Clay is that material for me.  The mixed media painting should be a lot of fun, the teacher really seems to want to discuss much more than just technique and is really concerned with having us develop a vocabulary for our art by discovering the personal symbols that we connect with. Both ladies are seasoned artists and I am so eager to learn from them. I feel like a college kid again with new classes, new classmates and of course new challenges.

Redeeming Gift Certs

It is that time of year, and lots of people are redeeming their Gift Certificates. Often folks will shoot me over a photo and their gift code and tell me they are redeeming their cert. That is a very good way to get the ball rolling, however I need to know where to ship your portrait, and what size and style your certificate was for. All of that info can easily be given to me by going through the shopping cart on-line:
http://www.artpaw.com/weborder2.html
At the end of the cart process you have the option to select Gift Cert as payment option, then you enter your code.

Once your order form is filled out I take the code you give me and do a search in my paypal records to double check that everything is in order. If for some reason I can not find the code I may ask you to send in the paper copy or tell me the last name of the person that gave you the certificate. I do have to cross reference it manually at this point.

Right now I am a little low tech on the cert issue, and I do appreciate everyone's patience. Paypal now has the option of creating gift cert buy buttons that can be customized and I will be switching over to that system this year once I figure out the technical stuff I need to do to make it happen.


I can also be reached toll-free if you do not like shopping carts and navigating websites:
888-225-4278 

I am here to help you redeem your certificates.

More pet portrait collages

Last Feb 201:  20 projects, 25 animals

Last March 2011: 19 projects, 23 animals

 More pet portraits from last year.

Pet Portraits 2011

When I first started my pet portrait business way back in 1998 I thought that I needed to compete against other portrait artists and I tried very hard to have the fastest loading best looking site I could possibly have. I just really wanted to be the very best of the best. Somewhere along the way I started making friends with other portrait artists and my competitive drive started to change and morph. These days I really spend more time competing against myself than competing against other artists. I look at my sales from the last year and I look at how many projects I proofed during a particular month. Last January I proofed 19 clients. I hope I can do that well this month, crossing fingers.

Mosaic Monday: ATC

This weekend I played around and got started on an Asian inspired ATC ( artist trading card) for a local swap that is coming up in early Feb.  The collage artwork on this one is by a Japanese print maker named Kunichika.

2.5x3.5 Mosaic ATC

One artist's Resolutions

 

 It is that time of year again,  do I set goals, make resolutions or just list last year's accomplishments? I have never been big on New Years resolutions, but I will make a stab at it this year when it comes to the things I want to do as an artist.

My 12 Art resolutions for 2012:

#1 Take art classes outside of my main areas of mosaic and digital art.

#2 See more art. I saw a lot of art in 2011, but I plan to see even more in 2012.

#3 Offer better support to my partner in his creative pursuits

#4 Renew membership to the Dallas Museum

#5 Focus on process and let the meaning take care of itself. Last year I was very focused on meaning in my work and this year I want to return to a greater emphasis on process and experimentation.

#6 Enter at least one show per quarter

#7 READ. Read the pretty art books on my bookshelves, read artist biographies, read the info cards at museum shows... read read read.

#8 Draw, and keep a sketch book again.

#9 Create a mosaic portfolio book via blurb

#10 Update my fine art portfolio website rebeccacollins.com

#11 Take more time to acknowledge the many people that support me in my work.

#12 Keep working on finding a healthy balance between portrait commissions and the personal work I do. Both are important and both feed my soul.

Mosaic Monday: Murmur

Happy New Year!  

"Murmur"
5 x 18 Mixed Media Mosaic
© rebecca collins

 I just finished either my first mosaic of 2012 or my last mosaic of 2011, or maybe both. I started this right after Christmas and just grouted today. It is a robot arm holding an anatomical heart. I am very pleased with how well my drawing elements are showing through this time. I used the ring saw and cut large shapes for my main subject areas.

I like this a lot, and now I am very eager to finish a bird mosaic I started last year. This year I am going to try and do a few mosaics that are a little more "traditional" in subject matter, like birds, maybe dogs and other critters. I have always been very drawn to odd-ball quirky subjects for my mosaic work, but I feel like sometimes I am using that as a crutch to stand out. I want to try my hand at "pretty" and "normal" subjects to see if I can do them in a way that will stand out and still have a different twist to them.  I have proven to myself that I can totally make odd things look pretty in mosaic, now lets see if I can take pretty subjects and make them look unusual.

Shipping Portraits today

"Carlos" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Jolly Bulldogs ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

 

Today Lola will be coming in and we are going to get the wheels turning again on production. We have two projects to ship out and I am eager to get back to work. We blew through all of our 24 inch stretcher bars this last month so the first order of business will be getting out to the art supply store and stocking up on bars again.

