It's Not Your Imagination . . .

. . . my blog does look totally different! I've been tinkering. I've wanted to update the look of the blog for a while. Since I started Twittering, I've seen quite a few blogs (because people often post links to their blogs on Twitter) and I realized I could do more with the format. I also found this link from JennNinja on Twitter - it was the impetus I needed to go ahead with the format change.

I wanted a 3-column format and tabs or links along the top. I searched the web and found a template that I liked on OurBlogTemplates.com. I selected "Nightingale" but I changed the colors to match those of my web site.

This is what the old format looked like:


Because I was leery of totally destroying my blog during the process, I set up a new "test blog" to be sure everything looked right first. Then, I copied the code from the test blog to this blog. I still had to make a few tweaks, as the code didn't work perfectly right off the bat, but I was able to copy and paste sections of code from the test blog to this blog where needed.

I'm happy with the new look and hope you like it too.

And speaking of new looks, I've also started an official e-newsletter. In the past, I've sent out announcements and information via e-mail, but just by putting text and images in the body of the e-mail. It worked, although it wasn't particularly exciting. Now I'm using iContact to create e-newsletters and mail them. You can see my very first issue here. If you'd like to sign up to receive the newsletter, which I'll send out monthly, click here.

Read more...

Goslings!

As of this morning, we have 5 Canada Goose goslings on our pond!

In late March, John built and deployed a nest platform - a wooden pallet with styrofoam sheets inside and a wire basked filled with hay on top. Anchored by rope to trees on either side of the pond, it looked good to us, but the pair of geese that had been hanging around for a while would have the final say.

They deemed the platform suitable, and on March 30th, I took this photo of the female on the nest.


Three and a half weeks later, the goslings hatched and here they are!








I hope this brightens your day as much as it did ours!

Read more...

Raising Funds to Rescue Moon Bears

This post is not as happy and lighthearted as most, but I want to share a cause I recently joined. I won't go into a lot of detail, because it's disturbing, but moon bears in China & Vietnam are kept in tiny cages in "bile farms" so their bile can be collected. It's a horrible existence for these bears and I can't understand how anyone could think this inhumane treatment is acceptable. Fortunately, for the bears, there is the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), which rescues and provides sanctuary for the bears from the bile farms.

I don't even recall how I found out about this, but I was drawn to the cause and joined the Ursa Freedom Project (UFP) when I learned they had an "Art for Bears" sub-group. I know there are plenty of animals in our country that are suffering, and for that reason, I usually choose to support local animal rescue organizations, but something about the moon bears got my attention. UFP is working directly with AAF to raise money to help the bears.

Our fund-raising push right now is to raise $9,000 - enough money to sponsor a rescued bear for a year. On March 20, in 24 hours, we raised nearly $1,000 for (AAF) - so now, over a 6-day period (April 19 - 25), we're hoping we can raise more during our Earth Day Bear Sponsorship.

If you'd like to help, you can make a donation to UFP/AAF via PayPal - thank you!



This is Jasper - UFP's official mascot, happy and safe in his hammock at the AAF bear sanctuary in Chengdu, China.

I have one piece of moon bear art finished and am working on a couple more - when they're finished, they'll be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to AAF. The plan is for a number of artist members of UFP to sell art to benefit the bears, when I have more details and dates for that, I'll post it.


My drawing of Rosie, one of the rescued Moon Bears.
2.5" x 3.5", ink, watercolor, color pencil

Read more...

Jack & Red Horse

My latest painting is of Jack, an Australian Cattle Dog and Red Horse - a toy he's not really supposed to play with. Jack belongs to someone I used to work with and either he or another friend (we all worked together) e-mailed the photo to me a while back. When I saw that photo, I just knew I had to do a painting of it! That look on Jack's face is priceless - resignation with an undercurrent of mischief in the making. Red Horse is a beloved toy given to Jack's owner when he was a child. As Jack's owner said: it's a love-hate relationship with Jack and Red Horse.

In situations like this, where the painting isn't a commission, but I use someone else's photo, the photographer/pet owner has first option to purchase the piece. If they opt not to buy the original, I'll give them a print and some note cards of the art. Happily, Jack's owner has purchased this painting.


"Jack & Red Horse" - 10" x 5.5" (this image is cropped horizontally) - watercolor and a touch of color pencil on Yupo



As you can see, I took some artistic license. I changed the proportions by adding more couch on the bottom. The original is actually wider as well, but I cropped the scan for a better proportion for reproductions. As for the colors - I knew right off that the horse would be red and Jack would be purple and orange, but had to think about the couch and background colors. After a little pondering, blue and blue-green made sense. I didn't want a lot of detail in the couch, so I let the paint do most of the work. I pushed it around a bit while it was still wet to get a hint of wrinkles in the fabric. Then after the paint was dry, I used color pencil to accent a few of the wrinkles and added some subtle cross hatching in places.



The background is simply a mix of blue and turquoise allowed to dry, although I hit it with a mist of water at some point during the drying process. The background has more blue than what shows here, similar to the lighter shades of the couch. Color correcting these brightly colored paintings is often a challenge and at some point, I have to throw in the towel and be satisfied!

The neat thing about working on Yupo - letting it "do its thing" - results in some really interesting patterns and textures. Iit all depends on the amount of water, paint and the colors I use. Each color reacts a bit differently to/with other colors. More water gives softer effects (as in this background), more paint (aka juicy paint) results in swirls and patterns (see the background of Julep in the previous post).

Reproductions of this painting (a matted print or note cards) are available in my Bonanzle booth and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Placer SPCA.

