Abbey & Hunter New Pet Portraits

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

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

Yesterday I proofed Abbey & Hunter. Today Lola is in and we will be printing and shipping out all approved projects.

Mosaic Monday/ Arm Milagro

"Untitled"
© rebecca collins

This is a 5x7x2 Mosaic I finished recently for my upcoming show in September. The artwork underneath the glass is a drawing of the doll arm that is on top and also an x-ray of a broken arm supplied by my assistant's Lola's Mom. I am not sure yet what I will title the piece.

There is a lot of stuff happening early this fall for me in my Mosaic world. In early September I have an article coming out about my mixed media mosaic technique in Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine. You can subscribe to this cool magazine on-line or order back issues. http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/content/Subscriptions.aspx.  After my gallery show at the end of the month I will be heading to Italy to study mosaics in Venice at Orsoni.  Dan and Lola will be holding down the fort for me here at Art Paw while I study mosaics in a foreign country, sometimes I just can not believe I have such an amazing life. I am very lucky to be able to pursue what I love and create art every single day.  If you had told me in college that I would end up marrying that shy boy with the long hair and we would create a life that is full of art and animals I could never have imagined what that might look like.

China Kitty Art

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

This sweet kitty was proofed this last week. She is part of a 2 pet project that includes artwork of Mia the Shitzu. We are in the process of revising these works so we can finalize and print.

I had originally proofed Mia in a vertical format however this kitty was really looking best horizontal so it was a pretty easy fix to make them both horizontal.

Hobbes

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

This sweet lab's artwork will ship out tomorrow. I am loving this background and it is getting chosen a lot lately. I think maybe the cool blues and greens are more pleasing this time of year than my typical hot oranges and reds.  It prints up lovely so I am very happy when people choose it.

I have been working on a new commission terms sheet that gets e-mailed along with all new pet portrait orders. The first page is a brief explanation of the proofing process and then the 2nd page has a lot of small print legal stuff. I find that it can easily be adapted for commercial projects as well. Speaking of commercial projects, I am very excited that I may be designing artwork for a veterinary clinic's van this month. It is going to be huge and cool, makes me want to get a van of my own so I can get it wrapped in my own artwork. Of course I hardly ever leave my studio so I am not sure how effective it would be as advertising in my case.

Mosaic Monday / My Current Mosaic Work

Above are some finished mosaic pieces and works in progress for an upcoming gallery show in September. I have around 7 pieces done or almost done and around 7 projects still to create.  I am showing with Katrina Doran and Apryl Begay in a show centered around the theme of Milgros. We have a goal of 14 pieces each. We are all on track for reaching that goal.


About the work above:
Top left: " Strength to Strength" A Leg Milgaro for my husband Dan
Next to it to the right: Toy Airplane, it will be covered in millefiori and will call it the Peace Plane
Next row: a finished arm 5x7x2, finished leg 3 x 5, hand mosaic 11 x11, leg mosaic 12x 9x2, arm not started yet 5x 7
Bottom row: small cardinal about my mom, lung milagro, and prepped board for piece called Safe Passage.

We have a group blog created as a communication tool over at Wordpress. If you ever become involved in a group art project or joint show I highly recommend setting up a blog that all the event participants have access to. It is a great way to share works in progress and to keep abreast of what other people on your project or event are up to. I find that seeing what the gals are doing and having the ability to post about what I am doing makes it seem as though we are all working side by side, and we really are. You can learn more about our upcoming show and see the things Apryl and Katrina are working on at http://tresmilagros.wordpress.com/.

More Pet Portraits

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

This pretty little kitty is Derek and he was commissioned by one of my mosaic classmates. I love it when my mosaic world and my pet art world collide. I really love the background colors that Amy and her friend chose for this project. The orange coat really pops against the olive green ground.

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

This pretty pup reminds me of a Shitzu I had growing up named Leechi. I am currently working on a portrait that will hang with Mia of a stunning kitty named China.

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

Pete was such a happy looking boy in this photo. I just proofed this project today. I love huskies with their pretty and intense eyes.

What the heck is Color?

What is color? Can it even be contained in words? I think visual people tend to use emotional words to describe color and that is often the reason people do not agree on color. Often we like to use food words to describe color like kiwi, cranberry, lime, lemon, cherry red, tomato red and so on. Today I have been e-mailing with an important commercial client that is looking for a certain shade of mustard. I have proofed her a couple of times and I am not at the perfect happy place just yet for the color she has in mind.   I will get there, it just may take a bit more proofing. I decided it might be time to ask for a swatch.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words:
This is never more true than when it comes to color. Too often designers and artists will spend way too much time messing around with language when all they need is to insist on a color swatch. One of my favorite places to reference people for an easy on-line way to share color is colourlovers.com. They have a great search tool and when I tried it for the word "cranberry" I got 670 results. That tells me that a lot of people have very different ideas about that color. Nobody is wrong, color is just very subjective at times.
Another way to work is of course to ask clients to go to their local hardware store to look at paint swatches. This takes a bit more work on their part however if they are really wanting a very specific shade this is the best way to go about it. They can even take the swatch and place it into the room where the art will live and see how that color reacts to the lighting in that room.


