My Poor, Neglected Blog

I haven't forgotten about my blog, and I'd really like to post more than twice a month, but that's just not happening, so I apologize! I've been more active on Facebook, so if you'd like to see my updates there, please become a fan.

Here's what's been in the hopper lately:

- Setting up my own permanent studio space (see photos in my Facebook album). I had a Grand Opening event earlier this month.

- This scratchboard drawing of our Border Collie, Magpie, for the International Society of Scratchboard Artists' 1st Annual Exhibition. I shot video of this drawing in progress and scanned it at various stages, so eventually there will be a video of the process.

- A logo (still in progress) for HartSong Ranch Animal Sanctuary

- Ostrich eggs for the Sacramento Zoo. See the lemur eggs in an earlier post. There was also this set of four roadrunners, a red panda and a thick-billed parrot. Still left to do this year are a zebra, a ring-tailed lemur and a jaguar.

- Formatting the Annual Report for FieldHaven Feline Rescue (just getting started on that)

- Finally finished a watercolor on Yupo painting of a beagle that I started as a demo years ago. This painting is available, contact me if you're interested. This description of "Julep" covers the details.

- Working through my list of assorted commissioned pet portraits. At the moment, I'm working on scratchboard drawing of a cat and a watercolor on Yupo painting of a goat.

- Contemplating what I'll do as a demo at the ISSA workshop

- Also contemplating what to enter in this year's "Art at the Classic" art show at the Draft Horse Classic. I'd better get cracking on that, because the deadline is July 1st.

That covers it for now, but it seems that something new & interesting always crops up!

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An Afternoon at the Zoo

It was a gorgeous day for a trip to the Sacramento Zoo. I had four ostrich eggs to deliver for the Zoo's upcoming "Swingin' Safari" Golf Tournament. The eggs (with pen & ink drawings of Black & White Ruffed Lemurs) will be given out as awards. The Zoo is about 45 minutes away, so I don't always take the eggs there, sometimes I'll meet a Zoo staffer halfway for the hand-off. But I hadn't been to the Zoo yet this year, so today was a good day to make the trek.

This is my second batch of four eggs this year; the first four had roadrunners on them. For the remainder of the year, there are four individual eggs for various events - each with a different animal. Each year, Zoo staff commissions about a dozen ostrich eggs. Over the years I've been doing this, that adds up to well over 200 eggs! You can see some eggs from past years on this web page. And there are a couple of blog posts also.

When I go to the Zoo, I always take my camera. Here are some photos from today:

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Wordless Wednesday

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"Dog-A-Palooza" at the Auburn Art Walk

I'm working on a series of photos for "Dog-A-Palooza", a solo show that opens on April 12th. The show will be part of the Auburn (CA) Art Walk and my friends at Dancing Dog Productions are hosting. Dancing Dog is at 1101 High Street in Auburn. I'll be at the Art Walk on the 12th from 6 - 9 pm. The show runs through approximately June 10th.


This is Idgy, the shop mascot at Dancing Dog. She's a charismatic cairn terrier mix.

I got the idea for this show because I wanted to come up with something that was less time-consuming than my traditional work. After some pondering, investigation and discussions with a couple of other artists, I decided to do a series of photos mounted on boards. I take lots of photos and have a huge reference library, with a large proportion being dogs, so dogs became the subject of the show. In addition, to try and create some additional buzz, I committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of works at this show to two local dog rescue groups. I'm a supporter of Chako Pit Bull Rescue & A New Hope Animal Foundation (ANH), so I contacted them to make sure they would allow me to use their names in conjunction with this show. Some of the photos in the show are of puppies rescued by ANH and dogs belonging to Chako supporters.


"Snuggly" - Pit bull pups rescued by A New Hope Animal Foundation

To make these pieces, I run the photos through a few gyrations in Photoshop, print them & mount them on an archival 6" x 6" board. I Dremel the edges and ink them, spray the surface with a UV sealer and finally, coat the surface with a couple of layers of acrylic medium. I attach a hanger to the back and the board is ready to hang. No framing needed - another time-saving plus!

While each photo requires its own adjustments to get the look I want, you can see the basic process in this video.


There's also a scratchboard drawing of this little guy, see it in a previous blog post.

I'll have 10 of these photos in the show in addition to a few original drawings/paintings. Although I still have a few pieces to add, you can see the show catalog here. Note cards of the photo images and originals will be available too. Of course, if you are unable to make it to the Art Walk, you can contact me regarding purchase of any of the items in the catalog, including note cards.

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Wordless Wednesday

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