My new drugs are so ugly

New drug packaging

 Ok this is totally off the topic of dog art however, can someone tell me what is up with the drug companies and why have they fired the real packaging designers? Last week I had to go get some Benadryl because Ajax got stung by a bug of some sort. I go to the store and find some horrible bright pink package that looks like it must be a fake, right? Surely someone has sold the drug store some pirated imitation drug or something. I buy it anyway and come home to look on-line and sure enough the packaging has changed. If you check out the old package below you will see that although the goofy beveled logo weenie is very 1980's at least they were trying to make an all text product interesting, you have  a lovely soft gradient thing happening in the white area. The navy on the old box is much more pleasing than the cheap bright blue on the new box. I know the weenie text boxes have been over-used for 2 decades now in graphic design, but there must be a better alternative than shocking bright pink & blue. Besides ... when your product is sort of a pill and sorta pill shaped, what is wrong with text boxes that are pill shaped?

So today I go to the store to get a cough suppressant for Dan, he is still battling a very old cold. I notice the same thing has happened with Robitussin, the new package design is very flat. They did give us a bit of  a drop shadow in one text area, but overall ...very ugly. I like the classy stripes on the older box shown below. Again the 1980's weenie text box has been ditched on the newer box. Look at the simplicity of the older box though: Robitussin Cough DM ... those were the only 3 words I needed to find this on the drug aisle. Instead of those 3 simple words I had to read about mucus, peak cold, and the pink droplet on the newer box reminded me that this stuff is going to taste horrible.

I know this is a very off-topic rant, but I have been noticing for the last year or so that graphic design on billboards and all advertising in general is getting less and less attractive. I am a weirdo and I love advertising when it is done well. I know what is happening, the big wigs are ready to ditch the over-used design gimmicks like drop shadows, weenie text boxes, glow, gradients and so on but they really do not have a plan for what should replace those effects. Ok tomorrow I will get back to posting more dog art ... maybe a Doxie ... you thought I was going to say weenie again didn't you?

Prada The Pug

Well Christmas is over and I am officially worn out. I slept until 10:00 this morning. Lola was going to come in today and we were going to get back to work, however she came down with a bad cold and I decided that taking a little time off would not hurt either one of us. I am answering e-mails and checking phone messages ... it will be Friday before we start printing and shipping again. We do still have a few folks to ship that ordered late in the game after holiday deadlines. Many clients actually preferred to do proofing only so their loved ones could choose their favorite proof.


I will start posting some of the holiday projects this week. Now that Christmas is over there is no chance of ruining any surprises by adding projects to the blog.

"Prada The Pug" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

 

Prada is a real cutie pie and the only Pug I worked on this holiday season. I love working on smushed faced pups ... so much texture and detail on their wrinkled faces to play with!

"Lexie" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

This pretty cow dog was a memorial portrait project. Her Moms turned out to be neighbors that live just a few blocks away from us. I always love it when local clients find me on the web.  Lexie's original photo was pretty good however the eye to our left was lost in a dark patch of black. I was able to lighten that area up enough to see her pretty brown eyes.

Merry Christmas!

"Big Tommy"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

I still love this holiday card from last year. Big Tommy was just the best boy ever.
This year we did not have time to design and send out holiday cards. We did however finish our orders and today was a very short one. I took Lola to lunch and we talked about the things that worked well for us this season and the things we need to improve upon. She gave me an adorable felted Scottie brooch that I will shoot and post soon.

What a quiet day it is. The phone has stopped ringing and even the e-mail has slowed down.  Soon I too will figure out how to slow down for just a few days. Tomorrow I celebrate 13 years of happy marriage. I wish we could get a little freezing drizzle like we had on our wedding night 13 years ago.... that would be kinda nice. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Almost done!

"Mason" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Mason is shipping out later today, I enjoyed working on this pretty boy. The above sample is the one my client chose, and I love that colorful wooden background, I created it from an old door I shot in Italy this year.  I proofed Mason back on the 6th I think, sometimes folks need a little extra time to choose.  I really like the one she picked.

As of today I think I can officially state that everyone that ordered by posted deadlines and approved one of their provided samples will have shipped. Yay! I have 2 clients to provide updates on and that will happen this weekend.  I have not really had a day off yet this month, but I will be taking one day off next week to get my own holiday shopping done. I am looking forward to that.

4 more late orders to proof and I will be officially done with creating digital portraits for the month.

