Sammy, a pet portrait

I finished Sammy up and got him all framed, etc. He went home today with a happy couple to "meet" his mirror image. :-) Here he is in progress...

And all completed...

A Sammy Jr. portrait

This little fellow was one of my "babies"- all grown up now. He looks almost like his daddy, just in a new color- especially his body- it is a carbon copy of my Sammie who died before he was born (the baby!) The folks who bought him didn't know about Daddy, nor his name. I was SHOCKED when they emailed "hello from Sammy"!!! Just a different spelling. Gave me goose bumps.

At any rate, they've decided to have his portrait done, so I've been working away at it. I'm loving every minute I spend with this special boy.

This was the pose they chose. I had gone over and photographed him one day before it got too cold.




Here's an "in progress" photo.

I can't believe the holidays are upon us! Time to get ready for the Christmas season. I hope it's a wonderful one for all my readers. :-)

Merry Christmas to you all!

From our house and blog to yours, may you have a beautiful Christmas, a wonderful holiday season, and a blessed New Year filled with all good things.
Now then - as a good friend often says - "Let's Paint!"

Puppies and Bunnies

Here's the latest...
I just love to paint "soft-fuzzies"- the cute little animals. Here's a rabbit I just finished this past week. I had my mom here so it was a bit difficult to focus which gave me a few "moments" of frustration (with myself). But it finally pulled itself together. :-)

"The Local Guy" 3"x2" Casein on board

Here's the latest update on my new babies. They are all 4+ weeks old now. Getting cuter by the day. The sisters play together, wag their tails (which just sends me to giggling- soooo cute). They dream- what on EARTH are they dreaming about? They've seen nothing but mama and the 4 walls of a box, with now and then a look at me! But they "bark" in their sleep!

This girl is Pooka's baby- she is going to be just like mama- lazy, lazy! She has no one to play with (yet- I'll put her in with the other 2 soon for some fun). But every puppy I've ever had when you take them out of their box they are either frightened, worried, curious- something. Not her. She looks around, decides it's too much trouble and just lays down for a nap!!! VERY laid back personality. She is 3 days younger than the other 2, so she will get more active and playful- that may not seem like alot of time, but at this age can make a big difference. The other 2 just started to wag their tails a couple of days ago.

Widget's babies are more active- ofcourse 2 of them together makes a difference. The tan one is laid back- a bit like Pooka's baby, but not quite that lazy! The black one is going to be like her mama, Widget. Active, curious. She was my "complainer", now she's just looking, looking. I'm sure it will soon be- how do I get out of my box to go explore?! I think the photos actually show you their personalities a bit- you can see the "action" in little miss blacky's eyes!

Duck update and PUPPIES!!!

It's been a VERY hectic week. We now have 2 litters of chihuahua puppies! It's been happy/sad for me. I lost one and have been working to save my littlest guy. I'm crossing my fingers, so far so good. He seems to be getting a bit stronger. I am getting up several times a night to feed him and also supplement him throughout the day. Mostly I'm doing "puppy, puppy, puppy"!
I have managed to fit in a bit of work on my art. I've added some darkness to the water, but I just can not get the color right on the computer. It looks too yellow and dull. It has a bit more life to it. Computers are wonderful things, but... I'm also working on another landscape miniature and hope to complete that tomorrow.

Here is the finished hen mallard...


I hope you enjoy seeing my babies. I absolutely love to have these puppies, even with all the work, heartache, and sleepless nights. They are little miracles to me.
This is the tiny fellow...
I show him with a quarter so you can hopefully get an idea of just how tiny he is.






Here's daddy. The baby by birth weight is weighing in to be a lb. smaller than his daddy, who is a bit less than 3.5 lbs!

Here are the two mamas. Both are good mamas, but poor Pooka seems to me to know her baby is having troubles, so she is more protective (with me) and seems to be "worried". I hope that is soon in the past. Widget, the black mama is protective with strangers, but not nasty, just very "on top of things". Otherwise she is laid back and relaxed with her babies. They are eating so well they even have chubby legs!

Junior and Pugsley WIP

Here they are after a very frustrating day of painting on them. Had planned to do it in pastels. No go. So I had to restart and rethink. Now in acrylic! Much color adjustment on Junior (the tan one)... Pugsley should hopefully go better, even tho he's black he was nice and shiny and all his lovely folds and wrinkles and bumps stand out. Junior just bleached and faded out. I put 2 different photos together to get this piece the way I wanted. I took a ton of photos to try and get just the right one!

Mixed bag of Easter, Art, and Harp

I've started a new WIP piece of 2 of the cutest pugs ever. What characters they are! I also have a second small WIP going so will post both so you can see the progress. I just did the drawing last evening.


I have been working on the small piece in watercolor pencil. Believe I will be adding colored pencil as well, unless I finish the wc and decide to stop there! I just love turtles on logs sunning themselves- never get tired of watching them do that! Have no idea why, not exactly alot of action! :-)



We had a wonderful Easter- the day just flew by. My granddaughter had a great time hunting the eggs Mr. Bunny left. We did a "potluck" which ended up being quite fun and made it easy on everyone. LOTS of good food too.

Thought I'd give you an idea of the size of my harp...

Taking the good with the sad...

My SAMMIE
Dec.15, 2000-June 24, 2009

I finally managed today to find time to finish the egret- I kept finding things I wanted to change on him- well, actually on the background. I do still have one tiny little thing I want to fix, but I'll call him done for now. I am finally fairly satisfied. Let me know what you think.
I was out of town for nearly 2 weeks, the main theme being "reference, reference"! I took a ton of photos so I should have something to paint this winter!!!
I spent last week out in the countryside shooting photos and re-connecting with the beautiful vistas to be found in the midwest. I drove nearly 1,000 miles doing it so I saw alot of vistas! I'll give you just a peek at some of the things I saw and enjoyed. I have "plans" for alot of landscapes- hopefully this winter.






While I was away, the day after I left I lost my best buddy- my Sammie must have had a heart attack in the heat or something, altho apparently he wasn't outside all that long. So I am without my little man and am heartbroken over it. I plan to do a painting of him when I can find the time. Meanwhile, his last babies are growing up fast. One has been sold- before it was even born! So 2 remain to find homes, and I'm in no hurry.

I'm BACK!!!

I haven't been allowed into my blog since I first set it up!!! Hoping it will finally like me and let me post!

I have entered the world of miniature art and am loving it. Just sent off a number of minis to 2 shows this morning. Ready to start a new piece tomorrow. For now here are a few of the minis I've submitted to shows. The little pomeranian was sold back in the fall, but the others are on their way to The Snow Goose Gallery in Bethlehem, Pa. and Seaside Gallery in Nag's Head, NC. I'll try and post more tomorrow.