Doggy Portraits

Working hard this week, trying to get a lot of clients proofed. Here are just a few from the week. I have 3 revisions to do and one more new portrait to create, then next week I get to play with a Wire Hair Fox Terrier portrait. I am excited about all of the work we have in-house right now.

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

This golden doodle is adorable. His eye to our left was hidden so I created one that would show. Soon I will try and post a video tutorial on how to do that.

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

Guiness was such a pretty boy. I had a nice conversation with my client about this special guy. I hope I have captured him well.

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

Georgia shipped out today. I love working on pugs and we do not get many black pugs in ... they are a bit rare compared to the fawn pugs.

Pet Portrait Video / March Commissions

Well, I have made a new schedule for myself and I am taking each Thursday for marketing work. I made a list of all of the many things I do to market and it is a pretty long and neglected list of tasks, some fun and some not so fun. Last Thursday I decided to tackle something in the fun column and I created a video of last month's portrait commissions so if I did art of your baby last month they may become a you tube sensation. Please check out the video and be sure and share it with your pals.

Mosaic Monday / Dog and Cat mosaics

Scouring the web this morning for some doggy and kitty mosaics to share.

My first find is from one of my favorite blogs : http://www.midcenturia.com

http://www.midcenturia.com/2011/01/mid-century-mosaic-panels.html

Cool Micro Mosaic from the Antique Pooch.com

Vintage Poodle from http://www.alleewillis.com

From Natasha Thummel

Vintage Cats From Etsy

From Barbara Kreider at Etsy

Clever Cat from Laurie Treat / Only $28 at Etsy!

Another Great Etsy Find from Zee Fun Stuff

Whitman My Fox Terrier

Rainy, lazy day here in Dallas. This month I have heard about 2 Wire Hair Fox Terriers that have turned up as strays. One was placed back with his owners and the other is still in a temporary home. It has made me think about how lucky I am to have Whitman and how glad I am that we micro-chipped him. He is such a high spirited boy and I know if he got out of the house he would run wild. He has a collar & tags, but chipping is just one extra step to insure he can always come back to us if something should happen. I spoke with my rescue contact today and she asked to see pics of our growing boy, so here are a few ... these are for Julie with gratitude.

This is shortly after we first got him ...look at how tiny he is!

Lola & Whitman

Waiting for Da to come home

Whitman, Pickle, Ajax

Last Sept.

Taken Today ...  big shaggy boy needs a haircut

The End

New Custom Pet Portrait

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

Yesterday I showed you a pup named Lola and now I have a Laila to share with you. The Mastiff from yesterday was approved quickly and is shipping out today.  I love this sweet photo of this young pup. I look forward to printing up this new project very soon.

Dogs & Robots

Working a lot lately. I have half a dozen dog projects in-house and I am also working each day to create some digital robot sketches for my other blog on my personal portfolio site. If you have a pending pet portrait project and have sent me pics, I will follow up with you soon and help you finalize your order by phone.

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

"Circuit Boy"
see more at rebeccacollins.com

"Button-Bot"
see more at rebeccacollins.com

Flash Back friday/ My Hubby

Looking at some scans of old pics today. These are shots of my husband Dan from many many years ago, he is still just as cute. I love faded snapshots.

Dan with his first Fox Terrier. 

Ciggies & Coffee ... he still drinks coffee but no longer smokes ( thank goodness).

I think this is when he was going to school in New York.

New Black Lab Art

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

 

Today Lola is here busy stretching canvas and we are getting about 5 portraits out the door ... yay. The artwork above is one of just a few pending approvals we have on file. I love this handsome black lab and look forward to finalizing his project very soon. I seldom use the backgrounds in photographs however the colors on this one were really interesting and so in one of  his samples I incorporated the existing photo-ground along with a textured brush stroke ground for a nice effect.

Happy easter!

My Boy Ajax as the Easter Bunny.

