Save Now on A Holiday Pet Portrait!

You have exactly 3 days to be early in ordering your holiday pet portrait.

• Order now

• check out with our on-line shopping cart 

• use promo code : trot  

Save $50 on any size pet portrait.

Go here to order: http://www.artpaw.com/painterly_order.html

I will not be running a lot of sales in November and December so now is the time to reserve your spot on my commission calendar and save some money.  Order today and send your photo to us when you have time.

* Please note this sale offer is for any "new" pet portrait project. I can not refund sales price for orders placed within the last 30 days or the last 15 years. I run sales to generate new business and to save you money when ordering new portrait projects.

Teaching Photoshop / Robots, Dogs and Lizards, oh my

Two weekends ago I taught a Photoshop workshop at the Creative arts Center in Dallas and each time I teach this class I am reminded of just how hard Phoptoshop really is.  After 15 years of using the program 8 hours a day I have gotten pretty good at it and I often forget how hard things are when it is all brand new to you.

Photoshop is hard.
               And yet .... Photoshop is really really fun!

Today I will post some of my student works.

I started class with a simple no pressure assignment and I had 2 teams of two students creating robots. To do this they used an open document I had created that had lots of photos of mechanical looking parts in it and they drug & dropped the photo pieces on to their page in order to collage together a robot. Then they created a layer that served as a tracing paper sheet filled with white at a 50 % opacity. On top of that was another layer that was their drawing layer.  They took turns driving and they sketched out their robots by tracing on top of the photo collage. This allowed them to get a feel for the wacom tablet in a shared learning environment where nobody felt the pressure to keep up or be the best or any of that nonsense.With this assignment they learned about layers and the paint tool and brushes. Once their sketch was finished they turned off the photo layer and colored in their sketches.

Flag Bot by Kristen & Chris / Maid Robot by Linda & Marianne

After lunch everyone started on their own projects and below are their finished projects.  I am really proud of everyone.

"Rebel" by Kristen Druckenbrodt

Lizard by Chris Hollister

Curtis the Beagle by Marianne Cherry

Pop Art Jack Russell by Linda Clemens

Warhol Lizard by Chris Hollister

My next Pushing Pixels Workshop will be April of 2014. If you want to be added to the list to be sent a reminder just e-mail me:   artpaw.com@gmail.com.

Mosaic Monday/ Mosaics, Paper and Steel!

Last weekend was an art filled adventure. On Friday and Saturday I took part in a sale at Pigment School Of The arts and on Sunday I went on the White Rock Lake Studio Tour. Sunday was misty and cloudy and my pal Katrina and I went around to a handful of studios visiting some of our artist friends and checking out their latest art. I have lots to share today!  I indulged my art hoarding habit  a little this weekend and I will start with those pics and then take you to a couple of studios we visited.

Painting by Brad Ford Smith
( recent acquisition)

I really enjoyed visiting the studio of Brad Ford Smith. I had met this talented artist before in passing through friends of friends however I had never seen his work until this weekend. His art is very playful and it seems to have both a graphic design sensibility to me and also a very retro feel. I purchased the painting on paper above and cant wait to get it framed.  You have to visit Brad's  " World of Nomadic Fungi".  He has taken little vintage match box cars and wire & fiber to create the coolest little sculptures on the planet. WorldOfNomadicFungi.com is rich with humorous writing so go check it out.

Quick Sketch by Tori Pendergrass
( recent acquisition)

Tori is the owner of Pigment School of The Arts and a talented artist. I bought the little sketch above at her Fall Arts Fest Sale on Friday night. I  love her work and I am happy to now have a few pieces of hers.

The first stop on our tour was the studio of Mosaic Artist Juli Hulcy. My few pictures here do not do justice to the terrific space she has created. I fell in love with the distressed wooden cabinet shown below that came from her husband's family.

Juli Hulcy's Studio

Wall of Mosaic Art by Juli Hulcy

Work In Progress by Juli Hulcy

Below is a metal sculpture by Cynthia Daniel. Her work is playful and very large. Cynthia's yard and her studio are just amazing. Cynthia uses recycled metal to create her playful garden sculptures. I love women artists that can work large and have their way with a material as tough as steel.

Venus Fly Trap by Cynthia Daniel ( Sold)

Sculpture by Cynthia Daniel

Rusty Metal waiting to be turned into art.

