Holiday Deadline is Today!

I am going over my list and I am checking it twice. I know that most of my four legged clients have probably been both "naughty and nice" this last year .... anyway my own dogs have been.  I am eager to get everyone that has ordered proofed as quickly as possible, while still maintaining a close attention to detail.

You have until midnight tonight to fill out an order form on-line and place your holiday pet portrait order. Once you fill out your form just e-mail your pet photos to artpaw.com@gmail.com.

If you sent us pics last month sometime and never filled out a form and finalized your project order, I will be sorting through all those pending projects on Friday and I will be e-mailing everyone letting them know what we need to do on our end to get them placed on the project board. Lisa and Mike, you guys are both repeat clients so don't worry, you are totally on the board and I will invoice you later.

If you want to see where you are at on the proofing calendar just click here.
Allow me 24 hours to manually update the calendar once your order is placed.

New Pet Portrait Mickey and Pal

"Mickey" ( see all Proofs)
© rebecca collins/ artpaw.com

"Mickey" ( see all Proofs)
© rebecca collins/ artpaw.com

 Is Mickey cute or what? I love his little bear pal. I gave the bear an eyeball and with his empty headed grin and doll-stare he seems to make Mickey look even more alive. Look at that possessive paw holding on to bear! I love it.

Have not been blogging much lately. We are starting to get really swamped with pet portrait orders. Our cut off date for new orders with a holiday delivery is tomorrow at midnight.  I will still take just a few orders in December however we can not 100% promise a holiday delivery when clients order past the posted deadlines.  I can promise proofing, but not delivery when your order is placed after 11/30.  Every year I kill myself working right up to December 23rd, and this year I am just going to have to be strict about my posted deadlines. 

Holiday Deadlines are very important because:
• If the post office drops the ball we have time to reprint and reship.
• If our e-mail messages end up in your spam folder we have time to track you down by phone to get your proof approval.
• If clients need a minor color change I have time to go back in and make that change.
• When clients send low resolution pics that will not work they have time to search for higher resolution more workable photographs to submit.
• Ultimately holiday deadlines are important because Art Paw has one artist in charge and one very talented shipping and stretching expert. E-mail alone can eat up half of my day.

Please just go easy on us and place your pet portrait order by 11/30/11.

Looking Back

Wow, looking back at last year's pet portraits in November and we did 41 projects. We are a bit behind that marker this year with only around 30 projects slated for this month so far. I always like to compete against myself, but you know I am more than happy with the work we have in-house right now. We have some great pets lined up and I am very excited about them all. We even have 2 kitty projects in the works and that beats last November's feline numbers.... yay for the kitties! Meow baby.

Organizing all day!

Wow, spent the entire day organizing some new portrait projects and many pending projects.  It looks like my sbcglobal e-mail is on the fritz again .... arrrrg, so I am back to using artpaw.com@gmail.com.

When it comes to commissioning a pet portrait lots of folks like to just shoot me quick pics to get the ball rolling on a portrait project and that is cool, but do keep in mind I love to have a real order form filled out ( it keeps me organized, and sane) and that can easily be done by following this link: http://www.artpaw.com/painterly_order.html
When you go through the shopping cart process you don't even have to pay at the end, you can choose pay later by phone as an option.  I will call you to take your payment details by phone. I will need at least a 50% deposit to get started if you are a new Art Paw client.

This weekend I will be working on a few commissions at once, getting many pups and kitties started. Next week I will spend more time with each project giving each the time it needs. Tonight however I get to play and go to a poetry reading and I am excited about that. My husband has a whole different set of pals than I do because of his work with the Writers Garrett here in Dallas. I really enjoy going to their events.

Kitty Sneak Peek
I see you

If you have sent me pics and are waiting for a proofing e-mail please do know that I need your full order details to get started. If you have been sent a proofing date then relax, you are on the board. If you are a repeat client, don't worry we will figure things out and we can work loosely with you by e-mail, but first time clients need to give me their shipping and billing details.

Tick Tock Baby!

I just posted my Holiday deadlines on the website  ... it is going to be the end of the month 11/30. I will take pet portrait orders until the end of November with a promise of a holiday delivery. After that time I will do what I can with all of the late orders that trickle in, however prepaid orders that were made by posted deadlines will have top priority treatment.  Click Here To Place your Order Today!

We do a lot of projects for spouses, but consider buying for the kiddo's bedrooms too!