Many Pet Portraits

I know I have not been blogging much lately and that is largely because I have been pretty busy making art. Today I will post just a few of my recent pet portrait projects. In the last 30 days I have proofed 21 clients. I am always amazed at how busy we stay throughout the year. I really love my job.
Some of the projects below have shipped, some are in revisions and some will ship next week.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mosaic Monday/ Art Shed

Art Shed Makeover: Phase 2
Well we have the tiny shelves installed between the uprights in my little glass shed.  I am in the process of getting a lot of tessera in jars. Pretty soon, I will have to stop organizing and start on something new.

Jars of color sit on shallow shelves between the shed uprights

 

Thanks Danny!

Flashback Friday/ Old Web Design

I always tell artists that are thinking about setting up a site that they just have to dive in and do it. If they can afford to throw money at it and hire a pro to help them all the better. If you wait until all of your photographs are perfect or until you have a chunk of time to focus on it, well you will never get it done.

5 Things to keep in mind when starting your very first website:

• Your first site is going to suck compared to the site you create 5 years from now, get over it.
• If you do it yourself there will be a learning curve, just be patient.
• Websites are like hair-dos, we hope you are not still wearing your same hair from high school. Sites are meant to change over time.
• You might try using the templates and tools available through sites like wordpress.com and template monster.
• Avoid Comic Sans!!!! Don't believe me ... see my first site design below.... ugh.

Jan. 2000

I started Art Paw in 1998, my first site happened in 1999, and this screen shot, taken from the internet archive is from Jan. 2000.  How many things did I do here that I now hate ...hmmmm well to start with comics sans font and dark text on dark color. The sweet boy shown on the page was not a mistake ... that is my Atticus.

June 2000

 Looks like I gave my self a face-lift in the summer of 2000, lightened things up, but still had Comic Sans and no real logo. Sometimes images don't display right with the archive tool so that is what the blank spots are about.

December 2000

By December of 2000 things were starting to take shape and I ditched the Comic Sans, designed a logo and got my main menu over to the left which was becoming the standard placement in web design. Wow, 2 major design changes in one year.  I did like playing with web design back then.

March 2007

The screen shot above is from 07, and I had a reworked logo that I am still using today, a green striped background that I used for many years, and you can not tell from this shot as it did not display properly but the menu to the left was actually a groovy fly-out menu that looked better than the text links you see.  I added a search feature at the top right, got my toll-free number up there and a sitemap. I used this design for many years.

Nov. 2010

This is from November 2010, and other than the snowflake bling in the left menu this is pretty much my site today. Probably time for a design change again, but I really do not know when I will find the time, oh yea I said no excuses.  Yea, well..............

Horse Art

"Gonzo & Vinnie" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Gonzo & Vinnie" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

 

 This week I got to play with a couple of stunning horses. An old college pal contacted me to create some artwork for her sister.  I have created artwork of horses before, but this is my first 2-horse portrait.

About The Artwork: I combined two different images of Vinnie, the brown horse in order to create this portrait. The image with the human had the best detail on the brown horse-head and the head was facing the right way so I took it and placed it on the body from another pic (after flipping the body shot side to side, so the body faced the right direction). It was important to have the head facing the right  way to start with because you can not rotate or flip a photo of an animal with unique markings, as it will not read correctly.

About Composition: It is always a challenge to combine multiple pets into one project. I instinctively placed the white or light grey horse to our left because we read from left to right. It made the most sense to have the darker animal to the right where our eye would finally rest, that shape is heavier due to the darker hue. Vinnie is also engaging us more with his face towards us, so again, it makes the most sense to have our eyes rest at the right on that horse.  The leather harness straps on Gonzo make some nice negative space shapes and they break up the background well giving him some more movement and interest. I am pleased and can not wait to see this large 24 x 36 inch portrait printed up next week. My friend chose the first sample above with the wooden background ...  the wood is a photo-shopped image of a door I shot in Italy last year. The graffiti wall below it is also from Italy and makes for a funny horse in the city vibe.