END OF THE YEAR SELF-PORTRAIT

6x9 oil on canvas

Because a few other blog artists recently painted their self-portraits, I thought I'd try the same exercise. It's hard not to fix what you want to change (erase, smudge, de-emphasize, lighten or darken, in my case) as you paint yourself, but a worthy exercise nonetheless. If you have not painted yourselves lately, I would strongly encourage you to do so.

Thank you so much for viewing, reading, and taking the time to leave comments on my blog. This is a community of incredible, committed artists and I am happy to "know" each of you.

I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and safe 2010.

Happy New Year!

SULLY

8x10 oil on canvas sold

This is one of several commissions I've been working on before Christmas. Sully is an English Labrador Retriever, otherwise known as a "Blockhead" Lab. They are given this name because of their square or block shaped head. I understand, Sully works hard, plays hard, and in-between, naps hard. At the end of his hard day, I've been told he sleeps hard!

I wish you and your families a very Happy New Year, one filled with lots of art: buying, selling, collecting, and most importantly creating!!

DSFDF PORTRAIT & MY 100TH POSTING

6x9 oil on canvas

So much to say, I've been overwhelmed with painting commissions, but cannot post much until after Christmas; however, I can post my DSFDF portrait painting. I was VERY intimidated when I first received my photo and then literally just threw my hands up in the air, and remembered it's just paint. Slowly my intimidation turned into fun, and I hope the end results show that I enjoyed myself through the process. I do not know who this fella is, but if you recognize him, please let me know!

Yesterday I had the most wonderful day. I met a fellow blogger and now friend, Ann Rogers, for an afternoon of drooling over the most spectacular plein air paintings. After a couple of hours of oohing and aahhing, we had lunch together and continued our conversation about the gallery exhibition and everything else we could possibly visit about...this may surprise you, I am a talker and so is Ann, there was never a moment of silence throughout our visit. Thank you Ann for a delightful afternoon!!

For those of you in the Dallas area, I would encourage you to see Southwest Gallery's Outdoor Painters Society exhibition (open through January 4th) and for those of you not in the area, here are some of the Texas artists I greatly admire, please take a look at some of these sites, you will not be disappointed!

John Cook

John Potoschnick

Laurel Daniels

Bob Rohm

Jill Carver

Rusty Jones

Ann Hardy

This is only a sampling of the artists whose work we viewed, but definitely these are some of my very favorite Texas artists. In addition to all of these links, here's another one for you: Outdoor Painters Society, there you will see all of the members and their incredible works. Ann, thanks again it was a wonderful cold, wet, and rainy Saturday to meet a new friend and talk art!

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting; I truly appreciate your visits, take care!!

BANDIT, THE BLUE EYED BROWN EYED DOG WONDER

8x10 oil on canvas sold

Well, I have to say, not only do I love this little fella, but I also love his mama and boy, does his mama love him!! Bandit's mother is a young, new teacher at my school...someone please tell me why they're making teachers younger these days....Mrs. Yerger is one of my very favorite teachers and one I look forward to visiting with each morning. Luckily for both of us, our classrooms are across the hallway from each other. Sometimes the little ones have difficulty pronouncing Mrs. Yerger's name and they slip and call her Mrs. Yogurt, that always makes me laugh!

Ok, so time for Bandit's story. Bandit is a Boston Terrier/Border Collie mix and is the dog child of Mrs. Yerger's in-laws. As I understand it, Bandit knows no strangers and loves everyone he sees. He was born with unusual eyes, which sadly means that Bandit is blind in his beautiful blue eye. Apparently Bandit's limited eyesight has not affected his ability to be, and I quote: "the smartest and brightest, most obedient, and best cuddler of all dogs around." I don't know, do ya'll think Bandit is loved?

I hope each of you are enjoying a beautiful fall and looking forward to this time of blessing and thanksgiving, take care!

BEST FRIENDS

16x20 oil on canvas sold

Here is one of my latest portrait commissions. Best Friends posed its own set of challenges, I had to balance these bright blue eyes, strawberry red hair, pale skin, and a very, very black dog or in this case, best friend. Take care and enjoy this wonderful fall weather wherever you might be!

TRINITY RIVER & HENRY FINKELSTEIN

PRAIRIE POND sold

16X20 oil on canvas
PRAIRIE PATH

10x20 oil on canvas

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a plein air workshop with Henry Finkelstein, an abstract expressionist from New York. I attended 2 of the 5 days and painted at the Trinity River Audubon Center. TRAC, just South of downtown Dallas, once an illegal dumping ground and reclaimed by the city, is now a wonderful educational facility for families and students.

