Woofstock!

Woofstock is an annual event in Rocklin, CA that's all about dogs. People bring their dogs and there are vendors with dog-related products. Plus music, food, costume contests & Dachshund races too!

It was a much hotter day than it usually is this time of year, but my friend Sandy & I decided to go anyway. We enjoy photographing the array of dogs that show up and I really wanted to take our new dog Arrow on an adventure. Our border collie, Magpie, has never been thrilled with outings - she's shy and gets stressed by crowds & commotion, so she got to stay home with John and enjoy some alone-time without her new "brother". I was pretty sure Arrow would be fine at Woofstock and I'm thrilled that he didn't prove me wrong. He was a trooper and made it through the day with flying colors. I really want him to be a happy traveling buddy, so this was a great first step.

I was a little distracted by Arrow, so I didn't get as many photos (and even fewer good ones) as I usually do at an event, but I have a few to share. I even forgot to get my bag of kettle corn today - I'm bummed about that.






Happy Apollo is looking for his forever home - find out more at Chako.org





See more in my Flickr album, along with some I took at last year's Woofstock.

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Help Chako Pit Bull Rescue

In the last couple of years, I've become a big fan of pit bulls and I've met quite a few through local pit bull groups. They're such characters and their expressive faces are great subjects for art.



Chako Pit Bull Rescue is one of the local animal rescue organizations I support. They work tirelessly to educate about this misunderstood (yet wonderful) breed and to rescue/foster/adopt pit bulls.

As is the case with so many rescues, they operate on a shoestring budget and at the moment, they could really use some help with funding for their annual insurance payment. As you can imagine, insurance for Chako is expensive, and without insurance, they won't be able to continue the terrific work they do.

Any amount will help, so please donate if you can - thank you!

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"Percheron Power" - Scratchboard Drawing

This 5" x 7" drawing on Ampersand's Scratchbord (black scratchboard) is going to the "Art at the Classic" art show at this year's Draft Horse Classic, September 22 - 25 in Grass Valley, CA.



I usually work on white boards, but have recently been inspired by members of the WetCanvas Scratchboard Forum to try some black boards. This is only my fourth black board compared to countless white board drawings. I use a similar technique on a black board - scratching and re-inking to get the smooth transitions I want. I also added a wash of grey (diluted India ink) over everything except the chrome when I was finished with the scratching.

I took the reference at a Draft Horse Classic a few years ago. This is the greyscale version (not much different from the color version, with the exception of some red on the mane decorations).



I opted not to draw a couple of things from the photo as a matter of simplicity and design: the white ribbons hanging down from the mane and the one piece of bridle pulling upward on the horse's mouth. I looked at many photos of tacked-up draft horses and discovered that most every horse had a different tack configuration, so I figured it was ok to get rid of that one bridle component. I also shortened the length of leather on the chinstrap.

Following are various phases of the drawing with a few details thrown in.

This stage shows the white transfer lines and the initial scratching on the horse's head.




This stage shows scratching on the mane, some of the chrome and more work on the horse's head.


This stage and the details show most of the scratching finished.






These are details of the final drawing.

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