We visited several other studios and yet these are all the pics I took. The tour had over 50 artists this year and so we knew better than to try and do it all. Some day after Dan and I renovate our home and I have a proper mosaic studio I may try and be on the tour. People are always asking me if I am on it, and I have to explain to them that my dining room table is not that exciting to see. Visiting all of these terrific creative spaces was really inspiring.

Art Sale Tonight!

I am taking part in an art Sale tonight and tomorrow at Pigment School of the Arts. Come on by and have a glass of wine and listen to some live guitar music. I will have a few small dog prints for sell along with mosaics, ceramics and drawings. I am showing with some very talented ladies and it promises to be a very fun evening.

Photoshop Class Dallas

I will be teaching a Photoshop workshop October 19th & 20th here in Dallas at the Creative Arts Center. We will cover the smudge tool and painting tools. Everyone will get the chance to work on the wacom drawing tablet and create a pet portrait from their own photos.  Join us for a fun weekend of Photoshop learning.



Here is the full info ....
Pushing Pixels... from Pugs to Pandas
In this two day workshop, students will have hands on experience working with the Wacom Intuos drawing tablet. By the end of the workshop, each student will have a digital painting that they can print from home, or canvas printing services can be purchased for an additional fee. We will explore the use of the smudge tool and the painting tool to create original works of art based off of snapshots. Students may use their own digital snapshots in class or stock photos will be supplied.

Date & Time:		Oct 19 to Oct 20   Register (9 places left) SATURDAY & SUNDAY 10:00am - 4:00pm (2 days)
Location:		Building A-Mosaics
Cost:		$185.00 ($215.00 Non-Members)$25.00 Materials Fee

Owl Collection

I think I may have an owl collection forming! Check out my recent acquisition ... I bought this lovely ceramic owl rattle from Tori Webb Pendergrass the other day when I went over to Pigment School of the Arts to sketch. I love this little fellow, he feels perfect in the hand and his colors are wonderful.

© Tori Webb Pendergrass

I will post a few more shots of other owls I own ...

This is my mantle at home ... the works on the wall do not change out much, but the 3-d objects on the ledge are always moving around as new treasures are acquired and squeezed in. The artists you see here are from top left:
Rebecca Collins, Susan Giller, Katrina Doran, Kim Wozniak, Tori Pendergrass, Jeff Soto, me again, Linda Stover, Theresa Douglas, Dave Stover,  Lola Cash.

© Linda Stover
ATC Mosaic 2.5x3.5

© Rebecca Collins
"Bubo"

© Theresa Douglas
ATC Mosaic 2.5x3.5

Ok, so instead of just a post about "my shameful art hoarding habits" I want to throw out a radical idea for other artists: no subject is too popular for you not to try ... nothing is too trendy to avoid like the plague, and you are not so very special as an artist that you can not tackle a theme or subject that has been done, and then done again.  When I was admiring the owl at Tori's school she softly said, " I know owls are hot right now, but I love them".... or she said something to that effect. I then admitted my own unashamed love for the subject of owls in art and we went on to share our personal stories of having rescued a couple of injured owls. 

 Often serious fine artists will see a popular trend in the gift industry, or on Etsy, or at craft fairs and decide that they need to stay far away from that subject to avoid being seen as producing work that is derivative or trendy. If that sort of snobbish approach in art was taken by all artists then we would have certainly abandoned the nude after Michelangelo was done with the subject because after all, what is the point? I know an artist ( Cherie Bosela), that is currently creating a clown of all things in Mosaic and it is going to be one hell of a stunning clown because everything this Mosaicist touches turns into magic.  If you are an artist reading this and you think you are too good for hearts, clowns, unicorns or owls then I say you have a very limited imagination and the world is waiting for your spin on it all so go ahead and do something really hard ...  tackle a subject that has been covered a lot and then take it to a brand new place.

Working with Your Artist By Phone

Color me your color, baby.
Color me your car
Color me your color, darling.
I know who you are
Come up off your color chart
I know where you're coming from
Call me (call me) on the line
Call me, call me any, any anytime
Call me(call me) I'll arrive
You can call me any day or night
Call me! 

– Blondie

"Come up off your color chart
I know where your coming from" ... 

                  well not always, I do not always know where you are coming from.

Today's post is about the importance of communication when working with a designer or artist. 
I hope other artists will read it and find some valuable tips here, I also hope my clients will read it and understand why I am so picky about needing a phone call on design revisions.

Why a phone call for design change requests?