In addition to my 2 paintings, I've included an exterior photo of the TRAC facility and a party photo we had on our last evening with Henry.

SUNKISSED

8x8 oil on canvas panel

Another little painting for James Parker's blog. I was a little late with my submission, but James posted it for me...thank you Mr. Parker! The photo reference for this painting was delightful to work with; however, photographing this particular painting and getting it ready for posting proved to be very problematic. I don't know why the colors are so washed out...oh, well I tried.

I've not been the best blogger lately, but hope that you know that I appreciate your visits and comments. I would like to add a slide show of more pets posing with their paintings; however, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to do it. If you know how and don't mind sharing the "slide show secret", could you please e-mail me? :-)

TWEEDLES x 2

Look at what I got in the mail! Several postings back I posted this painting of Tweedles, which I had painted from a photo from James Parker's blog. In addition to these photos of a very photogenic Tweedles, I also received a beautiful & sincere letter of thanks that made me cry & smile all at the same time...this is why I love to paint!

Tweedles, you are the best; please tell your moms hello for me!

MELLO YELLOW

6x9 oil on canvas

September is all about cats on James Parker's fun blog. There were several photos I wanted to try and paint, but the month has zipped by so fast, I barely got this one in on time. My husband and I have a favorite coffee that we drink called Mello Joy, it is only sold in Louisiana and comes in a bright yellow package. We buy it by the case when we visit family and for the first time in several years, we have run out and have had to substitute another not so adequate brand of coffee. As I painted this fellow, I could not help but think of how much I miss my Mello Joy coffee and I wonder if I might look just like this after that first great sip of Mello Joy! Thank you for visiting and letting me ramble; take care.

LADY LAUREL

10x10 oil on canvas nfs

This little beauty is a possible Italian Greyhound & Jack Russell Terrier mix, lovingly adopted by a friend. She was the last dog to be adopted at the grand opening of a Dallas animal shelter, all it took was for her to lay her little head with those mouse-like ears on her new owner's shoulders and she immediately had a new home. Way to go Laurel, you've come a long way from shelter dog to diva dog!

This was one of those paintings where I struggled with the composition. Initially I tried to place Laurel within an 8x10 format, but she would not have it, such a diva that she is, I finally settled on the square canvas and felt that that helped to highlight her special ears.

GINGER

8x10 oil on canvas nfs

A Pit Bull & Brittany Spaniel mix, Ginger is 2 years old and is very much loved by 2 young teenager girls. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Ginger, but I understand she is the kindest pet and apparently has fur as soft as a rabbit. I especially love the little polka-dots on her face and the tufts of hair on high alert perched on top of her ears. Thank you for visiting!

MOCHA ROCKS & AWARDS CEREMONY

Yesterday was lots of fun; I attended the awards ceremony for the Unconditional Love 1st Annual Juried Pet Portrait Competition in Irving, Tx. I had a great time visiting with Nancy Medina, (I'll spare you the photos Jay took of Nancy & I having a deep conversation about all things art. Nancy, you can thank me later), but how I loved sharing ideas with this very wise painter of all things great and lover of all pugs! Judy Mackey won an Award of Excellence for one of her paintings (sorry did not get a shot of her painting, but did photograph Nancy accepting Judy's award). I've also included a picture of Nancy and her beautiful painting, Winnifred WigglePants. My painting Mocha Rocks placed 1st in the Works on Canvas category, a very big surprise!

Thank you all for visiting. Nancy & I met through this thing called an art blog and I sincerely hope I get to meet more of you. Take care.

PINK DOTS

5x7 oil on canvas panel

Another cupcake for the current Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge commemorating the 1 year anniversary of Karin Jurick's fun and challenging blog.

ANOTHER SUNDAY AFTERNOON

6"x12"

Well, school has started and once I adjust from my summer to school schedule, I am hoping I can paint again and post a little more often. This was painted a little earlier this summer from an itty bitty photo of my Mom's friend and her sister.

