"WASABI"

Wasabi had a wonderful life this is what his family has to say about him.

He was the #5 Havenese in the country and the strongest little dog you

have ever seen, all muscle. He was obsessed with his yellow lacrosse

ball that he had since he was a puppy. He was my dads best friend

and never left his side, my dad called him his "little Buddy".

Thanks for taking a look!

"MAX THE WONDER DOG"

Max is a Tibetan Spaniel who lives in N.C.

He spends lots of time at the beach. 

I've included the photo of Max(below) that I worked from. 

I figured it would be more fun to paint Max at the beach 

instead of on the rock. I hope they like it!

Thanks for looking.

"SOPHIE"

A HEART AS BIG AS AN OCEAN

I just wrapped up all my dog commissions. Trying to force them 

to dry in my house because they have to get put in the mail.

This one is 8" X 8" and Sophie is a Blue Great Dane.

The client ordered a subtle portrait. 

Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to be subtle????

 I think I got it - in fact I think I nailed it. 

Remember those Bracco Italiano's I painted last year?

Well that assignment really made this assignment easier.

It's a good thing when it all works out.

Thanks for looking.

"KOBE'

This is what Kobe's family has to say:

Kobe was our Samoyed who passed away at the young age of 10.5.  

How Samoyeds fall into the working class 

we still haven't figured out even after having three!  

Kobe was one of the laziest dogs,

 although one of the happiest, 

that we affectionately called our "slug."  

He truly brought a smile to everyone's face.  

We miss him dearly.

The proceeds from this portrait are donated to 

the Animal in Need Fund

at Pet Kare Clinic - Steamboat springs, CO

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.

"EVE"

When in doubt paint a dog!

This is Eve and I've painted her once before. Her owner sent this photo

but this wasn't the pose the owner chose for a painting. I've wanted to

do this painting for quite some time.

 I was having some creative difficulties after the Nocturne plein air paintings. 

Turns out I had a lot of positive comments about those paintings

which is great but it can really throw me into a tail spin. 

It's kind of like how do I top that?

Well I can't - so I might as well paint a fun, cute dog instead of getting

hung up and stopped cold - Just Do It!

Thanks for looking and thanks for thinking of me. 

"CHAMPION" I FORGOT TO POST THIS ONE!

This was a demo I did at the gallery friday night.

We were open for the wine stroll turned out

everyone was more interested in getting their

wine glass filled rather than look at any 

paintings. Oh well it's a good excuse to paint.

Thanks.

"GRACIE PUMPKIN"

GEORGI'S MOM

Gracie was the best mom - can you tell?

What a sweet dog. 

Georgi takes after her in every way - well maybe not the ears.

Gracie now lives in Alaska.

thanks

"DOG PADDLE"

LULU 

I told you I was going to the dogs next week it's all about 

CHERRIES

Thanks for following and have a great weekend!

"HOLIDAY HANGOVER"

"MURPHY"

As Ron tells it: All our dogs have been female yellow labs with boy names(Irish).

Murphy was the first. She was the best dog ever. She was an amazing companion, she was tough, gentle, wise and funny.

"THE KID"

 "BARNEY"

The youngest in the bunch

Here's all 3 together - makes for a nice collection

"BRACCO ITALIANO"

"HANNA"

8" x 8" will be framed individually

Here's the other part of the Portofino story - so I was really hired to paint 3 Bracco Italiano dog portraits not Portofino. I was truly stumped by these dogs in my friends photos they all looked alike to me, I had a difficult time processing the visuals in the emails. I have never seen an Italian Bracco - didn't know anything about the breed so that's why I painted the stucco buildings and boats instead - that was something I could relate to - I've been there seen it done it etc. 

It was time for some research to get to know this Italian breed of bird dog. The main words used to describe this breed is sweet - sweet - sweet! In every e mail to me my friend used - those exact words  to describe these wonderful dogs of hers. Now I was ready - at least I thought so but there's more. 

Throw another wrench into my psyche written by my friend:

One of the things I like about your paintings is the color and there isn't much opportunity for color in the dogs themselves, so I was thinking some sort of colorful border or background would be fun.

YIKES! Holy cow - The first dog I painted was Hanna and she's lavender - pink and blue with a brilliant green background. So I got the background right but Was I suppose to make her brown and white?  

So you see what keeps me up at night!!!!!!!!! I out guess myself - I doubt myself - it just never ends. 

Another thing - I was suppose to put all three dogs on one canvas too - well that didn't work for me visually/ no how no way - so again I throw myself under the bus and go with my gut. The dogs are all painted on separate gessobords and they will be framed separate and that's that - end of story. 

Commissions might be my undoing - Cause I pretty much do what I damn well please. Bad girl!

If you got through all of this you're a saint. Thanks for following and reading the banter.

"ALL ABOUT EVE"

This is Eve. We had her from puppy until she passed. She was a true hunter in her early years, hunting all sorts of "badgers" - land badgers (squirrels), areo-badgers (birds), and aqua-badgers (fish)!

She loved "tasting" the fish on the end of the fishing rod. She chased squirrels and almost caught them on numerous occasions. At Christmas, she enjoyed unwrapping presents and was quite good at it!

She was a true lap dog, anxious to sit at your feet, on a blanket, by the fire.

"GEORGI'S WORDS OF WISDOM"

"VOTE EARLY - VOTE OFTEN!"

"ROSIE THE OTHER JUNK YARD DOG"

CINDY'S SISTER ROSIE

MY WEBSITE

(I've started to fix it but I have a long way to go)

"JUNK YARD DOG"

CINDY

You know those signs you see hanging on the fence in big red letters "BEWARE OF DOG"

well Cindy is the one behind the fence. When we were in denver we went to Couch Engineering. Cindy and her pal Rosie are the Go to Gals at Couch Engineering - Jay Couch is the go to guy! 

With over 22 years of hands-on experience working with Unimogs and other 4WD vehicles in the United States and abroad, owner, Couch, is known by his peers as the "Go-To Guy" for authoritative answers and advice. This level of experience saves you time and money, as issues are diagnosed quickly, and solutions are put into place before any potential problems ever arise. Corners are never cut, as C.O.R.E.'s level of high quality work is truly unparalleled. Click on this link for more info.  COUCH ENGINEERING 

We spent the afternoon perusing the unimog junk yard - talking shop - and having a good old time with Cindy!

"GEORGI PORGI CORGI"

I needed a self portrait today and I don't have one. 

I thought Georgi would make a great choice

for what I had in mind  

Besides he needed his portrait painted because he's the best dog!

 Below is my new PR photo. 

I've had 4 successful days of painting more coming your way