And the winners are...

Our print contest winners are Alex and Creative Flutter.
To claim your prize just go on over to my Etsy Shop and start looking around. Place any print ( $24.99 or less) in your shopping cart and then choose to "pay by check" ... ( then just DO not send the check!). You will not be charged anything at all and I will e-mail once I see your order. If you prefer you can also e-mail me and then write out your item choice, and your shipping address.

You have until August first to claim your prize.

Free Art Print Contest

Today I am giving away 2 free prints from my Etsy Shop!

I am offering 2 free reproduction prints on canvas from my Etsy Shop to 2 lucky winners. You can win a reproduction print of your choice ( no not your own pet, sorry ) valued at $24.99 or less. To win just be the first or the last person to comment on this post.
How To Enter This Contest:
#1 Post a kind comment on this post by midnight tonight ( 7/30).
#2 Check Back on 7/31. Was your comment the first on this post or the last? If so ... then you WIN! You have to post a comment to have a chance (no e-mails please). Multiple posts by the same person are not allowed if you are trying to be last.
#3 Tomorrow I will post the winners and tell them how to redeem.

Click on any image below to visit my Etsy Shop. Shoppers are welcome!

Cool Dog Name ... Gizmo

"Gizmo"
(See all 6 proofs)

I love the name Gizmo for a dog. We have done maybe 2 or 3 Gizmos over the last 10 years ... not a very common name. This cute pup's artwork will be stretched today along with BeeBee & Moxie. We have seen a lot of interesting dog names here at Art Paw this past month.

According to an article by Mary Hanna "In the world of dog-naming, human names continue to dominate, according to a company that sells engraved dog tags. The top five male names are Max, Jake, Buddy, Bear and Bailey. For females, dog owners prefer Maggie, Bear (the gender-neutral name of the dog world), Molly, Shadow and Lady".

Gustav Klimt Site

I will get back to dog art soon this week, and I have another give-away in the works for mid-week. Today however I really want to share a great site I discovered late last night on Gustav Klimt. It is a really stunning site that uses Flash. I usually hate Flash-heavy sites, but this one is so yummy and well done. Go check out iklimt.com, you will not be sorry.

In googling Klimt and his cat I also found a rather charming little book over at Amazon for kids called Klimt and His Cat.

Sasquatch, Squid, Shoes and Skulls!

You have to check out Kraken Mosaics.




I bumped into Eve on Flickr several months ago when I discovered some crazy lady covering an entire section of wall with a giant squid mosaic. At that time I too was nipping glass in pursuit of squid themed mosaics. It has been over a month since I have worked on any mosaics and I am missing it. So today I post on someone that seems to be going at full-time. She has been showing a lot, and is even being represented in Daas Gallery.
Her subject matter includes aliens, squid, skulls and more.
Go check out the Kraken Mosaic Etsy shop and support this talented artist.

New Artist Video ... great find!

Check out this terrific video I just found from Manon Doyle. She did a fine job with this ... hard to believe it is her first video. I have been following this lovely and talented gal's blog for some time now and until I saw this video I had been mispronouncing her name in my head. Just one more great reason to put yourself out there in front of the camera. Manon did a great job of discussing her current project and also shares with us the easy to use camera she is working with on her video.

Are you using video yet to promote your art or business? After you watch this scroll down for some video resource links. Next Friday I will try to post an interview I am going to do with a local artist pal of mine on her handmade Jewelry studio.




Video Resource Links:

How To Create a Video Cast from Shelly Hall

Web Video Marketing:
Trends, Techniques, and Copywriting Tips

Another great post from Copyblogger about Video

Copyright Free Music links:

http://creativecommons.org/audio

http://www.jamendo.com/en/

http://www.podsafeaudio.com/

New Dog Art

I guess I had better post some new doggy art. I did work one day last week while on vacation. I started on 2 portraits, Betty & Beebee. Yesterday I finalized these sweet girls.

"Betty The Boston Terrier" ( above)
See all 6 proofs

About The Art: Strike a pose Betty! The original photo for this little Boston was just perfect ... the folded paws made this little girl look so dainty. I slightly rotated her head a tad and I removed the grey invisible fence collar.

"BeeBee The Yorkie" ( above)
See all six proofs

About The Art: Bee Bee's original photo was a bit low in resolution. I created a variety of looks for this little Yorkie. The first sample here of BeeBee is my boldest offering. I have a strong sense that BeeBee's human is going to be opting for a more tame version.

Hogwarts for Artists

Penland Print Making Studio ( i think)
Originally uploaded by artpaw

Yes Virginia there really is a Hogwarts for artists and it is called Penland.