#1 Accuracy: E-mails are usually jotted off quickly and I skim them even more quickly which means I can miss something important. With a phone call I can ask very specific questions about the needed changes and it is really important when those changes concern color ... your kiwi green may be my olive green, and they may be two totally different shades.

#2 Respect and Relationship building: When I have worked hard on  a project and changes are needed that project becomes a collaboration. It is important to me that my clients understand that I am a person, an artist, and not simply a nameless service provider that is pushing buttons on the other end of some internet thread. By speaking with my clients by phone I enjoy the process a lot more and do not feel like I am just doing cart wheels, crossing fingers and hoping to please. I can explain to them the different possible design solutions to the issue they are wanting changed and I can get their feedback so I better understand their vision. With a phone call I can give my clients the respect they deserve and they can in turn respect my input and ideas about their project and where we can take it with new design time.

Policies and Procedures:

At Art Paw I try to always send a terms sheet to new clients that states my revision policy and the need to call with change requests. I also put that within the body of my proofing letter so people get the information twice. Still, clients often choose to shoot me their change ideas by e-mail. We have become a society that only wants to text and e-mail. It seems that people just do not like using the phone. If you are an artist reading this, keep in mind that it is your job to manage your business and sometimes that means managing your clients. Not in a negative way like they are cats that you are trying to herd or subordinates that need to be kept in line ... you need to manage them in a very positive way that manages "the process" so they do not become frustrated with you and you do not become frustrated with them.

Follow through:
My final step after a phone call conversation is to type up my notes that I took and e-mail them to my client asking them to review. I do this in the form of a bullet list. That way they see what we talked about and if I missed anything or misunderstood anything they have one last opportunity to correct me or remind me of any issues I did not write down. Then I print it out and use this list when I go back to the project to make changes. This way I have a very complete and formal process for doing design changes and there are no surprises. Everybody can be on the same page and know what to expect.

Tutorial Thursday/ Finding Copyright Free Images

Today I want to talk about finding copyright free photographs. I have a handful of private Photoshop students right now and recently the question has come up about how to find attractive photographs on the web to use that are copyright free. My students usually start with photos of their own pets and then move on to their neighbors and friend's pets. At some point they run out of images or they want to try their hand at something besides dogs and cats.

I have 3 image resources to share today:
Flickr.com : look for the "advanced search feature" and choose creative commons at the bottom of the advanced search page. People that upload using the creative commons attribution are allowing others to build upon and adapt their photos under certain conditions.

Morguefile.com: This site has gotten better and better over the years. When I first discovered this free image archive years ago I found the image quality was pretty bad. Today you can find some very lovely photos there to play with. They also will show you some results from stock sites that you have the option of purchasing.

Wikipedia.org:  I used this site just this week. I have a client that wanted me to create a painting of a Monk Seal. She had found a random image on the web that she thought maybe I could use, however I explained to her that I had to search for an image that would be copyright free. Wikipedia was the answer in this case.

These types of sites are terrific for finding both critter subjects to work on and also background elements such as clouds, textures, and patterns.

It is almost weekend! Have fun creating in your spare time ... that is what I plan to do.

Art Paw Etsy Sale

SAVE 15% this week in our Art Paw Etsy shop

USE PROMO CODE : dogdays

Well we are going into the last very hot "dog days" of summer here in Texas. If you want to try out Art Paw's portrait services with a smaller size than what we offer on our main website you can do that at Etsy and save 15% on our special 8 x 8 stretched canvas custom pet portrait. I only offer that size at Etsy because, well I just do not make much money on it. Etsy typically has a younger audience and it is very much a community of artists selling to other artists often.  With that in mind I created a tiny print size at a budget price. I only offer the 8 x 8 prints occasionally so buy now if you want to take advantage of this great sale.

Everything in our Art Paw Etsy shop is 15% off from now until next Friday ...

just use promo code: dogdays

Fun Friday on Etsy

Today I posted some fun sketches to my Snobby Robot Shop. I am going to try hard to get into the practice of posting something fun on Friday to one of my Etsy shops. The goal is for it to be recent original work. Thursday night I played around doing a few robot drawings that I created based off of some of my ceramic work. 

"Neon Robot"purchase at Etsy $23

work table

"Robot Drawing sketch"
purchase at Etsy $23

This is the clay robot sculpture that I based the drawings on

Art Paw Studio News

Lola & Ajax

Well it is with a heavy heart that I have to announce we will be losing Lola this next month. She is leaving Texas to go back to Kansas City where she got her degree. She will be doing some work on a film and after that I don't think she knows what will come next, but she is young and I know she will figure it out. We will all miss her so much. Our terriers adore her and of course I depend on her a lot for her terrific skills and attention to detail. I am sure she has great things ahead of her and I only want the best for her.  We just all really love her around here.

