Happy New Year!

Wow. I did not notice how long it has been since I posted....Things got kind of crazy around here and I was swamped! We also took a three day trip to NYC right before Xmas so my daughter could see all of the holiday splendor that is NYC at Christmastime. We did it all I have to say eventhough it was a wind chill of 15 degrees while we there...OMG, I haven't been so cold in a long time. We went to Rockafeller plaza, the Rockette's Holiday show, carriage ride in Central Park, Ice Skating, FAO Schwartz and Macy's to see the #1 Santa who appears in the Macy's parade every year. He was so amazing...Here are some photos....

Here are a few paintings I did for clients for Xmas this year...The ferrets were a real challenge! I have never tried photographing two of them before and it was like herding cats...eventually they settled enough for a few shots...they really responded to my rubber chicken, dressed up like Elivis squeaky toy...who knew they would be Elvis fans...I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and a great 2008!

Happy Holidays Everyone & Thank You's.....

Click here to see the nice little feature Moira did about me and my photography business over at Dog Art Today...I am so grateful to all of the amazing people I have come to know out there in "internet land"....Many of you I have never met in person, but I count you among my friends and I am truly humbled by the support and friendship you all offer...You know who you are! So during this busy, crazy holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you from the bottom of my heart!

On the same note, I would like to say thanks to all of my clients who have let me come into their lives, if only for a brief moment over this past year. Without you I could not do what I love and I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!

Busy, busy, busy....

I feel like one of Santa's elves...The holiday season is in full swing here. I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been working like a dog (no pun intended). This past weekend was my annual Holiday Pet portrait Day to benefit the Virginia Beach SPCA. I always enjoy this event because the dogs have so much fun and I love to see the cute holiday outfits their owners make them wear...always entertaining. I have also been really busy with regular photoshoots, everbody wanting to get photos made for their holiday cards or to give as gifts. I am hoping to get everything wrapped up by the end of next week so I can do some things that I enjoy like baking and decorating the house, etc. Here are a few photos for you to see...The first ones are from my SPCA shoot and the last three are shots I did for a client on a plain white backdrop. The mini schnauser was the best model I have ever had. She just sat there and cheesed for the camera like a supermodel...Clara was a cool little dog!

VERY. BAD. DOGS.

The Suspects

As most of you who read my blog already know, I am an animal lover....Yesterday, I almost killed my dogs with my bare hands...They have done some pretty bad things in the past, but this one just about sent me over the edge. After having a difficult day already, I left the house to go to a photoshoot. A client was coming by to pick up a painting, so I told her I would leave it inside the storm door and she could just leave me her check under my mat since I was not going to be home. Well, she decided to pay with cash and didn't want to leave it under the mat so she decided to put it under my door...Big mistake! I have four dogs who go nuts when any one comes to the door in the first place and when they saw that envelope come under the door it was party time! They proceed to shred $200.00 in cash. I came home and found scraps of an envelope on the floor not knowing what it was until I went in my daughters room and found a pile of confetti cash...I almost cried. After a lot of cursing, yelling and blame casting I got out the scotch tape and spent a half hour trying to reconstruct what was left of the money. Thank GOD they did not eat it entirely...Here is my finished work...

Lucky for me...I went to the bank today and met with the nicest lady (who is also a dog lover) and pleaded my case...I had enough of the serial numbers from each side of the bills so they could accept it and credit my account. My dogs came pretty close to getting coal in their stockings this year....Never a dull moment, that's for sure. I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving holiday!!!

Molly & Sam

Meet Molly and Sam..I photographed them over the weekend and let me tell you, they were two cool hounds...Molly is the Brown and white shepherd looking mix and Sam is the black and white Pointer mix. Molly was the more laid back of the two...her ears had a personality all of there own. She was sweet and a daddy's girl I think...Sam was a bit more high energy with his Pointer blood...he loves his ball and did the coolest trick balancing it on his nose...My dogs are soooo bad compared to these two. But as the saying goes, there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. I am a bad pack leader, I admit it.