Mosaic Monday/ Field Trip

Sunday I went out to Rockwall to visit Barbara Dybala and check out her large scale mosaic mural project.  They say everything is bigger in Texas and this gal really has a Texan "can do attitude".  She is covering her 3 story studio in tile and smalti. If you want to be a part of the fun know that Barb is offering free classes on large scale mosaics. At first when I heard about it I thought what a clever way to get your "fence painted Huck Finn".  After just 20 minutes of listening to her orientation I realize she has an amazing wealth of info and she is as generous as she can possibly be with her knowledge. I learned so  much about efficiency and production when tackling something on this scale. Barbara studied under Isaiah Zagar and uses many of his techniques.

There is still time to get in on the fun and it really is fun. The space she is creating is magical. Check out her website for more info.  This is the last week of open classes so don't miss out!

New Background Patterns/ Photoshop

When I travel I take pictures of textures and patterns because I know I may have the chance later to incorporate them into a piece of digital art. I created a few new Background patterns this week with some pics I took in Italy. Check out Fluffy's artwork below and then check out my photographs that I used for the background design.

"Fluffy" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins /artpaw.com

The wooden texture above was taken from the door image below

Italy Door
© rebecca collins 

"Fluffy" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins /artpaw.com

I knew when I saw this iron work in Italy that it had to be used in an Art Paw background pattern. When you shoot photographs to use as texture and pattern in your artwork you do not always need to use the entire photo, you never know what tiny bit of texture is going to be just what you need to give your digital art a real world patina. Digital art can often tend to have a plastic or overly smooth texture, by using real world images in my art I feel like I am giving my work a gritty realness.

Busy With Pet Portrait Orders

We are rocking and rolling here, creating art every day. Life is good, Lola is working 3 days a week now, and the e-mail issues have been resolved. I am ready for the pet portrait orders to start flowing in more and more each week. Will post some new artwork soon.

Keep in Mind When Ordering A Portrait:
Best time to order a pet portrait for Christmas is NOW.
We need 2 main things to start on your project
• a high quality photo ( 500kb or larger)
• payment

Call me if you have any questions ... it is toll free: 888-225-427. I would love to talk to you.

Me & Lola (Sept.)

 

 

Lola and her baby Zitna

My Boy Whitman

E-mail problems

Attention Clients and potential clients: please use the e-mail
artpaw.com@gmail.com
if you are trying to reach me this next week. My Yahoo mail account is acting weird. Bad timing. Hope to get it resolved very soon.

Holiday Pet Portrait Deadline

 

Order by November 21st 

To get my best unhurried creative work

Well it is that time of year again and the holidays are here.  Each November I get nervous and excited about all of the holiday orders that will come in.  I always post a holiday deadline and people usually ignore it and keep ordering anyway.  Keep in mind that when you order from Art Paw I will be the one creating your custom artwork and there is only one of me.  Lola is totally amazing this time of year and she will be optimizing photos by cleaning the backgrounds and she will be shipping and stretching all of the portraits. 

Early next week I will be posting my official cut off dates for the holidays. Right now it looks like November 21st will be the soft deadline, that will go on the calendar. If you have been thinking about ordering now is the time.

We will be proofing with password protected gallery pages starting today in order to avoid ruining any holiday surprises. 

Mosaic Monday/ We Love Mary Engel

Phil, 23 x 14 x 8 in.
by Mary Engel

by Mary Engel

Inspired by Southern memory jars, Mary Engels's mosaic work is wonderfully encrusted with all kinds of objects. On her website she states; " For me, the animal image symbolizes a bridge between the rational world of humans and the instinctual world of nature."  She also creates bronze sculptures that are cast from her original mosaic work. She has a well designed easy to navigate site so check her out and add her to your list of favorites: http://www.maryengel.net.

Book Review / I'm Not The biggest Bitch in this Relationship

Back in September I was sent a copy of a terrific book to review by the publicist for "I'm not the biggest Bitch in this Relationship: Hilarious, Heartwarming Tales About Man's Best Friend from America's Favorite Humorists. Edited by Wade Rouse, this collection of 21 original short essay is just hysterical.  I read it coming home from Italy on the plane and have been telling everyone I know about it. When I got home I started reading a few of the essays out loud to Dan at night while he cooks dinner.  I will probably be buying a few extra copies to hand out to my dog loving pals at Christmas.  Keep in mind that 50% of the royalties will be donated to the Humane Society of the US.  If you ever feel like you are just a wee bit obsessed or crazy about your 4 legged family members these writers will make you realize that you are not alone.

Feather and Shard

Just got in from a late dog walk. I picked up a stunning jet black feather and a black pottery shard on my walk. In college we always had some sort of design or sculpture class where the assignment would be to incorporate "found objects" into an art project.  I always enjoyed those assignments.  After school I started working long hours in retail to pay my bills and I had 2 cats so I sort of retired into myself and into my apartment for a decade or longer. When I was not working I was home or playing with friends, I did not make much art in my 20's.  When I married Danny in my mid 30's I became a bit of a dog person, started walking the pups and so here I am again, out in the world and picking stuff up off the street.