The fellowship and friendship that has developed amongst this blogger community is incredible. Nancy Medina stepped up to the plate this week for me and delivered one of my paintings for a show that we were accepted in...Thank you tons Nancy! I wish you could all see Nancy's paintings in person, they are absolutely beautiful and she is a most versatile artist with a variety of subject matter. What she does with paint and a sunflower is amazing! In addition to her outstanding art, she has these 3 cutie pie darling babies she calls pugs. How Nancy gets any painting done with all that tail-waggin' and pug-lovin' is unbelievable. Please visit her blog, if you have not already, and if you think about it, please tell her I said thanks!

OLIVE

8x16 oil on canvas sold

I don't know anything about Chinese Crested dogs, except to say that they are very happy little pups and they remind me of very miniature ponies. When my client came over on Saturday to pick up this portrait and the portrait of Lizzie, Ranch Girl du Jour, she just happened to have all of her dogs waiting for her in the car. I am so sorry I did not run back in the house for my camera, the ever graceful Italian Greyhound, Grace was in the front seat and 3 petite Chinese Cresteds...or in my opinion, 3 little petite ponies, were in the backseat waiting for hugs, kisses, and words of affirmation...too cute and could have been a great photograph!

I've painted a Powderpuff Chinese Crested before, not really a big deal, just a whole bunch of fur, but a hairless Chinese Crested is something else, most definitely a challenging subject.

JENNIFER'S PRAYER

8x16 oil on canvas

I painted this at the end of the school year with the intentions of going back and working on the hands. Well, time has passed and it is no longer the end of the school year. I just returned to school this week to begin the new school year and I still have not returned to these hands.

I always return to school reluctantly, but the minute I walk through the doors, I know that is where I belong. This is Jennifer one of the precious students I get to teach at West Dallas Community School. Jennifer is a delightful 7th grader, soft spoken, very polite, and quite the artist!

I am continuously amazed with the fellowship and friendship that has grown from all of our blogs; thank you so much for visiting and commenting, you are the best!

RILEY

10x14 oil on canvas nfs

I love this story, so I hope you will bear with me because I'm a little long winded.

A couple of years ago I was in a plein air painting workshop offered through SMU, I met some great artists who all around are just terrific people. Our last class was a weekend trip to a lakehouse owned by one of the SMU artists, and now another great friend. It was a fantastic weekend and 2 of my all time favorite landscapes came out of that last class. Since it was about a 2 hour drive to the lakehouse, my husband and I decided to make a weekend out of it and we stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast. After painting all day Saturday, we had a party at the lakehouse where we enjoyed a great evening and all the spouses finally got to meet. One of my new friends from the class was a gentleman named Ron and he brought his wife, JoEl for the weekend trip. They just happened to be staying at the B&B with us, but at the time we didn't know that they were across the hall from us. So, we're all hanging out, drinking wine, eating great food and someone asks JoEl where they live in the Dallas area. I was listening to the conversation and was surprised to learn that they live in the neighborhood right next to ours and the way the 2 neighborhoods nest together, we're almost backyard neighbors! The next thing I knew the 4 of us were involved in a very long conversation, busy learning more about each other.

The next morning we had breakfast together in the B&B dining room downstairs and as we enjoyed the "it's a small world" conversation, we learned that in the last 25+ years our paths had crossed many, many times, but it took the last class of a 6 week semester class at SMU and a 2 hour drive outside of town for us to finally get to know each other. Since then we have become the best of friends, we've dined together, traded recipes and parenting tips, and Ron and I have painted together many times. It's such a small world after all, and there's just plain good folks in this world!

So, what in the world does this painting of Riley have to do with that long-winded story? My husband, Jay contacted Ron about purchasing a painting for me as a surprise. Well, when Jay tried to purchase the painting, Ron would not have any of his money and insisted Jay had to take the landscape as a "gift". So, of course my ding-bat, but adorable and darling husband, accepted the gift and I was mortified...but happy, too. You can see my beautiful Ron Sullivan landscape here and the rest of Ron's outstanding website here.

So, my "gift" to Ron and JoEl is this painting of their cat, Riley!

SAN FRANCISCO

4x10 oil on canvas panel

I don't think I have any words to describe my attempt at this painting; this was the most difficult and challenging subject matter for me. Thank you Karin Jurick for posting this photo, if you had not, I would never have tried to paint this on my own.

LIZZIE, RANCH GIRL DU JOUR

11x14 oil on canvas sold

As you read my client's description of Lizzie, I'd like you to keep in mind that all of this is accomplished by Lizzie while sporting a 3-strand pearl choker with a sweetheart charm. This commission is a birthday present for Lizzie's Mama in October. My client requested a real girly pink for the background because, although Lizzie is a ranch girl, she is really a ranch girl du jour! I loved my photo reference of Lizzie, she's on high alert and the following explains why!

