Sit. Stay. Smile. Photography & Art

 Here is a recent painting of my diva dachshund Daisy…Does she look like a lump of annoyed dachshund to you? She always has this expression of “why are you bothering me”…I am trying to get my paintings a bit more painted looking and not so photographic…does this one look to flat or have I been staring at it too long? CC always welcome….

Here are a few photos from a Shoot I did the other day…This is Abby and her sweet little man Max. We had a nice morning on the beach for photographs and Max had a great time digging for crabs in between shots. Here are a few of my favorites….

A couple of months ago, I invited a bunch of my dog artist friends to participate in a fatbook called “Dogs Rule”. The theme was something I thought we could all relate to and easily create a page about. Well, almost all of the pages have arrived and I am busy collating, assembling and adding the finishing touches to the books so I can send them all out to the other artists…All I can say is, Wow! What an amazingly talented group of women we are!!! I think you guys will be very pleased with the final results and I will post photos for you all to see after I mail them out…I don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone! I am just waiting on one more page and then I can get them out to you…YAY! By the way, for those of you who may be interested, we made one extra book and we will be auctioning it off on EBAY at a later date to raise money for “A Place To Bark“, Bernie Berlin’s animal rescue organization. I will post info on that at a later date before the auction begins….Have a great weekend everyone!

I can’t believe that my daughter turned 10 years old this past Saturday…wasn’t it just yesterday that I dropped her off at kindergarten for the first time? I am really trying to enjoy this time in my life because it will be over before I know it…We get to keep them close to us for such a short time and then they are gone…off to make their own way in the world…sniff, sniff. I know, she’s only turning 10, but soon it will be 18 and then what??? OK, I have had my momentary meltdown, on to the party…

She decided she wanted to have her party at the SPCA where I volunteer and instead of the kids bringing gifts for her, they brought presents to the dogs and cats at the shelter. Is she the sweetest kid in the world or what? She volunteers with me occasionally when she is out of school and she really enjoys helping out in any way she can, so I am not totally suprised, but still, very cool on her part…I made a cake shaped like a dog bone for the party and sprayed the girls hair wacky colors and we got tattoos for them from another shelter called Dogs Deserve Better. When you purchase one of their tattoos, the proceeds benefit their organization and help other dogs in need. I loved the design and it was for a good cause!

My friend Amy at the shelter was a great host to the girls…she brought different animals out for them to pet and at the same time, educated them on many different topics relating to animals and pet safety. After that, they made peanut butter sandwhiches with dog biscuits and went out to the floor to give the treats to the dogs we are trying to find forever homes for right now. They had a blast, got a little emotional at times and learned a lot, so I think it was a good day. Everyone always feels good after they have done something nice for someone or something else and I think the girls really enjoyed that aspect of the party. We went back to my house from there and had cake and ice cream….what a great day. Happy Birthday Caroline!

I love this time of year at my local produce stand…I feel like I am in the south of France amid the massive fields of sunflowers…almost. I decided to shoot some images for HDR processing since that is my new favorite toy. I am still having some noise issues but my alignment seems better. It is so much fun converting photos to HDR. You select the image files you want to use, then you wait anxiously as it processes and then you get this wonderful surprise at the end…sometimes the surprise is good, sometimes it is not…all part of the experience. Download your free trial of Photomatix and try it sometime!

Here are two new pet portraits…one may be familiar to you since I did a similar portrait of my dog Wiley at this same location. My client saw that painting and wanted her dog painted on the pier as well. The other is a great Dane named Deacon and he is a sweet, goofy harlequin…My sisters dog Lily is the exact same way. I think it is that particular color of dane that tends to be nuttier than the others. Hope you all have a great day!