Poetry / Pet Portrait Contest / Final days

Tomorrow is the last day to enter the poetry contest on facebook for the chance to win a free pet portrait from Art Paw. Check out the many great submissions on our facebook wall. Below is a great submission from someone working in Pug Rescue. Lots of pet rescue folks have written poems. There are many that will make you laugh and cry. Dan will have a tough time judging this one.

A pug is a pug is a pug,
Who only wants lots of love and some hugs.
Why would one be dumped
in a pound? I am stumped.
For people doing that I could slug. 

By: Maryjo Brock Copher Snyder 

To enter the contest just become an Art Paw Fan at facebook and submit your original poem on our wall. The writing must be your own and about pets.

Giving Away A Dog Poetry Book!

Hey Guys, in celebration of National Poetry month I am giving away my own copy of this terrific book of poems written from the canine perspective "Unleashed".  The writing in this book will make you laugh and cry. To enter the contest just leave a comment right here on the blog and tell me something about your own pet. You can also enter by leaving a comment on Facebook once this post feeds into my wall over there. You have until midnight on Sunday to enter. I will draw names on Monday the 2nd and post the winner's name. The winner will have one week to contact me with their address, and if I do not hear back from them I will draw again.

Mosaic Monday/ New Robot Art

This last month I finished #7 Robot Mosaic and I have been working on Chip the robot. 

#7 Robot ( detail)
© rebecca collins

#7 Robot
© rebecca collins

"Chip"
© rebecca collins

So here is the deal ... I am falling in love with Chip, my very first 3-d project. He seems so real to me. I really think when he is finished that he will come to life and start talking to me. He has a long way to go and will probably take a few months to complete. I have an elaborate base in mind and he will have a 3-d robot dog pal that he will be walking. I already have future large scale 3-d bots planned out in my head, but they will be on the back burner until 2012.  Mosaic work takes so much patience, because the ideas flow so much faster than the time it takes to create them.

My First Puppy Was a Beagle

My first puppy was a Beagle we named Pokey after Pocahontas. She was a loyal and loving dog. I found these photos the other day and scanned them in. I often look back at what different lives my childhood pets had than my current spoiled pups that sleep beside me at night. Mom and Dad's house rules regarding pets were much different than mine are today. While it may be tempting to think they were doing it wrong by making the dogs live outside in dog houses, the reality is I am very fortunate to have had parents that understood the importance of allowing kids to have pets at all, and I am eternally grateful that they allowed us to have all of the assorted dogs and cats that we had.  Mom also allowed me to decorate my room myself and paint it any color I wanted, she really encouraged my creativity in many ways.

Pet Photography Tips Blog

When you get a chance you should really check out a blog I started in collaboration with a photography pal of mine, Kris Hundt. I have been away from the blog for awhile but Kris has been updating the blog a lot this month and I really love a post she did recently about composition.  In this post she talks about the rule of thirds and illustrates it with some amazing Flickr photos like this one below by Pixel Addict.

From Flickr Member Pixel Addict

Please Visit: http://petphotographytips.wordpress.com/ 
Leave Kris a comment over there if you find her posts helpful!

Mosaic Monday ? ATC Flower Swap

I have been really busy with work and falling down on my duties as an organizer for the ATC mosaic card trades I started last year. The next swap's theme is flowers or the color green and the  deadline is May 21st. I have not started on my cards yet however I am planning to have 3 cards finished for the off-line Dallas swap and 2 cards finished for on-line trading.The good news is that the trade has taken on a life of it's own and I am not 100% necessary any longer to keep the momentum going.

The card above is by my classmate Kelly Railsback. I love how subtle and sophisticated the colors are on this card.... it is like a whisper ... tone on tone. Kelly is a very talented mosaic artist that I met in the Tuesday night mosaic class at the Creative Arts Center in Dallas.  She usually sat to my left and Tricia sat to my right. Stacy was at the end on our side of the room and she is the hippy chick  that mixes a tasty martini. I have been taking class on Thursday recently and meeting some more great mosaic artists that may join in on the next swap. I really miss all of my Tuesday night pals and may try to get back to class next session on that evening.  When you take class with a group of people for more than a year it is easy to start feeling like part of a clique and that is one thing I love about our off-line card swaps, there is a lot of potential to break up that "clique" mentality and bring in more people, mixing things up with new talent, new faces and new personalities.

So last week I created  a few filers and invites to post at school....

 My goal this weekend is to start on some new cards and update the blog I created for this swap:
http://mosaicswap.com/
Wow, my last post over there was Jan 14th .... yipes! I had better get on it!
Oh, and I will be active on Flickr trying to see who may want to trade on-line with me in May ... hoping they will still remember my name there, I have really been off the radar lately with all my mosaic communities.