And lastly, this is their Sun Conure named Wally...he knew one song and sang it over and over and over....he was too cute. I just love his vibrant colors...

Crazy Lily, Journal Pages and Paris the little diva dog

Here are some shots of crazy Miss Lily, my sisters dog, using my new Sigma 10-20mm lens...I LOVE it! It is basically a fish eye at the 10mm end of the zoom and it is fun to use with the dogs so they get that big snout thing going on...My old fish eye puts a black circular border around the image, so this is a nice change and much sharper (except on that last shot, which I was trying to blur for a dreamy effect). Lily loves to drool all over my camera and lick the lens, yuck!

These are two different color options of the same painting....not sure which one I like better??? This little dog is named Paris, and her owner had her decked out in everything from little leather shoes, to jewelry, doggles, shirt, etc. This is just one of Paris' many ensembles I am sure.

Oh, the things we do to our dogs! At least she was supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Lastly, a few journal pages...The first two are just for me in my own art journal and the third is for the round robin swap. You had to do a page about "What is your Muse"...Easy answer for me! I have set a goal for myself to complete one of my art journals by the end of the year...I am ready to bind a new style of book and think it would be a nice way to start the new year. I only have about 10 pages left in my current one, so it shouldn't be tooooo hard. If any of you have been thinking about starting an art journal, I say Go For It! It is one of my favorite things to work in...There is no pressure to create perfect, beautiful art. You can experiment, journal what's on your mind, get to know yourself...I love flipping back through my older ones to see where I was at in my life when I was working in it...it's kind of like a photo album of my art and life. The first step is to buy a journal and just get started! Go on YouTube and watch some of Suzi Blu's crazy videos...She is a trip and offers some prompts and demos that are fun to watch.

I guess that is it for me today....Have a good Monday!

Happy Halloween...

I hope everyone had a safe, fun Halloween...My daughter Caroline was a vampiress and she had a blast. I love Halloween..it is the one holiday that is not all bright and frilly. It is bats and ravens, spiders and skulls, dark and mysterious...my kind of holiday! The only down side is all of the candy I feel obligated to eat so it won't go bad...ha!

On a different note. I bought a new collage book the other day that I am really enjoying. It is called The Art of Personal Imagery by Corey Moortgat. It is has both "how to's" and beautiful examples of her work. I can't wait to try out a few of her techniques in my art journal.

Lastly, for you photographers out there, I have just purchased a new set of Photoshop actions from a fellow photographer named Leah Profancik and they are AMAZING! I have downloaded many actions int the past that I never really use and these are worth every penny! Visit her site here if you want to take a look. Here is a before and after shot of Caroline using her color action.

That's all for now...I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Louis & Bandy

Here is a recent commission I did of Louis & Bandy...they look like they really like hanging out together. I have started to get busy for the holidays so that is a good sign I suppose! I am working on a really funny Chihuahua??? portrait right now that I will post soon...The dogs name is Paris if that gives you any indication of what is to come...

On the topic of photography, here is the website of a really cool artist I came across the other day. His name is Joey Lawrence and he is 17 (yes ,17 years old) and he is really making a splash in the photog community with his interesting photoshop techniques and style. Check him out here: www.joeyl.com.

New Journal Pages and recent photoshoots...

These are two new spreads for the round robin swap I am in...this persons theme was Italy so I decided to talk about our trip to Venice...It is hard to tell from the photo, but the archway is actually cut out so you see through to the photo on the next page. I haven't had much time for journaling lately and this project reminded me how much I miss it.

These are all images from some photoshoots I did over the weekend. I have not been posting as much photography lately since I have been so obsessed with my new digital portrait painting. I do have to share just one new one though...

This is"Jean" the Viszla...she came over with her brother "Jack" and we had a fun photoshoot. They were both beautiful dogs...