Lizzie lives on a ranch with her Mama Wynona, Granny Valli Pearl, and Ricky the parrot. She also lives with several peacocks, emus, egrets, ostrich, cattle and longhorns (did ya'll see that...longhorns, my favorite kind of cattle), horses and miniature horses, goats, sheep and Jonas sheep, antelope, deer, and a multitude of cats...WHEW!

Allowing her to maintain her girlish figure, Lizzie has a list of duties she performs daily from runnin' off coons to roundin' up dogies, a motherless or neglected calf. Lizzie is most interested in FOOD, barkin' at critters, EATIN', chasin' said critters, FOOD, and of course, sleeping under Mama's porch swing...I mean after all, a girl deserves to rest!

AZALEA

8x10 oil on canvas

This is my first painting for the Art for the Animals blog. Meet Azalea, a sweet happy little girl looking for a new family to adopt and love her. She was removed from a Dallas shelter after being there for over 100 days. Azalea is in a foster home and is described as a 2 year old Lab/Shepherd mix that is most affectionate, loves playing fetch, and gets along with her foster family's pets.

I fell in love with her happy girl face and love the one black polka-dot on her tongue. This portrait is my gift for whomever adopts Azalea.

PURE SWEETNESS

8x10 oil on canvas panel

The original photo for this was quite fuzzy with a lot of detail absent, it was taken with a camera phone with a soft source of light in the background. The photo, borrowed from another friend on Facebook (thanks Beth!), brought back wonderful memories of rocking my daughter 19 years ago-pure sweetness!

In addition to the fuzzy photo and the fact that this is another figure painting, I had a new challenge here and that was painting the baby's skin contrasted with the Great Aunt. My favorite part of this are those itty bitty legs and that itty bitty little foot. Painting that part was one of those rare moments where the paint goes down one time and it's done! Thank you so much for visiting; I appreciate your comments!

PERSIA

8x10 oil on canvas

For some reason I have become a painter of dogs and not a painter of cats, when I saw Persia posted on my friend's Facebook page a couple of months ago, I knew I just had to see if I could paint a cat. According to Jacque, Persia's favorite napping spot is on this embroidered pillow, with one little eye slightly open.

Several months ago, Jacque (an artist friend) gave me permission to use her photo, but I had to wait to paint Persia when I had time. On Wednesday I decided I could not paint another commission until I did something for me, or in this case for Jacque. I am so sad to say, Persia died just yesterday from kidney renal failure. I hate to end this blog post so abruptly and sadly, if you would like to see Jacque's beautiful graphic art, you can check out her website here.

Thank you so much for looking, reading, and listening; I appreciate the time you take to visit my blog.

FARM TO MARKET

8x8 oil on canvas panel

This is Karin Jurick's newest challenge on the DSFDF blog. Because of Karin's beautiful figure paintings and her biweekly challenges, I am practicing painting figures much like this one. We were to focus on the entire figure; however, I cropped this a little differently. It is evident I have so much to learn, but that's why I'm here. Thanks for visiting!

HAPPY HANNAH

8x16 oil on canvas panel

It's an overcast morning here, a little rain and the promise of more this afternoon. We have been so lucky these last few days to have rain come our way; I am very happy to have relief from the 100+ temps.

And speaking of happy, here's Happy Hannah, my final painting for James Parker' Windows to the World Art blog. The challenge for me here was to make her appear to be stepping forward and to keep her feet "grounded" so she did not appear to be floating. Some dogs are made to smile and Hannah must be one very loved dog to be grinning from ear to ear.

Now, off to my little studio closet for a serious day of painting. Thank you for visiting; take care!

TWEEDLES

8x8 oil on canvas panel
Another painting for James Parker's, Windows to the World blog. This was fun to paint, but challenging because of the unusually adorable features that make pugs so special. Thanks for looking.

THE LONG WAIT

9x12 oil on canvas panel

This is my first painting for James Parker's Windows to the World blog, please check out the variety of talent from other fellow artists. Maggie Mayer submitted this photo to James' blog for us to paint, please go by and see her incredible paintings. Thank you for visiting; I appreciate it!