Merriam Webster defines Color:

a : a phenomenon of light (as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects b (1) : the aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources color of the sky>; also : a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness colors> (2) : a color other than and as contrasted with black, white, or gray

Ok, and now a video embed for fellow artists and designers. Please note: This is not my client or any client I have ever had, just an over the top stereotype that humorously explains the problem with using language to try and define color.

Ava & Bently

"Ava & Bently" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

These lovely pups were a lot of fun to work on. I just adore that one straight up ear on Ava. This project was proofed last week and the client is still trying to decide on their favorite proof. It has been a strange summer here at Art Paw. Several clients have been a little slow to sign off on their projects and I can only guess that it may have something to do with the slower pace of summer. I am also working with many clients that are ordering for themselves and so the typical gift giving deadlines that can drive me bonkers have not been in place. Overall there is an odd lack of urgency around here and it makes me uneasy. I guess I should enjoy the slower pace and continue to have fun with each project as they come. I will get back to more frequent posting this week here on the blog.

Mosaic Monday / Cool Skull On Etsy

Not in a writing mood today so I decided to hop over to Etsy to see who is selling what in the way of mosaics. I discovered a very cool mosaic skull by artist Maude Lemaire.

Check out her main site at http://modsaica.com/

Or shop her work over at Etsy.

"Skully" From Maude Lemaire
2'x2'x2" $2300
Etsy Shop: Modsaica

Art Paw QR Code

Technology changes so fast it is crazy to think about keeping up. For the past 6 months or so I have been noticing these funny looking bar codes on stuff everywhere. They are called "QR" codes. Smart phones and other devices with the right applications can read these images and they will take you to a website, or give you a message, phone number or whatever.  Dan created one for Art Paw last night and e-mailed it to me. Of course I don't even use a cell phone so I have no way of reading it, but we tested it with his phone and it worked, he took a picture of it with his iphone and it took us right to my homepage. So now when I print new postcards, not only do I need to put my facebook fan page url on them, I need a spot on the backside for the code below.

Whitman playing in water

whitman playing in water a video by artpaw [rebecca collins] on Flickr.

Short Video of my boy cooling off. Have a great 4rth of July everyone!

Mosaic Monday / UFO 's

At our last mosaic ATC card swap in May I was asking one of the artists what she was working on and she replied that she has a few Mosaic UfO's sitting around. I was very intrigued and immediately thought of the work of Eve Lynch.  When I pressed her for more details she informed me that UFO's are Un-Finished Objects.  I laughed out loud and was happy to discover this important new mosaic term ( thanks Theresa).

Above is a shot of a few of my current " UFO's". When I first started mosaics in 2007 I started on a really large crow mosaic, got half way through it  and then left it alone for over a year. I have since finished that project and now I have a few other unfinished works that are tugging at me. When I was new to mosaics I felt terrible when I would abandon one project to start another. As I have met more mosaic artists and seen how they work I have learned that this is a common pattern and not a character flaw. It has something to do with the time intensive nature of the medium.  Sometimes you get stuck and do not know what direction to go with a project and other times you just get bored and need to start on something new. At any rate I no longer beat myself up about unfinished objects.

Focus on what you "are" doing, not what is undone:
My goal for the year is to finish 14 new mosaics for an upcoming art show in September, take a mosaic class in Italy in the fall and then after a crazy busy holiday season here at Art Paw creating pet portraits I will tackle all of my unfinished fine art mosaic projects next January.


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Mosaics Around the Web.....

Check out Katrina Doran's blog on the 2nd Tuesday of each month for a step by step tutorial on creating large flower sculptures: http://katrinadoran.wordpress.com

Christine Brallier shares a post on making progress on her book! Follow along at : http://cbmosaics.blogspot.com
Keep up the good work Christine and hang in there! It is going to be great.

Eve Lynch has a call to artists for anyone wanting to donate a butterfly mosaic to a community project she is organizing.

Kim Grant's Blog: Kim did a recent post about Howard Grange.  I love Kim's blog because she writes from the heart and will even go off on an occasional rant. She very much has a journal style approach in her blogging.

Margo Antone has a blog where she posts tiny mosaics she creates in a Mosaic-a-day approach, much like the popular painting a day blogs.

