Pixel, yes again

Ok, another post about the puppy. What can I say, I am in love with this Scottie. This is the sweetest little girl. I played around tonight with a photo we took a few days ago. I like the yellow, red, blue and green. I started thinking about these colors on a walk the other day, I wanted to try and use basic childhood crayon colors. This did not turn out exactly how I imagined, but I like it a lot. Be sure and click the art to see the detail image.

Pixel

Well, we did it! We adopted a new Scottie puppy. Her name is Pixel and she is just as sweet as can be. Her full name is "Pixel Chiffon Pie". Dan came up with the absurd longer name and it makes us both laugh. She has been with us less than 48 hours and we are head over heels in love with her.

New Scottie Puppy

We may be getting a new Scottish Terrier puppy today. I plan to get totally caught up with portrait orders over the weekend so I can spend a few weeks focused on this new addition to the family. This is the perfect time of year to adopt, and one more Scottie will bring us up to 3 again. This seems to be the right amount of pups for us. I can not imagine more.

New Dog Photo Blog

I'm starting a new blog with my husband Dan. It is a dog photo blog , and we are sort of creating it as a hobby type of thing to encourage us to get out of the house with the camera. There are currently a few Scotties on it, however later this week I plan to start posting a few unknown dogs we have crossed paths with on our lake walks. It is great having a shared blog and project. I need to work on customizing the look of it, although the stark white & black layout is sort of clean. I love working with my client photos and yet it is really fun to be behind the lens myself and playing with images that will not become portraits, or product.

Check out this Pet Artist

I am always surfing the web to see what is going on out there in the world of pet portraits. You have to check out the work of Kathy Weller. When I first ran across her stuff I thought she was not really my cup of tea as her work is so very sweet. However the more I stumble across her portraits on the web the more I am charmed and amazed by them. They draw you in, and speak to an innocence in all of us. Her drawing and painting style is original, fresh and again, the only word for it is "charming". In reading her bio I also like the fact that she too has experience in publishing her own line of greeting cards. It takes a lot of grit to succeed in that industry so while her work may appear soft, sweet and whimsical, I have a feeling this talented woman probably has a backbone of steel and determination. Check out her Cafe Press Store for a sampling of her terrific portraits.


© 2006 Kathy Weller

Old Dogs

I adore older dogs. I met an old half blind stray this week. She was a very lovely old gal. A pal of mine dropped by needing to have a photo taken and a "found" sign created for a stray she rescued in her neighborhood. She called me the same evening with a very happy ending. She reunited the old girl with her humans. It took the better part of her day, and yet she was able to save this sweet girl from a miserable day at the pound and an uncertain fate. We learned that her name was" Washi" and her human was overjoyed to find her. Now if he will just go put a collar& tags on this old gal.

Portrait Process

Yesterday I posted a tiny little snippet on the site about my Pet Portrait Process. My adventures into pushing pixels around has evolved quite a bit over the years, and I now find myself less and less dependent on photoshop filters and more dependent on my Wacom tablet, and traditional drawing skills. I am starting to think more about how I do what I do and just what sets my work apart from the pack of growing digital animal artists. There is a lot of really terrific digital stuff out there and there is also a lot of crap.

A lot of people still don't really have their minds around just what digital fine art is. Too often, clients understand that our art is created on the computer however they do not understand the amount of time involved or that it is not done with one or two magic buttons on the keyboard. One of my goals in 06 is to better communicate just what digital art is, and that just like traditional art it can be regarded as "fine art", subject to the same criticisms and high praise. The spark that makes an oil painting dynamic is often the same sort of energy or spark that makes a digital piece of art fantastic. Just like traditional artists we rely on our ability to combine colors in a unique way and the basics of good composition. Just like traditional commercial artists we can also get caught up in the demands of providing a "service" or we can push ourselves further, trying new things, and experimenting during the slower seasons. Check out my short page on process