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

11x14 oil on canvas sold

This painting is a companion piece to Adore His Sacred Name that I posted a few months ago. If you recall, my school opens our day with a morning assembly where we pledge, pray, and sing the hymn of the month. As we learn the new hymn of the month, one of our teachers teaches all of us how to sign the hymn. It's incredible to see children of all ages, along with teachers and staff, learn sign language to accompany our voices. After we have mastered both song and sign language, we sometimes sing with our hands only...a truly beautiful event!

This is 5 year old Ivan, signing the word love in the hymn, Lift High the Cross. Ivan's arms are crossed over his chest to sign the word love. Lift high the cross the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore His sacred name.

So, two paintings are now finished, I have several more to complete the sign language series. Thank you so much for visiting my blog, your visits and comments are most appreciated. Take care.

LUCY, FOUR ON THE ROOF

8x16 oil on canvas panel, nfs
Lucy is my brother's dog, a weimaraner mix, she loves to catch tennis balls. When my brother sent this picture to me, I knew it would become a painting.

I don't know what it is about men and their jeeps, my husband owned a CJ7 for a very long time and had great difficulty parting with it. This one sits abandoned in Shane's backyard and has become quite the work of art amongst other works of art built by his hands. Anyone that can take a rusted worn out very old mattress box spring and turn it into a trellis for climbing vines is an artist! He has built a beautiful curved sweeping deck, surrounded by a fountain of stacked cylinders that were once livestock tanks, and a stunning shed made from recycled tin and cypress barn wood. Hanging from the ceiling of the shed is a crystal chandelier, ecletic yes, but that's Shane! Take a close look at the jeep, amongst the lovely green moss that has grown on it, is a fleur-de-lis painted by him, as well. Oh, and he now has another jeep, a brand new red one!

Thanks for looking and visiting; I appreciate it so very much.

LADY IN WAITING

12x12 oil on canvas

I rarely paint in a square format, but I thought I would try something a little different. This little lady's photo came to me through an e-mail support group looking to place pets in new homes. I hope she found a home, she appears so sweet and lady-like, hence the name I gave her. 

PLEIN AIR IN NE TEXAS

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Scroggins, TX at a friend's lakehouse at Cypress Springs Lake, more than likely this is probably our last plein air painting for the summer, at least here in Texas...it's hot! I painted 3 small landscapes, the last one was my first time to try painting with a palette knife. I think I'd like to try it again, it was fun. 

My husband does not paint, but managed to find plenty to do fishing, shooting pictures, fetching ice and beverages, and so on... We missed Jay for a very long time and just assumed he was out taking pictures or something. My friend, Paula found him happily snoozing away in the hammock. 

I normally paint with my pochade box and a tripod, but I had just received my "new" french easel a couple of days before and thought I'd try it out. I really wanted an older french easel and found this one on Ebay. The seller could not find any markings or anything on it, but had been told it was purchased in the early 60's. After I scrubbed it and put linseed oil over it, this beautiful patina appeared and then I found the name of the artist carved into the box. I have learned that she was an actress and is now a full time artist in NY (beautiful paintings). My husband would like for me to contact her to let her know where her french easel has ended up and to learn more about her and her outstanding paintings. 

I hope you are all having a great summer, thank you for looking and commenting! Take care.

BOAT AFLOAT

5x8 oil on canvas panel
Let me first say I found this DSFDF subject to be particularly difficult. I am not much of a water person, I don't mind looking at water, but actually being submerged in water or in a boat is not one of my favorite things. I almost scrapped this one, but remembered Karin's words about not painting this as 2 separate subjects (water and boat/boater), but instead to see this as a whole. 

I don't paint many figure paintings and I found this to be very difficult, as well. Many of you paint beautiful paintings of figures and in such small formats...I now have a different level of appreciation for those of you who do small format figure paintings, it is absolutely incredible the way you make each stroke count. So many lessons learned, but I don't think I want to take a ride in a boat any time soon!

JESSIE, FLYBALL CHAMP

8x16 oil on canvas, sold
I normally do not do this, but I am posting this commissioned portrait before my client has seen it for herself (hope she does not mind). I painted Jessie this afternoon and am very happy with this portrait, she has the most beautiful fur and very bright watchful eyes. I apologize for the glare on the picture, I'll have to reshoot it after it has dried. 

Not too long ago this same client sent me pictures of her dog wearing a Santa hat, she did not want a painting of her dog wearing the hat, but I loved the shot and she gave me permission to paint it for my portfolio...long story short, she loved it and bought it anyway.