Magnets, t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and more are available from CafePress.

Read more...

Trying Something New

If you've been following my blog, you know I have art available at a variety of on-line locations: Bonanza, Etsy, eBay, ArtFire, CafePress & Zazzle. I'm still trying to figure out the best combination of traffic and expense that will continue to result in (and boost!) sales - it's complicated and there are an overwhelming number of options. As I mentioned a few posts back, I'm closing my eBay store and moving that art over to Bonanzle, so that's one decision I've made in this process.

At the moment, I'm not as focused on bringing in pet portrait commissions, as I have a backlog I'd like to conquer, but while I'm working on those, it would be nice for art that's already available to sell and bring in money to buy paint and brushes (and dog food and hay and to pay my ISP, etc.)!

Well, now I'm adding another tool to my arsenal. PayPal has made it quite easy to create "Buy Now" buttons to be put on web sites, blogs, etc. I've already set up a little store on my web site with lots of "Add to Cart" buttons, but this is geared toward the sale of a single specific item. I'm not going to inundate the blog with items for sale, but when I have a new piece of art, I now have the option to offer it for direct purchase here.

So, here's my first test. A painting I call "Julep" - I was searching for a name and the minty green shade of the pup inspired my husband to say "Mint Julep?". This painting of a Jack Russell terrier was one of my first watercolor on Yupo paintings (there's a bit of color pencil on it too). It's also one of my favorites and I use the image frequently in my marketing materials. It IS for sale though, and has been since I created it. I'm not sure why it hasn't sold, but I wish it would - I'd love to see it find a great home. Yes, much like real critters, artists feel a connection to our works and hope they will end up in places where they will be cherished.

The art measures 4" x 4" and it's already framed to 8" x 10" - with a white mat in a matte (frosted) silver metal frame. The second image shows the proportions of the mat/frame. It's $95 plus $9 for postage/handling and insurance. Add in sales tax of 8.25% if you're in California. I'll mail it USPS Priority. For now, this painting is only available to US buyers through the Buy Now button, but if you're from another country and are interested in "Julep", please don't hesitate to contact me.





Nov. 2012 NOTE - This painting has sold. To see other available works, please visit my "Available Art" album on Facebook.

Read more...

More Purple Dogs

These charismatic girls are Juna & Luna, pit bull/lab mix sisters. Each portrait measures 6" x 6". I typically don't include pets' collars in their portraits, but Juna & Luna's owners searched far and wide for the perfect collars for their girls and we all agreed that the collars should be in the portraits. It also made the background color choices a no-brainer.









You may have noticed that my last few watercolor dog portraits have been purple. I have a simple explanation for that. The latest batch of portrait commissions have included black, dark brown or steel grey dogs. For my watercolor Petzazz portraits, I like to use vibrant and/or bright colors instead of the critters' natural coloring. I still try to use colors that represent the pet's natural coloring though. So I've found that purple is a perfect color for black or dark dogs. It "reads" as a dark color but it's vibrant and interesting.

I don't use purple straight out of the tube either, I like to mix the colors. I usually use ultramarine blue, rose of ultramarine and carbazole violet (Daniel Smith watercolors). Sometimes I'll throw in a little quinacridone rose. Mixing these colors results in more variety of shades/colors on the portrait.

You can see in this detail of Juna's portrait how the colors separate on the Yupo and add to the unique look of this style of portrait. The darkest areas that appear black are just a thick mix of the colors I use to make purple.

Read more...

Today's Photos

A short post tonight - just wanted to share some photos I took this afternoon.

I stopped by the Old Town Gallery today and as I was walking back to my car, I saw Paco, the basset hound mascot of Totally Cool and asked the shop's owner if I could take some photos of him. I see Paco often, since Totally Cool is right around the corner from the Gallery, but I've never had my camera with me. It was in my car, so I got it and went back. Paco was a good model and I took quite a few photos. Here are two of them:






On the way home, driving past the neighbor's place, his cows and calves were near the road. So I stopped to take some photos of them. Didn't get very good photos of the calves, the were wary and kept their distance, but I got some decent photos of a couple of the cows.

Read more...

Visit My Bonanzle Shop and Get 10% Off - Through 4/8/09

I've recently opened a new on-line shop (they call it a booth) on Bonanzle. As best as I can describe it, it's a hybrid of eBay and Etsy. Unlike Etsy, I'm allowed to list items that aren't hand-made by me. Although I do make most of the items myself, I have some magnets that were made by CafePress.

Bonanzle has many features that I like and it's free to list items. We pay a percentage on sold items only. I've decided to close my eBay store later this month and move everything that was there over to Bonanzle. I'll still continue to list my latest original ACEOs and some other originals at auction on eBay. You can always find out about those here on my blog. I also plan to maintain a presence on eBay with a few fixed price listings, but the store is soon to be history. Yes, eBay does have more traffic, which is why I'll continue to list some items there, but I much prefer the overall set up and features of Bonanzle. And I can put the monthly cost of an eBay store to better use.

Oh, you're probably wondering about the 10% off - well, use coupon code AnnApril at checkout and you'll get 10% off your purchase through Wednesday, April 8th.

Here's a peek at some of the items in my Bonanzle booth. Click on any thumbnail to find out more.



I have just over 100 items in my booth right now; I'll be adding more. You'll find a variety of items featuring both my detailed art and my Petzazz art - magnets, earrings, note cards, reproduction prints and a few originals. I apologize that some of the item descriptions are a mess. I imported all my listings from eBay and haven't had time to edit them all.

Read more...