Tips For Shopping Art on-line and off

This year I started my Christmas shopping very early for Dan and started buying on Etsy and also from one of our favorite print makers and painters. So many people are trying harder and harder to avoid Kmart and Target and instead support small business owners and independent artists.  With that said, many still wait till the very last minute to get on-line and shop and they also tend to expect factory style big-box service from smaller providers. This year I bought a small assortment of inexpensive stocking stuffers for Dan from Etsy, and if one item is late, I am not really going to loose sleep over it. Actually one gift item is taking forever, and it is totally my dumb... it is shipping from Malaysia after all. It is just a tiny little $4 item so no, I am not going to message the seller in a frenzy and ask for tracking ... it will arrive when it arrives.


Here is my top 7 List For Shopping with Independent Artists:

• #1 Try to find local sales events where you can have the fun of meeting and talking with the artist in person.

• #2 When shopping on-line try to start early.

• #3 Etsy Tip:  Check out their left hand menu at the bottom and under ways to shop choose "Shop Local", enter your zip code and buy from folks in your area ... your items will arrive quickly.


• #4 If you are buying just one important gift for your spouse or relative, be sure and buy with enough shipping time factored in ... when in doubt ask if you can purchase overnight or 2-day delivery. Once an item leaves the artist's studio they are not in control as to how fast it gets delivered.

• #5 If you are buying a lot of stuff on-line for people do yourself a favor and in order to stay organized print out an image of each item you buy. Just print the browser window and place it in a file folder.  Then if a package does go missing at the very least you can wrap that photo-image up in a comically over-sized box and tell your recipient that their gift is on its way.

• #6 There are tons of talented and organized artists out there that are hustling very hard right now to fill holiday orders for people. Remember that they are usually just one person handling shipping, e-mail, creating the product and so on ... cut them some slack and if they do not reply to an e-mail right away know that it is probably because they are either creating art, shipping art, or trying to collect payment for their art.

• #7 Pat yourself on the back and know that in addition to purchasing an original handmade item you are supporting the arts!

Ok, last blog post from me until Friday when I hope to report that Art Paw's holiday shipping is done. I will not be answering the phone for 48 hours so leave a message. My blinders are on and I am in the home stretch .... going to get November clients shipped and all the late after posted deadline people proofed this week.

I adore Post It notes!

Later today I plan to get out and catch some art sales. Right now I am working on project updates .... and it just dawned on me how much I love post it notes.  When an order comes in I place it on the calendar and place a post it note with a date on it and then with a magnet I  place it on the metal project board. If it ends up needing changes ... it gets another post it note... if it is pending payment ... another post it note.

 For awhile Whitman had a bad habit of pilfering them off my desk and chewing them up.... so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a little coffee mug to store them in.  I really like the hot pinks ones best.

Below is a fun video on other less productive, yet more creative uses for post its.

Deck the Halls with Pet Portraits!!

Wow, it is only the 8th and so far this month I have proofed many many clients.  Tomorrow I have 2 more clients to proof and I will end this week having proofed every client that placed their holiday portrait order by my posted deadline of 11/30.  In reading back through last year's December posts it looks like I am at about the same exact same place in terms of production and proofing.

Once I get everyone handled that ordered early I will be able to look at the newer projects that are slipping in through the shopping cart. All orders that are placed after this weekend will be proofing only holiday projects with actual prints shipping after Christmas time. It is actually a lot of fun to let your recipient pick their favorite proof. Many people are not aware when they order just how many proofs I will provide them with, I promise 10 samples and often I go beyond that. 

• Below is sample proofing page and what you will be able to show your loved one if you let them pick their favorite proof for a delivery in January. One client told me that since he can't choose he will be printing out his proofing page from his browser window and he will place it in a greeting card.

Local Dallas Clients, that do not require shipping have until next Monday to nail down there late orders with me. Art Paw Gift Certificates are also a great option, and then you don't have to hustle to find that perfect snapshot to submit!

Oscar on the wall

If you think you don't possibly have room for an Art Paw custom pet portrait, think again .... I just love this in-home shot an old client sent me today of her German Shepherd Oscar. This is a gal after my own heart. We tend to stack our art from floor to ceiling at home and Lisa is just as creative here with an above the door placement.  Who says art has to go over the mantle anyway?

Holiday Deadline is Today!

I am going over my list and I am checking it twice. I know that most of my four legged clients have probably been both "naughty and nice" this last year .... anyway my own dogs have been.  I am eager to get everyone that has ordered proofed as quickly as possible, while still maintaining a close attention to detail.

You have until midnight tonight to fill out an order form on-line and place your holiday pet portrait order. Once you fill out your form just e-mail your pet photos to artpaw.com@gmail.com.

