Border Collies. . . and a new ACEO featuring one

This ACEO, "Hey Ewe", features a special dog - our Magpie's mom! The hard-working border collie in the painting is Katie. She looks a bit different than the "traditional" border, but she's a pure bred. Our Magpie looks very much like her mom (although Magpie's more petite and her ears are huge). They're the smooth coat variety - don't have that lovely long, full coat that most borders do. We actually wanted a smooth coat when it was time to get our 2nd border. Our first dog, Jet (aka "Best Dog Ever" and "Jet the Wonder Dog") had a really thick, plush coat which was very handsome, but that coat takes a bit of work and it's also a burr magnet. When we got Jet we were living in a house in town, later when we moved out to the country, we realized that the long coat was not so great after he'd taken a little jaunt around the place - "Burr Boy" became a new nickname!

So, 6 years ago, after Jet passed, we knew we wanted another border - that breed (with all its quirks, intensity and intelligence) had burrowed into our hearts forever. We were able to track down Jet's breeder - he'd moved a good 2 hour's drive away - and he happened to have a litter ready to go. We also decided we wanted to get a female this time and lucky for us, there were still 3 females available in the litter and they were all smooth coats. We picked the little girl that would become our Magpie and left her there for a couple of months - we didn't want to deal with an 8 week old puppy, preferring to bring a 4 month old puppy home. Of course, we went back to visit Magpie a few times before finally bringing her home. Mapgie was quite the challenge during her first year with us - she "customized" a couple of rugs, the couch, a comforter, etc., but we figured out her "bored" signals and all is well now. We didn't have these issues with Jet (as I said: "Best Dog Ever", not that he didn't have his quirks, but they weren't destructive). Magpie's smart, energetic (but she does have on "off" switch, thankfully), and adorable and we're sure glad she's a part of our lives.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our other wonderful dog, Patch, who also happens to be black & white! Yes, he's part border collie, but it's his other part (which we suspect is lab or hound of some sort) that dominates his personality. He adopted us, showing up as a stray on our street in our previous neighborhood. We tried to find his owners, but were unable to. We're quite glad we were able to keep him and I suspect he is too, as he's got a pretty good life with us. Patch is quite mellow, but does tend to follow his nose, and he likes to chase squirrels and watch for lizards in the woodpile and the flower beds. Unlike Magpie, who's all about work (i.e. fetching a tennis ball), Patch is all about food and belly rubs. And that's ok - it's nice to have both a Type A and a Type B personality dog. Two Type A's would be a lot of work!













I could go on and on about border collies and our very special "Team Black & White", but I'll save that for another day. . .

By the way, "Hey Ewe" is listed on eBay, until Feb 1st at about 9pm. If it hasn't sold, I'll move it to ArtCardsWanted.

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Fish On!

I attended a neat community workshop on Saturday. I found out about it through my friend Sandy and she invited some other folks, so there was a little group of 8 of us that met at the workshop. The "create a fish" workshop was free and sponsored by the Auburn Recreation District; all materials were supplied, we only had to show up with some creative ideas. It was scheduled from 10 - 4 with the idea that folks just stop in, make a fish or two and leave.

So here's what it was all about:
There's a sign to be installed at a local park (Overlook Park) and the ceramic fish created by those of us that attended the workshop will be attached to the sign. Virginia Dains, a local ceramic artist coordinated the workshop and was assisted by a number of other local ceramic artists - including Gerda Francesca and Leona Reber. We were each given a slab of clay (precut to the proper thickness to survive the firing process), 2 different fish templates to get us started and some rudimentary - but perfectly functional - tools (long wooden skewers and popsicle sticks) for working with the clay. The fish templates were a trout and a leaping salmon - very appropriate since they inhabit the river (the American River) near which the sign will be installed.

So, like good little students we cut out our fish shapes with the skewers and proceeded to embellish them. I added a couple of fins to mine (because I get hung up on detail and wanted my fish to be somewhat accurate) and then I etched some details and designs into the surface with the pointy end of the skewer. Sandy had brought her own fish book and decided to dispense with the template and create her fish from scratch - she made a nifty bluegill. With the scraps left over from my first fish, I decided to make a flounder - 'cause they're just so weird with both their eyes on the same side of their body. Sandy also made a sardine. Paul, another member of our group, was very creative and made 5 different fish (there were plenty of spare clay slabs) - some of them tropical species and even a teeny goldfish cracker fish. His friend Todd made a lovely fancy goldfish - flowy tail and all. Our little group must have created at least a dozen fish. Needless to say, we had a great time at the workshop.

Judging by the nearly 100 finished fish that were laid out on the tables when we were finished (with 2 hours left to go), many locals had stopped by the workshop to expend some creative energy. The next step is for Virginia and her trusty assistants to glaze the fish in various colors, depending on how they'll fit into the sign design. Then she'll create a mosaic from all the glazed fishies, affix them to a base and grout in between. She'll also be using some bubble shapes to fill the "in-between" spots.






An artists' reception for the fish artisans will take place sometime during the American River Confluence Festival on Sunday, June 10th.

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New Home for ACEOs

I've just found a new web site from which I can offer my collection of ACEOs. (Click here for a refresher course on ACEOs, aka Art Trading Cards.) It's a very small collection right now - but I'm trying to expand it! My plan is to list each new card on eBay, and then the ones that don't sell will be available on the new site: ArtCardsWanted.com. I could offer them on my own web site, but the benefit of ArtCardsWanted is that it provides strength in numbers. Collectors looking for ACEOs are more likely to find an all-ACEO site than my web site. Of course, I have a link to ArtCardsWanted on my site.