I see dogs ....

Ok I do not know that this photograph of my bath towel is particularly blog worthy, but I had to laugh this morning as I was staring at this door thinking about my day ahead and a wrinkled beige hound popped up in front of me. I guess I see dogs everywhere, or maybe I just need a break.

So this post is for my photographer pal Sheila who sees faces in everything she shoots in nature. She enjoys finding all types of faces in wood grain and various textures in her photos. I sort of hope this is just an isolated event and I do not start seeing floppy eared canines in inanimate objects around me.

I know it is Monday and I will get a Mosaic Monday post up before the end of the day. I think the hounds are calling to me first.

Haley Quinn

"Haley Quinn"
© Rebecca Collins / artpaw.com

 Haley Quinn's Project:
This is Miss Haley. She was an amazing fighter and cancer survivor. Sadly she did leave her people for the rainbow bridge while I was working on her project.  I am very honored to have been given the opportunity to create some artwork for this sweet and pretty girl.  Before I started on this project I mocked up a quick layout of the first photograph sent over, erasing the background. The client decided she wanted me to work with a full body photo since her girl's 3-legs are an important part of her story and who she is. She sent the photo above over and I started again, you can see the first proofing round by clicking here. I think I did a pretty good job on the artwork part of the project, but things went awry on ship day.

I Make Mistakes:
I am feeling very bad today because we ( I ) dropped the ball with an address change on this print and it has gone to the client's California home and not the Arizona residence. I called fedex a few times the day it shipped to get it rerouted and it still went to the wrong location. They are trying to get a driver out there today to pick it back up and send it to the correct address.  I hate it when I mess up and I do my best to make things right as quickly as possible. I did promise my client that if anything goes wrong while the package  is in limbo we will reprint and reship quickly free of charge.  Clients often finalize or change their shipping addresses by e-mail when they approve and I do usually double check for changes before I hand off the paper work to Lola. I just totally dropped the ball and then fedex dropped the ball with me.  Hopefully they will  reroute today as originally requested.  My client is being very understanding and very patient, but I still feel terrible. Such an important project and I fumbled at the end.

What To do Going Forward:
I think this is a sign that I need to slow down, and quit trying to turn things around so fast with so many clients.  Either that or I need a better system for proof approvals. Maybe I should look into web forms and create one where my client types in their approval number and then types in their address a final time. That web-form gets printed out and handed off to Lola before she stretches and ships.  Something like that might work.  I know a lot of artists have like 3 or 4 month turn-arounds on commissions, but I think that would totally kill my business. I am just going to have to get better at the office management side of things. It needs to become a top priority and I need to look at it as a creative challenge. 

Poetry / Pet Portrait Contest

In honor of national poetry month I am holding a pet poetry contest over at my Facebook fan page. The contest lasts all month long and we have had some great submissions so far. The winner will receive a 16 x 20 custom pet portrait by me! I will also be giving away a great book on dog poetry next week.

To enter just post your original poem on my wall over at Facebook. It has to be short enough to fit in a comment thread there so around 420 characters or so.  I will be cross posting the submissions here on the blog, but you have to enter the contest over at my facebook page.

Here are just a few submissions:

dog
scruffy exuberant
romping coursing bounding
accomplice cheer solace conspirator
preening judging declaring
... unimpressible sleek
cat

by Jim Price

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rescued pug - a Haiku

Cradled in my arms,
He snuggles in with a snort.
Safe, secure, he’s home.

by Ann Hetzel


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Shelter Pet Blessing

At the shelter you may see,
all the dogs just look at me.
Deep inside they all do say,
...“If only you'd see life my way.”

“This second chance they've given me
is my chance to let you see,
If you take me home, and give me love
We'd both be blessed from God above.”

“For you would give me all I need
And I will plant a tiny seed
that grows with time and fills your heart
and that, my friend, is where love starts.”

by Emily Ross

Mosaic Monday/ Leg milgaro done

Leg Milagro Mosaic
© rebecca collins

Leg Milagro Mosaic Detail
© rebecca collins

Have not been blogging much lately, but I have been really busy. I finished my 1st Mosaic Milagro for an upcoming show in the fall.  I have also been working on finalizing many doggy portraits and will post more later this week.

Mickey & Minnie Pet Portrait

"Mickey & Minnie" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

These two are just adorable. I really enjoyed this project. This portrait is going in a young girl's room and my original proofing set was too tame.  I was more than happy  to turn up the volume on the colors.

Glass Bottle From 2007 Beach trip

Glass Bottle With sea shells, a photo by artpaw [rebecca collins] on Flickr.

Someone just added this old pic to their faves over at flickr. I forgot all about these shots. I was shooting a lot back then in 07. This one makes me want to go to the beach again soon.