If you sent us pics last month sometime and never filled out a form and finalized your project order, I will be sorting through all those pending projects on Friday and I will be e-mailing everyone letting them know what we need to do on our end to get them placed on the project board. Lisa and Mike, you guys are both repeat clients so don't worry, you are totally on the board and I will invoice you later.

If you want to see where you are at on the proofing calendar just click here.
Allow me 24 hours to manually update the calendar once your order is placed.

New Pet Portrait Mickey and Pal

"Mickey" ( see all Proofs)
© rebecca collins/ artpaw.com

"Mickey" ( see all Proofs)
© rebecca collins/ artpaw.com

 Is Mickey cute or what? I love his little bear pal. I gave the bear an eyeball and with his empty headed grin and doll-stare he seems to make Mickey look even more alive. Look at that possessive paw holding on to bear! I love it.

Have not been blogging much lately. We are starting to get really swamped with pet portrait orders. Our cut off date for new orders with a holiday delivery is tomorrow at midnight.  I will still take just a few orders in December however we can not 100% promise a holiday delivery when clients order past the posted deadlines.  I can promise proofing, but not delivery when your order is placed after 11/30.  Every year I kill myself working right up to December 23rd, and this year I am just going to have to be strict about my posted deadlines. 

Holiday Deadlines are very important because:
• If the post office drops the ball we have time to reprint and reship.
• If our e-mail messages end up in your spam folder we have time to track you down by phone to get your proof approval.
• If clients need a minor color change I have time to go back in and make that change.
• When clients send low resolution pics that will not work they have time to search for higher resolution more workable photographs to submit.
• Ultimately holiday deadlines are important because Art Paw has one artist in charge and one very talented shipping and stretching expert. E-mail alone can eat up half of my day.

Please just go easy on us and place your pet portrait order by 11/30/11.

Looking Back

Wow, looking back at last year's pet portraits in November and we did 41 projects. We are a bit behind that marker this year with only around 30 projects slated for this month so far. I always like to compete against myself, but you know I am more than happy with the work we have in-house right now. We have some great pets lined up and I am very excited about them all. We even have 2 kitty projects in the works and that beats last November's feline numbers.... yay for the kitties! Meow baby.

Organizing all day!

Wow, spent the entire day organizing some new portrait projects and many pending projects.  It looks like my sbcglobal e-mail is on the fritz again .... arrrrg, so I am back to using artpaw.com@gmail.com.

When it comes to commissioning a pet portrait lots of folks like to just shoot me quick pics to get the ball rolling on a portrait project and that is cool, but do keep in mind I love to have a real order form filled out ( it keeps me organized, and sane) and that can easily be done by following this link: http://www.artpaw.com/painterly_order.html
When you go through the shopping cart process you don't even have to pay at the end, you can choose pay later by phone as an option.  I will call you to take your payment details by phone. I will need at least a 50% deposit to get started if you are a new Art Paw client.

This weekend I will be working on a few commissions at once, getting many pups and kitties started. Next week I will spend more time with each project giving each the time it needs. Tonight however I get to play and go to a poetry reading and I am excited about that. My husband has a whole different set of pals than I do because of his work with the Writers Garrett here in Dallas. I really enjoy going to their events.

Kitty Sneak Peek
I see you

If you have sent me pics and are waiting for a proofing e-mail please do know that I need your full order details to get started. If you have been sent a proofing date then relax, you are on the board. If you are a repeat client, don't worry we will figure things out and we can work loosely with you by e-mail, but first time clients need to give me their shipping and billing details.

Tick Tock Baby!

I just posted my Holiday deadlines on the website  ... it is going to be the end of the month 11/30. I will take pet portrait orders until the end of November with a promise of a holiday delivery. After that time I will do what I can with all of the late orders that trickle in, however prepaid orders that were made by posted deadlines will have top priority treatment.  Click Here To Place your Order Today!

We do a lot of projects for spouses, but consider buying for the kiddo's bedrooms too!

Mosaic Monday/ Field Trip

Sunday I went out to Rockwall to visit Barbara Dybala and check out her large scale mosaic mural project.  They say everything is bigger in Texas and this gal really has a Texan "can do attitude".  She is covering her 3 story studio in tile and smalti. If you want to be a part of the fun know that Barb is offering free classes on large scale mosaics. At first when I heard about it I thought what a clever way to get your "fence painted Huck Finn".  After just 20 minutes of listening to her orientation I realize she has an amazing wealth of info and she is as generous as she can possibly be with her knowledge. I learned so  much about efficiency and production when tackling something on this scale. Barbara studied under Isaiah Zagar and uses many of his techniques.

There is still time to get in on the fun and it really is fun. The space she is creating is magical. Check out her website for more info.  This is the last week of open classes so don't miss out!