I dunno if these will go into an art project, but they are so lovely. What have you found on your dog walks lately?

Mosaic Monday/ Happy Endings

This afternoon I am really missing Italy. When I arrived home a week ago I discovered that some things were missing from my luggage, the entire suit case looked like mockingbirds had been pecking through it, things were very much  in disarray. A few jewelry trinkets that I had purchased as gifts were gone, but more important than that was my sketch book. The sketchbook can not be replaced as there were some original simple drawings that I had done of pups that are gone from our lives.

So my luggage had been rifled through at the airport.  Hmmm, well I figured it was a lesson learned, end of story, life goes on. This morning I got a wonderful e-mail from a very kind lady that tracked me down via Orsoni where we had taken classes and she had my agenda and certificate of course completion she said. I knew that I had the certificate and book together in one location so I quickly e-mailed her back and asked her if there had been a  sketch book with the paperwork. Sure enough she did have the sketch book and she will be mailing these things back to me.  Her luggage had been rifled through too and I guess when they were putting things back in cases they just threw things here and there.  I am really touched that this wonderful person took the time to track me down. This happy ending is making me miss Italy so very much and the warmth of the people there.

So today I will post a few more random Italy snapshots and end with a digital scan of one of the doggy sketches that will be coming home to me soon.

 

Big Tommy Sketch 12/25/08
© rebecca collins

This sketch is just a simple line drawing but it really captured my boys big ears and the curve of his big ol' head.  The glow ball reference is about a specific glow in the dark ball toy he had received that Christmas.  Loosing this drawing even temporarily has reminded me how much I need to get back into the habit of drawing each day.

Life is full of surprises and wonderful people will show up for you when you least expect it. I am a very fortunate woman in so many ways.  Italy was a great experience and I can not wait to go again.

Why Do We Love Bulldogs So much?

"Franklin" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Why oh why do we all adore Bulldogs so much? Clients tell me they drool, snore, fart and have to be grown like delicate hot house orchids with high vet bills and a host of breed specific health issues .... but still, who can resist their smushed faces and personalities that are as varied as the day is long.  I will have a bulldog puppy some day, I don't know when, but I know that I will be owned by this breed eventually. They are one of the few non-terrier breeds that I really do covet.

Franklin looks like a young pup to me in this photo. He is such a handsome guy. This photo was a real joy to play with. The glow eye was minor and easy to fix. The coat detail and lighting on this shot was perfect. I always enjoy working with informal shots of pups with bones or toys.

Valentino The Mastiff

"Valentino" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

This handsome boy was proofed yesterday and we already have an approval so he is shipping out today. When approvals come in quickly the final artwork usually ships fast too.

About The Art:
In the original photograph this boy's ears were not overly perky. The client had sent several pics and so I  was able to snag some ears from a different photo and warp them on to this shot. I really adored Valentino's  pose in this shot as it really shows off how noble he is ... the ear fix was rather simple since I have done this type of alteration many times. The other tweak that I think really helped this image was adding a white highlight to the eyeball to the left, in the original photo that eye was really hiding. I hope to do more Mastiffs in the future, they are really stunning animals, and Mr. Valentino has stolen my heart.

Painting Eyes For Hank

Today I worked on enhancing and painting in some sparkle on Hank's eyes. This adorable pup is no longer with his humans and so I am working with grainy cell phone images that we have access to. I always crab when I have to work with lower quality images, but the reality is that I sort of like the challenge and especially when it is an important memorial project. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at working with what I have and painting in missing detail when needed.   Below is a sneak peek of Hank in progress, I have lots more work to do before I will be able to proof my client. Hank reminds me so much of my best friend's pup Bella. She lost her Bella last year.

( above) Hank's eyes after some work on the wacom tablet

( above) Hank's original eye detail

(above) Original photo

"Hank" In progress Sketch
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Mosaic Monday/ Italy

Well I had a restful weekend and this morning I finally sat down to empty out my camera cards. I have tons of great shots from Italy. It will take me weeks to edit and sort through them all. Today I will post just a small handful.

In Italy we saw .........
Many Old Mosaics

 and we saw....
New Mosaics

We saw pretty brides

We saw laundry in Venice......

We saw all types of dogs and graffiti

We saw bikes in Ravenna

 

We saw cool old doors

On our last night we roamed the property that our hotel was on near the airport and we picked up pottery shards that were mixed in with the gravel so we could come home with some "found tessera" to create a mosaic with.