Sit. Stay. Smile. Photography & Art

Here are some shots from a photo shoot I did last week. George is the Beagle and Brodi is the cute little orange tabby kitten. George was 100% Beagle and on the snoop the whole time and Brodi wasn’t sure what he was doing out of the house??? We had fun even though the humidity was 1000% and it was muggy!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and that you all had a great weekend. I had some weird vertigo attack over the weekend that kind of freaked me out at first…I woke up and the whole room was spinning. And before you judge me, no I had not been drinking the night before! When I tried to get up the whole room was spinning and I could not stand up. I finally figured out if I tilted my head to the right I could stand up without barfing. My sister took me to the doctor and he said I was suffering from BPV or Benign Positional Vertigo. He wrote me a script for Antivert? and told me to go home and do some strange exercises that may help…It actually worked! Two days later and I am back to normal (for me anyway)…How weird is that. I thought I had a brain tumor or something. Never a dull moment…Enjoy the photos….

Bark Magazine was kind enough to mention our Party Animals zine over on their blog…They were so supportive of Dogs Rule and I really appreciate their continued commitment to our cause…thanks Lisa! Sales are going well for the zine…please pick up your copy today and support A Place To Bark animal rescue!

Well this has been in the works for what seems like a long time now…The project is called Party Animals and it is the second project that I have hosted to support A Place To Bark animal rescue. I invited 20 other artists to create an original piece of artwork based on the theme, using any medium they wanted. All of the artists submitted their work to me and I photographed each piece and have created a zine featuring everyone’s work, along with other fun articles and info about A Place To Bark. The finished zine is full color, 43 pages and printed professionally by Lulu Printing. You can get your copy of the zine here and remember, your purchase of this zine is tax deductable and ALL of the proceeds go directly to helping the animals at A Place To Bark. So not only do you get a totally cool book full of art, but you get a warm fuzzy feeling that you helped a really good cause…win-win situation!

The original artwork from this zine will be auctioned off on Ebay on October 15th, 2009. I will post info about the auction here on the blog as we get closer to that date. I would like to thank all of the artists who donated their beautiful work to this project. Some of the artists were also a part of Dogs Rule (my first project for APTB), but we had quite a few new artists join the sisterhood as well. Below is a list of the artists who participated…please visit their sites and check them out!

Jill Beninato – www.sitstaysmile.com                                                                                                        
Bernie Berlin - www.aplacetobark.blogspot.com
Suzi Blu – www.suziblu.typepad.com
Rebecca Collins – www.artpaw.com
Wendy Crumbley – www.2dogstudio.com
Ingrid Dijkers – www.ingriddijkers.com
Manon Doyle – www.hoochiepoochiestudios.com
Sarah Fishburn – www.sarahfishburn.com
Rice Freeman-Zachery – www.voodooandzen.com
Heather LaHaise – www.heatherlahaise.com
Melissa Langer – www.pugnotes.com
Maija Lepore – www.maigirlz.typepad.com
Anne Leuck Feldhaus – www.annesart.com
Tamandra Michaels – www.heartdogstudios.com
Kim Rae Nugent – www.kimraenugent.com
Linda O’Neill – www.abbycreekstudios.com
Nancy Schutt – www.gooddogart.com
Jill Marie Shulse – www.jillmarieshulse.blogspot.com
Kelly Snelling – www.soulhumming.typepad.com
Carla Sonheim – www.carlasonheim.com
Kathy Weller – www.wellerwishes.com

Here are a few photos of the finished zine as well as an image loop with a few images as well…

Well, I have been a total slacker for the past two weeks…sorry for not posting in soooo long but I have needed a break and I have just been enjoying my summer and working on personal projects, etc. Here are two paintings I just did that are silly and whimsical of my two dachshunds Daisy and Zoe. The square painting is acrylic on plywood and the smaller rectangle is acrylic on canvas…

Also, this Friday I will be posting the link to my “Party Animals” zine here on the blog. I have been working really hard to get this finished and I think it turned out really great. I contacted 20 other artists to participate in the project that will benefit A Place To Bark animal rescue. The zine will feature reproductions of all the original art submitted for the auction as well as other cool dog related stories, how to’s and info. Check back on Friday to see a few samples of the work in the zine and to order your copy!

Hey everyone…meet Mugs (the fawn English Mastiff) and Stella (the black Cane Corso). I photographed these two pups a few weeks ago and they were a lot of fun. Mugs was the silly, goofy one….Stella was definitely a bit more guarded and not too sure about things. I seem to get that alot lately. Maybe it is the two dog household dynamic where one dog assumes the more happy go lucky role and the other hangs back and is more shy…Mugs was just hilarious in his expressions I have to say and he acted like a big goofball most of the shoot. We just missed the rain that day and I was happy to get their photos taken before the storm. Here are a few…

We had alot of fun at the VBSPCA dogwash benefit this past Sunday…The weather held out for us and alot of really cool dogs came out for the event. Two Brother’s Dog Wash was kind enough to let us use their awesome facilities to hold the dog wash and they donated the proceeds to the shelter as well. If you live in the Hampton Roads area and have a dirty dog, go visit Two Brothers Dog Wash on Newtown Road! Have a great day everyone!