When I was studying jewelry & metalworking back in the 80's at college I dreamed of taking courses at Penland. Penland is an amazing school located in the Mountains of North Carolina. While on vacation last week we toured the campus and I realized that all the mythology about this place was true. It really is a magical place to create. I never got around to leaving my kitties for the summer back when I was 20 to head off to Penland, but it is never too late. I think next summer may just be the summer that I take a workshop.

portion of mosaic wall ( above)

A dorm (above)

Metals studio (above)

"From the outside looking in"
Pottery studio

The school is a combination of stone covered cottage style studio buildings along side more modern facilities. There are trees everywhere and windows are flung wide open to take advantage of the cool mountain air and ample sunshine. The courses include workshops in paper, metals, fibers, ceramics, photography, painting & drawing.

Bruno's Puggie Art At Home

"Shelley & Bruno at Home"
24 x24 pet portrait on canvas

Thanks so much to Shelley for sending us this great shot at home with Bruno. You got me blogging again ... yay! Love Love Love, that yellow wall. The colors all work great together. I would have hung the piece about 4 inches lower, but that is just me. You usually want art in the living room to be close to eye level while sitting. Of course that can create trouble when really tall people sit on the couch and lean back to the wall, bumping the artwork. Over the couch is a tough spot, in fact I have a piece over my sofa right now that is really too high. It does not help that I live with someone that is over 6ft tall ... his eye level is much higher than mine.

I am still settling in from our trip, playing with video and photos. I am back at work today and working hard to get caught up. I will be posting new art and trip pics soon.

Traveling Home

We are heading home, listening to Mississippi John Hurt.
I will post some travel photos soon.

Dirty Artist

Ok now that I have your attention check out reverse graffiti artist Moose in this YouTube video find. I love this ... maybe a bit off topic, but hey I am stuck in a car for another 6 hours.

Pink Poodles, Hound Dog and a Terrier

We are traveling today. I miss my Scotties so much, but we are fortunate to have one of my best pals house sitting for us. Today we visited Graceland in Memphis. I am posting a few photos from our visit, starting with groovy retro pink poodle wallpaper found in Elvis' down stairs bathroom. Other pooch related stuff would be a vinyl poodle handbag, his gold record for "Hound Dog" and of course it was sporting a terrier as the RCA logo.

No matter where you go in this world you can find doggy related visual stuff if you just look for it. Try it yourself today when you get in the car and go to the grocery store, post office, or other errands. How many ads, printed phrases, etc can you find that relate to dogs? You will be surprised.

Dalmatian Riding A Bike

Friday Friday Friday at last! Don't feel like blogging much today so I share this goofy video from Singapore of a dog riding a bike. Enjoy and have a fun filled weekend. Get outside and take your dog for a bike ride.

Brady The King Charles Spaniel Puppy

"Brady" ( see all 6 proofs)

This little guy in his Hawaiian shirt just stole my heart. I created a fun border that echoes the Hawaiian theme with hints of tropical flowers. As you can see from the original photo a slight tilt of posture was needed to give him a happy high-steppin' attitude.

German Shepherd / Jack

"Jack"

Yesterday I proofed 4 pet portrait clients including Jack the German Shepherd. I really love the loose and sharp green brush strokes at the bottom that indicate grass. Today we print a handful of approved orders, we proof 2 new clients and update one client.

Is your studio organized?

My digital studio is organized chaos all the time. I am so excited, I just signed up for Alyson Stanfield's on-line class for getting organized. I am optimistic and nervous about this new commitment. I hope it changes my life and that I can tame the clutter monster that dwells at the heart of my business, studio, and yep, my home-life. Today is the last day to sign up ... so check it out. I would love it if some of my artist pals would join the class. My good pal Sheila called me today to remind me, and we both tried to come up with a dozen reasons why we should not do it ... in the end we would not let the other off the hook.

Loving Abe & Kong

"Abe"

Today I worked on another Bernese mountain dog. I am loving this playful boy with his kong toy. I used one of my painterly grounds and applied it over the entire pup, erasing just the doggy parts so they would show through. The original background from the photo is visible and due to the layer effect I used it seems to have a stain or wash of color over it ( see detail below). I still have a bit of work to do on this guy.


I also worked on some adorable pop art kitties named Sammy & Snuggles. Also proofed today was a groovy Warhol inspired Boxer named Hobbes.

Cow Doggy Ocho

" Ocho The Cow Dog" ( See all proofs here )

This sweet pup is ready for a local pick-up. I think her human went with the orange background, I posted the green sample today because my Monday is going to be green ... I can just tell. Ocho reminded me so much of our old foster girl Luna.

Art Paw is hiring. We are looking for local Dallas Photoshop talent.

I am swamped with summer orders, and currently taking commissions for the holidays. Due to rising material costs our prices will be going up in August so this is a great time to order and save.

Scottie Dog mural found in Lake Placid

Scottie Dog mural found in Lake Placid
Originally uploaded by rustyalaska

Groovy find from Flickr.

Happy 4rth Of July Weekend!

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend. We watched fireworks last night on the lake in our new canoe .... it was fun.

And the winners are...

