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