Tate & Bijou

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

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

This week I proofed Bijou & Tate. The summer heat is starting to zap my energy just a bit. Being inside working on pet portraits is about all that I want to do and yet I am also getting cabin fever. This weekend I am going to work on my mosaics and that should energize me.

What are you guys doing to beat the summer heat? I have a great video I will post soon of our dog Whitman playing in the water. He loves the water hose. When he was just a puppy I allowed him to get in the shower with me once and since then he has been totally fascinated with water. I like having a water dog. Big Tommy loved the water too.

Mosaic Monday / Scale baby Scale

Scale is such an impressive thing in art. This weekend we organized and cleaned out the garage. Dan spent a good amount of time un-stretching and rolling up some really huge paintings he did in college. I fell in love with several of them and wanted to hang a few however most are just way too large for any wall in our little bungalow. Yea, I am married to a tall painter that likes to paint really big.  I am drawn to larger works but have not had the courage to really tackle a huge mosaic yet.   

When I see large scale mosaics I am just blown away.

I have been meaning to share a cool site with you and a post I saw today fits right in with the subject of scale.  Check out Midcentura.com.  The mosaic below is by Spanish artist Josep Renau and it is made up of square tiles. I am usually not a fan of mosaics with perfectly shaped tiles all in the same size, but this work is just amazing.

If that piece does not impress maybe you will like the image below of a 10 story tall mosaic.

Read more at Midcentura.com

Ok so if you are a mosaic artist viewing this and thinking like I am well, "yea scale is cool but this is way out of my world of possibility" then please check out the work below by Barbara Keith. It is also very much out of my league but at 5 feet by 13 feet it is the sort of large scale mosaic that I can almost get my tiny brain around. She worked it in panels and that makes a lot of sense to me.

©2011  Barbara Benson Keith

You can read more, see wips and close ups of this outstanding large scale mosaic mural on Barbara's blog.  Way to go Barb! This piece is a real masterpiece and a work that will raise the bar for all mosaic artists.  I really love the way the panels vary in size, the subtle colors, the great use of contrast ... I just love everything about this work.

New Chihuahua Art And New Doxies

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

 

"Snoopy & Charlie" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Boy this week is winding down so fast. These are a couple of recent projects proofed this last week. The Chihuahua needs some minor tweaking and the Doxies will get printed up tomorrow.

Bride and Groom Robots

Bride and Groom Robots, a photo by artpaw [rebecca collins] on Flickr.

A Mosaic gift for pals that married this last weekend.

Many New Pet Portrait Projects

Wow, seven days into June and I have not updated the blog yet. I have been away from the blog this past week because I have been very focused on many many pet portraits. I will post the past week here. I had a blast working on all of these.

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

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

 Vito & Vienna ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

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

June Bug ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

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

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

 

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

 

Ginger & Payton ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

I still have a few project updates on the board and 4 new commissions including a cool cat I am working on for a classmate. Thanks to everyone for your patience. I try to provide proofs at least 3 days out of the week. We print and ship approved projects out every Tuesday and Thursday. Below is a shot of Lola from last week. I am very lucky to have help with stretching & shipping.

Jasper & Josie Pet Portraits

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

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

These two cutie pies shipped last week to North Carolina. They are one of 2 anniversary present commissions I have had in-house this last month.  I just adore Josie's blue eye and Jasper's sweet expression totally melted my heart.  I really enjoy working with men on special projects for their wives and girlfriends. Guys are great to work with because when they do need design changes they are very good and quick at communicating those needs without a lot of fuss. They are also usually very kind to my ego and always let me know what they do love about the artwork. Lets face it, if a guy is sweet enough to order a pet portrait for their lady they are usually going to be a pleasure to work with. Men may be tough as nails in their workplace, but they are usually very friendly and nice to me when we collaborate on their pet projects.  I do love my job.

The week ahead ....
 We are getting very busy here at Art Paw and I am spending the entire day answering e-mails and organizing new orders.  If you placed an order within the last few days you will be sent an e-mail very soon with an expected proofing date. Stay tuned for more pet portraits on the blog soon.

49

I turned 49 today. It was a good birthday. I had lunch with my best friend, worked on a mosaic, watched the egrets feeding at White Rock and looked after my sick hubby, he should be better tomorrow. The photo above was taken 47 years ago I guess, anyway I think I see 2 candles on that cake.   This is going to be a great year.

New Kitty Cat Art

"Jack & Luna" ( see all proofs )
© rebecca collin / artpaw.com

"Cranmer" ( see all proofs )
© rebecca collin / artpaw.com

 

 

Today was all about kitty cats. Some months I will not  have one kitty portrait come through and right now I have 3 different feline projects in-house. Yay! Cranmer will be shipping to Hawaii and Jack & Luna are local Dallas kitties.