And so now ... Getting a Jump on the Holidays!
Well I counted this morning and I have 50 working days until November. That means 50 days to get organized and do everything I can to make sure the holidays go smoothly here at Art Paw.

So what do I need to work on ... I have broken it down into 4 categories and I am making a long to-do-list and placing an initial next to each item to indicate which category it falls into.  The things that need my attention are: Technology issues, Web site updates, Organization, and Marketing.

Every morning I will wake up and ask myself what can I do today to help get ready for the holiday rush? If nothing comes to mind quickly then I will grab the list and see what needs to be worked on. I love making physical handwritten lists, something about pen to paper makes it a commitment for me. I also enjoy finding those lists and notebook years from now, and going oh, yes I did that and that and that ... hmmmm still need to do X Y and Z.

Making my list and checking it twice
Yes the Diet Coke helps me think

Many new Pet Portraits

So what is the best way to create new business and make sure that portrait orders slam in to your in-box? Go on a 2 week vacation. I had a lot of orders come in while we were in Alaska. I use to freak out that business can stack up just a tiny little bit when I am not around and now I realize that a watched pot never boils and it is ok to actually step away and let a few orders slip in while I am gone.  Lola was out last week so I had all week to myself so I could focus on new projects and today she is back and we are shipping out around 7 projects. Life is very good and I am getting back into the swing of things. I have not had any time to work on any non-commissioned art projects just for myself lately, but that is ok. I am really enjoying my day job these days, and I am eager to work on more pet portraits. The holidays are just around the corner, time to gear up.
Here are my most recent projects ....

"Bennett"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Panda"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Allie & Sophie"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Jake"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Rocky"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Zeke"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Norman"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Mosaic Monday/ Alaska

I have been on vacation in Alaska for 14 days ... the longest vacation I have ever taken in my entire life. It went really fast though, and we had tons of fun. It was very hard to be away from  my business for that long. I had a handful of orders come in while I was away and I am jumping on organizing those today. I am taking 2 entire days to just get caught up with communication and then I will start working on Pet Portraits this Wednesday. I am full of inspiration and ideas for new art.

Alaska ... wow, it was just as beautiful as everyone says. I searched high and low for mosaics to shoot and only found a few. I will post those here today along with a few other shots of cool art.  I have tons of scenic shots that need to be edited and sorted. Going to try and compile those into a brief movie. This was a trip of a lifetime.

Mosaic Octopus
Ketchikan Alaska

Owl Mosaic
Anchorage Museum of Art

Owl Mosaic Detail
Anchorage Museum of Art

Seattle Airport
Mosaic of light and Plastic

Seattle Airport
Mosaic of light and Plastic Detail

Ketchikan Alaska

Totem Pole
Ketchikan Alaska

Seattle Mural

If you have sent me an e-mail in the last 2 weeks, I will be getting in touch with you soon. You can also reach me by phone this week M-F 10:30 - 5:30 p.m.  (214-321-1150).

More Doggy Portraits

"Lucy the Cow Dog"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

The pup above is Lucy. This project is for a terrific repeat client from Australia. I love this girl's sweet smile in her original photo and those pretty eyes. I enjoy doing work for this client, she always gives me great pics to play with. She also orders rolled, which is really convenient when shipping overseas.

"Wiggle & Izzy"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

"Wiggle & Izzy"
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

 

I adore bulldogs and so I was very excited to get to create a large 34 x 54 inch canvas of these two big headed pups. I am still in the proofing stage on this project and will be tweaking the first round of proofs with a few minor changes. If you notice the image above this one you will see a mock up of this proof in the client's living room. When folks send me a shot of the wall where the art will hang I can easily do a quick photoshop mock up of the work in home ... it is never 100% to scale, but close enough to get the general idea.

...................

Lola is coming in today and we are shipping out all approved projects. It is going to be a busy ship day. On Saturday I will be leaving for an Alaskan cruise. I have 2 different sets of pet sitters staying at the house, and Lola will be coming in on her regular days to hold down the fort her at Art Paw. E-mail may be spotty so I will be setting up an auto-responder, and trusting that if there are any pet portrait emergencies, Lola will be able to handle it.