Last week she sent me more pictures of Jessie and requested a painting of Jessie with her all time favorite toy, a frisbee. Lee was so kind as to allow me to select the canvas size and gave me free reign to change the color of the frisbee, it seems Jessie has frisbees of all colors. Well, I didn't change the frisbee color because I loved the pop of lime green, what I did change was the dead grass in the background. If you look closely you can see Jessie's tongue and fur from her ear through the frisbee, that was my most difficult part of the painting and as scared as I was to attempt the translucent feel of the frisbee, it was actually very easy. I hope it comes across as translucent...it does to me. 

I've also posted a photo of Jessie from one of her most recent competitions, doing what she loves best! Somewhere below in an earlier post, is the post of Jessie wearing her Santa hat. Just recently Jessie placed first in her division and will be attending the Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship...way to go Jessie!

OLD EYEBROWS

16x20 oil on canvas, sold
This is Old Eyebrows, a Texan longhorn with not only a beautiful set of horns, but an unusual face, as well. This was a commissioned portrait for a Father's Day present. From his livestock, Old Eyebrows is his favorite, more than likely because of his pronounced and distinguished eyebrows! 

MOCHA

12x24 oil on canvas
This is the portrait I've decided to submit in a pet portrait exhibition. Mocha's portrait came about from another client who makes the most amazing jewelry for pets, so beautiful and "un-pet-like"that I want to wear the jewelry myself! Stacy was kind enough to loan me a variety of pieces and when I saw the turquoise, I knew it was meant for Mocha. Mocha, a Great Dane, was lovingly rescued by the Bissell family and has the sweetest disposition...she's just a great big lap dog! Elise Bissell is an incredible photographer and a full-time rescue/foster parent. Note to Sheila:  I will be working on a portrait donation for Elise's Take Me Home Pet Rescue and will be submitting it to you for your new website, look for it later this summer. Thank you all for looking and visiting my blog; I appreciate it very much.

The Pathetic Blogger Award

Thank you for visiting and commenting and for those of you who have e-mailed me recently, I will be returning those e-mails shortly. Although I have never heard of a "Pathetic Blogger" award, I thought I would go ahead and award myself the P. B. award. In the last couple of weeks I have not had time to visit blogs and comment, much less post anything on my own blog. Instead, I have managed to wrap up the end of the school year with a beautiful art show of my student's artwork, deal with the dorm room explosion (miles and piles of dirty laundry) that returned to my home, celebrate my 50th birthday last week with a dinner party for about 40 people, teach a 4-day workshop on Henri Matisse to little ones, come down with, what we in Texas refer to as, the crud, and work on a couple of paintings for a pet portrait contest...and to think, I'm supposed to be on summer vacation! Hopefully I can catch up with my blogging and posting and maybe participate in a DSFDF painting challenge one day soon. Take care.

SOULFUL GUS

8x10 oil on canvas sold
Gus, a black labrador, was a fun little commissioned portrait. There's something about labradors that make my heart melt, with Gus it was his soulful eyes. In the photo references I was given, Gus' expression never changed, he just had that loyal and meaningful "I'll stay by your side and be your best friend" look that I love so much from labs. 

ZIGGY MARLEY

8x16 oil on canvas panel
This is Ziggy Marley and if you recognize him it's because you've probably seen and read about him on Beth Connolly's blog. On Beth's blog, her latest post shows a photo of Ziggy proudly wearing his well deserved blue ribbon for mastering an advanced obedience course. The photo I used for this painting was taken by an incredible photographer, Lisa Prince Fishler who, along with Beth, granted me permission to paint Ziggy. Please visit both of these sites; I appreciate this community of bloggers and artists so very much, everyone is very willing to share, support, and encourage.  Thank you so much Beth and Lisa!

This was one of those rare paintings where the time flew quickly and before I knew it Ziggy was signed and ready for posting. Thank you so much for visiting and commenting; it means so much to me!

TWO MORE SMILING PETS

K.C.

8x10 oil on canvas sold

This is K.C. showing off his special little grin. This portrait is a birthday gift for the "grandmother" of Shep, Ollie, & MiMi West (see earlier post). In the photos I was given, K.C. has the exact same expression in all of them....only a smile a mom could love!
WILSON 

8x10 oil on canvas sold

As I was working on K.C.'s portrait, I received a phone call for a special birthday present for Wilson's dad. Imagine my surprise, when I received the photos of Wilson, again another unique smile, and the same expression in all of his photos, as well...only a smile a dad could love!