Ok we have 7 official winners and 3 pending winners. Part of the goal with this contest was to see if people could actually study their camera long enough to send the proper size file if we give stuff away. Low and behold ... you guys mastered the technology, you sent me 1MB and larger files! Thank you all so much, I know it had to have been difficult!
I know I sound just a wee bit sarcastic, but 65% of our clients send us sweet adorable images that are so low in resolution they hurt my eyeballs when enlarged ... we are talking huge jagged pixelation. You guys all did a great job on the photos!

Now the 2nd goal was to get some of you long time blog lurkers to post a comment to enter ... yep, I wanted you to step out of the shadows and say hi on my blog! Bloggers love comments ... it is what we live for. Three of our 10 winners did not do the commenting part that we stated in the rules. They did send us their photos at the right size, and their address. If Artie, Murphy and Sunny will post a comment or ask their humans to post a comment and say hi then they will be official winners too. I am eager to work on Artie ...check out those goggles! Please leave me a comment Artie!

Now ... Ruby where is your photo? You were an early commenter, but no photo made it through to us ...send us one to today and we will add you to the list.



Thanks to everyone that commented! If you missed this contest do not feel bad. I will be giving stuff away all month. You have to read the blog to win though. You never know what day of the week I will be posting a comment-contest. It will not always be breed specific either.

Pet Portrait Contest Winners

We had a terrific response to yesterday's contest and we have 10 winners. It will take me an hour or two to match up names with photos, and as soon as I can do that I will post the winners here on the blog .... so stay tuned.

Top 10 Most Popular Dog Breeds At Art Paw

Over the years I have seen some trends on popular dog breeds and we often will go in cycles around here doing 6 or 7 of one breed in a single month. Today I am going to post what I think are our most popular breeds. You can click any thumbnail to see more of that breed. You can also get an overview of many of the dog breeds we have worked on by clicking here.
Be sure and scroll down to see our free portrait offer at the end of this post.

#1 The Pug

#2 Labrador Retrievers

#3 Boston Terriers

#4 Chihuahuas

#5 Golden Retrievers

#6 Bulldogs

#7 Dachshunds

#8 Boxers

#9 American Bulldogs

#10 Frenchies

Free Portrait Offer on Specific Dogs:

Two of my favorite types of dogs are missing from this list ... The Scottish Terrier and The good ol' American Mutt. If you have either of these types of dogs leave a comment and then upload a 1 mb photo ( or larger) and I will create a free 8 x 10 pet portrait for you.
Offer TERMS:
#1 This offer is good only until midnight tonight (7/2/08) for the 1st 10 people to leave a comment on this blog. In your comment tell me if you have a Scott or an adorable mixed breed pup.

#2 YOU MUST BE ABLE TO UPLOAD A 1 MB file or larger. No you can not send photos by mail, and NO a 10k image from your cell phone will not work. Images that are too small will be rejected.

#3 You must have either a Scottie or a Mutt to qualify for this offer.

#4 Free portraits will take between 6 to 8 weeks to deliver.

#5 No custom proofing included on this offer, we just create the artwork and ship it to you.

#6 You must leave a comment so we know when we reach our limit! The comment text link is at the bottom of this post on the hand right side. It has the current number of comments and you just click on that, a window opens up, you type a few words to tell us about your dog. Even if it shows 10 comments go ahead and leave a comment as some folks will not be able to send an actual high resolution 1 MB image, trust me on that one.

Don't have a Scottie or a Mutt? Don't feel bad, we will have more free offers later this month.

Cockapoo and Malteepoo

"Smoochee and Chloe's Blue Heart"

I just finished "most" of the work on this new doggy pet portrait. The title comes from the funky blue heart that is formed in the negative space between the two pups. I first noticed this shape on my friend Melissa's Puggie artwork a few weeks ago. Of course her ground was red so the heart shape really jumped out at me. For those of you not seeing it .... look at the light blue color in between their ears and the heart's point is where their bodies meet.

About The Artwork: This painterly style portrait of Smoochie & Chloe has bold colors highlighting their coat. I also have a full body sample or two that I will be proofing the client with later today. The original low resolution photo pixelated like crazy upon enlargement ( see below). On this piece I went pretty heavy on the dry brush filter and added tons of painted lines and brush strokes to smooth out the original texture.
Click image below to see pixelation that occurs with low resolution images.

Original Photo / File size 140K

Bliss at Home and New Portraits

"Bliss The Italian Greyhound"

Zero in A Bliss T-shirt! IG's look so cool in doggy duds.

Bliss the Greyhound was shipped last Friday and her humans have already sent us a shot of her hanging. I love the red wall. Last night I set up a Gift Shop Page of goodies featuring her artwork. Gift shop pages can be sent up on request once a pet portrait project has been finalized.

Yesterday I worked on Hyper the flying Dingo ( below) and Petunia the Pug ( last image). I will be trying to get a few more people proofed today and will be printing all approved portraits.