Pixel Sweet Pixel

Ok so here is yet another work of art featuring my very own Pixel. I am also working on custom portraits this week. I have around 6 painterly style projects in-house at the moment, and I'm trying hard to finalize those this week. This quick sketch of Pixel was created this morning in an effort to loosen up a bit.


I find the work I do for myself is pretty fast and easy. I tend to work hours upon hours, on client projects. This is sometimes due to low resolution digital files they send me and in these cases I spend several hours just optimizing the photo before I can even start to play with color. The main thing that takes time is just trying a variety of different layouts until I get things just right. I am reminded of a great quote by Michelangelo : "If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." - Michelangelo
I'm no Michelangelo, but when we think of digital art, I think his quote is a very good one.

The Dogster Blog

Special thanks to Joy at Dogster for featuring our new puzzles in her blog yesterday. If you have not stumbled across her blog yet be sure and check it out. Joy combines interesting dog news stories with fun and entertaining links to create a blog that has the quality of a first rate magazine.

Ron Howard's Aunt

More about the dog Museum:
So the gossip we heard regarding the amazing collection at the doggy museum is that the bulk of this woman's collection was donated to her by Ron Howard's Aunt. We admit that we have not done any extensive fact checking and instead we just choose to believe that Ron's Aunt may have been an eccentric dog lover that collected hundreds of different doggy collectibles. The wonderful thing about the collection is the amount of breeds covered. We saw oodles of poodles, fabulous frenchies, billions of bulldogs, dozens of doxies, well you get the idea.

Dog Museum

On the way back from Austin last week we stopped into the best antique mall on the planet. I had been there once before a few years ago. It is one of those large metal buildings with different booths set up inside. The coolest area of the mall is at the very back where the owner has set up her own private collection of doggy antiques and created a huge museum style display. I shot enough pics for a week's worth of posts so if you like antique dog-stuff check back in on the blog next week.

Below is an odd contraption that made me think of Hannibal Lector. It was quite scary looking until I realized it was some sort of mold. Everything was shot through glass display cases so please forgive the glare.



The one piece I wish was for sale is the Scottie Dog heater shown below. I don't think you will be seeing this on ebay!


In my next post I'll tell you the gossip on how this gal came into the bulk of her collection, it involves a movie star's aunt. Ha, what a cliff hanger.

Fetch

I finally got to meet Cynthia at Fetch in Austin. Her shop is way too cool. If you get to Austin you have to check out this cool doggy boutique ...Your dog will dig it! Unlike a lot of small boutique owners this gal has her priorities in line and you will not find tons of nick knacks for humans ....nope this place is all about the dogs. Fetch has cool toys, beds, collars, clothes and more .... all for the canines. We are proud to have our art in this very hip Austin shop.



Visit the Fetch Site

Cafe Press Meet and Greet

I actually got away from my monitor for 2 days and went down to Austin for the Cafe Press Meet and Greet this past Sunday. I took my best girlfriend and we had a good time in our all time favorite Texas town. Cafe Press is the company that prints all of our groovy gift shop items. We have been doing business with them for a few years so it was really fun meeting a few of these folks in real life. The founder Maheesh Jain was there and he was just as nice as can be. I also stopped in on another long time business contact that I had never met, my retailer Cynthia at Fetch. I'll be posting pics from her cool doggy boutique later this week.

City Pet Rescue: Angel !

Meet Angel. This stunning pup is up for adoption. Dallas residents looking to adopt should check out all of the pups up for adoption at City Pet Rescue. Here is part of Angel's Bio:
"Angel is just that... a big, beautiful angel of a dog, who came to City Pet Rescue after being dumped out in the country. She charms everyone she meets with those big blue eyes and her sweet disposition. She is friendly and playful and loves people. She plays hard and sleeps hard just as any puppy should. "
Link

New Dog Puzzle Games

We have added some fun new puzzle games to the site, and will be adding more as time permits. For now we have created puzzles for Pugs , Boston Terriers and Labs . If you have a fast connection and time to play check them out.

Boston Terrier Art

Paris' human has decided on the yellow background proof and it looks really bright and fun printed up. I am sampling her with her second Boston portrait of her happy boy Julius. I think the yellow and red grounds will really pop together. These two pet portraits were a total blast to work on.

Dog Shelter Clip

A friend of mine is a devoted rescue worker and she sent me a link today to a very sad and sobering movie clip about one of hundreds of shelters in our country. The clip is not for everyone as it contains graphic images so watch at your own risk. It is very well done, and it will hopefully help make more people aware.

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/slideshows/animals/index.html

The Color Green

Lately I have been craving the color green. Maybe it is because it is spring in Texas and our brown lawns are starting to show a hint of the hue beneath the dead straw of winter. When you are a child or maybe a young adult on a first date you often hear the question "what is your favorite color"? My favorite colors change all the time. Right now I can't get enough of green. It is showing up in dirty muddy shades in my current work. I know that some of my clients are living with acidic yellowish greens and all of the funky, dirty green shades I adore, but too often I think my greens are not pure enough for most people. My old assitant Matt called my favorite version of green "swampy". Oh well, as long as I keep offering folks a variety of proof samples I'll keep tossing in my favorite avocado shade from time to time. Shown below are Fannie and Paris. Fannie's humans chose an orange background on their art ( it was quite nice, but not green). Paris' human has not yet decided, and I'm crossing my fingers for the green version, although the blue coated Boston may be more flattering ... I dunno. Often it just depends on the color of their couch and, as a commercial artist I really do repsect that.