As I finish new cards, I'll post them here - if you'd like to be notified when new ones become available, either subscribe to receive e-mail updates (there's a subscribe box in the left column) or create you own RSS feed (click the orange button in the subscribe box). If you'd rather not do either, just check back here every so often.

Here are 2 of my latest ACEOs:
"Spike", is currently available on eBay (through the evening of Jan. 23rd). Spike is a young blacktail deer buck that stopped on our road one day last year - he stayed just long enough for me to snap a few photos before gracefully bounding away.

"Puppy Love #1" is also on eBay ('til about 5 pm on Jan. 25). I had fun creating "Puppy Love", and I figured with Valentine's Day on the horizon, it might be a good idea to have another one available, so I made "Puppy Love #2" (also listed on eBay).
View Listing(s)

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Bird Bath Ice Sculpture

It's been very cold here in our neck of the woods - nothing compared to many parts of the country, but cold for us in the Sacramento CA region (yes, we're spoiled). It's been below freezing for a couple of nights in a row and the highs have only been in the 40's. When the freeze warning came, my husband & I went around the house and wrapped pipes and left outside faucets to drip. The most fascinating result was what happened to our bird bath. We have a dripper line attached to the tree above it, so that the water drips into the bath (the wild birds love that). Of course, we left it dripping so the line wouldn't freeze. These photos show the result - the first one was taken on Saturday, 2 days into the "big freeze" and the 2nd photo was taken Sunday. The spire was nearly 3' tall on Sunday! It's melted a bit today, so it looks more like the first photo. I took a number of close ups of the icicles and the textures - could make for an interesting drawing one of these days!

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More Finished Portraits!

This is my latest "cluster" of completed portraits. I have another cluster of 3 that are nearly finished. These clusters consist of 3 or 4 portraits in various stages of completion - it helps to be able to pick up, say a scratchboard portrait that needs some scratching or a watercolor portrait that needs a background, so I'm not doing the exact same thing for an entire stretch of time. I love what I do, but sometimes I'm in the mood to work on one type of portrait vs. another - so this gives me some variety & options.

The portrait of Kassie (above), the Bernese Mountain Dog is the second portrait I've done of this sweet girl. Some time ago, her mom commissioned a more traditional portrait (that's it, next to the purple one) and then when I began working in my "Paintings with Petzazz" style, she wanted a new portrait in that style.


I also completed portraits of Riggs & Brook - 2 golden retrievers. The gal who commissioned Riggs' portrait wanted to give the portrait to her daughter (Riggs' mom) for Christmas. Little did she know that her other daughter had contacted me to go ahead and create a portrait of my client's dog: Brook. I had taken photos of both dogs, because my client had indicated that she would like a portrait of Brook someday. So, the other daughter and I had fun sneaking around behind her mom's back to get this portrait finished for Christmas. My client was totally surprised and touched - it was a very rewarding project!




. . . And this one of Tigger - who's actually a grey tabby. When I discussed the color scheme with my client (for this portrait and one of another cat that's in progress) she came up with "Bryce Canyon" - which is one of her parents' favorite places - the 2 cat portraits are gifts for her parents. So Tigger became orange, purple & maroon - the color of Bryce Canyon rocks with a background of vibrant blue & purple, like the Bryce sky.






And finally, we have Siegfried - a horse portrait that I've been working on for some time. His mom has commissioned lots of portraits of her "kids" - 2 dogs, 2 cats, a cockatiel, Siegfried's mom and now "Sigi". All my clients have been wonderful, but repeat clients like this one are extra special!



Well - time to get back to work - lots more portraits on the drawing board! I always have more "in the hopper" as I pretty much hold steady at between 25 and 30 portraits on my commission list. I sometimes worry that nothing new will come in, but it seems that just when I finish/deliver a portrait I get a call for a new one - that's always a relief!

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Grayson the Barn Owl

This is my pencil drawing of Grayson, a handsome barn owl that resides at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary. I created it because I realized I needed a new raptor (bird of prey) drawing for an upcoming event and I had some nice photos of Grayson for reference. The event on January 27th is an open house & fund raiser at Scott's Corner Hay & Feed, a local business.

Click here to see the flyer for the event.

The folks at Scott's Corner are raising funds for a couple of local animal organizations, one of which is the California Foundation for Birds of Prey - that's why I wanted a raptor drawing. Staff of the CAFBP and the Folsom Zoo will be at the event with raptors and other critters. Of course, I'll be bringing my camera! In addition to myself, another artist, BK England will be at the event. She does wonderful pastel paintings of horses and is a big fan of Haflinger horses. The 2 cuties in the photo are BK's Haflingers. BK and I are looking forward to a fun day at Scott's Corner, hope you can join us!

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Another ACEO - "Hot Cow!"

Well, I guess I'm hooked on ACEOs now (see the previous post for more info on ACEOs - Art Cards, Editions & Originals) - this is my second one in less than a week and I have a bunch more in the planning stages. The "model" for this painting is Lorna Doone, a lovely, shaggy Scottish Highland cow belonging to a friend of mine. Lorna Doone and her girlfriend Mary are very nice gals and I took a lot of photos when I spent some time with them one day last year.

This mini original piece of art will be available on eBay for the next week. View my current listing(s)

Below is a photo of the two "girls" - Lorna Doone's on the right.

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