Way Behind.

Hi all.

I have just realised it has been a week, since my last post...just seem to lose track of all time lol. The weekend I went to a dog show and got some more great shots, and as usual my pal Nico showed up with his owner. I have got to say that I have fallen for this dog, but then I have been an owner of a Giant Breed dog in the past ( my beloved Bugsy). They are not for everyone, so if you don't like the drool, hair and alot of hard work, best stick to a small dog. This is him as a young puppy, look at the folds of skin and he is still growing into it lol.




Talking of dogs meant to say that Bluebell is soo much better now, and changed dramatically since her op, far more agreeable, not so nervous around other dogs and will play with them, and can off the lead now and return. It is hard to believe that pyrometra can affect a dogs personality the way it did with Bluebell...just happy that she is ok now.

Have made a new post on the AIP blog, but am still looking for followers, so if you have a blog please think about becoming a follower there.

Cat and Butterflies

Hi all,

This is my latest piece of work, which started out originally as a small drawing of just the cats head, 8x6 mounted. It has come out quite well and I thought that cropping into the cat would spoil it, so it needed something else added and to be slightly bigger, hence the butterfly. I was not aiming for a real likeness with the butterfly, more of a bit of simple whimsy type sketch. I used CPs for the eyes and the BF, graphite for the rest of the cat, and pastel for a soft background. I am not sure about it totally so will sit on the piece for a day or so and then view with fresh eyes. The size now is 10 x 8 inches mounted.

I am still looking for any artists who would like to contribute to the AIP

but if not then it would be great if you became follower. I am behind with the shop and stuff due to getting things sorted, but that is done now and the shop will be live this week, so we hope you will stop by for a look see.

Award

Hi all,

I have been given another award by the very talented artist Kari Ann.....thanks so much Kari it is much appreciated as always. The idea of this one, is to post seven things about myself and pass it on to 7 others. Ok 7 things about myself and please forgive me if I have posted these before on a previous award.


1/ I am a Libra, which is the sign of balance, peace and harmony....not always lol.
2/ I am a great believer in what I call Earth Magic, we abuse Mothers Earth natural resources way too much, and sooner or later there will be a price to pay for that.
3/Dog obsessed so much so I am in the middle of looking for my third rescue.
4/ I prefer dogs to humans....dont get me wrong I like alot of humans, but I like and love dogs more.
5/ I am a bit of a loner, my soltitude is important to me, so going off for long walks each day is heaven.
6/ I looooveeeeee Chocolate, any kind and the darker the better.
7/ I lovveeeeeeee Curry......curry is my favorite food I could live off it.
Ok those are my seven things...pretty boring huh !


Right here the 7 I am going to pass it on too.

Martina...another pencil artist.
Jan...a fellow blogger and contributor to the AIP group.
Karen Hull....an Aussie miniature artist.
Cherilynn Wood...another artist pal
Lene...My good epal from Denmark
Simoart....just this guys bright and colourful work
Chrisitine....a superb graphite artist...love her work, and just check out her latest piece amazing.



Well that is me all done, apologies if there is an overlap here, sometimes because we all follow one anothers blog we end getting up the same award twice lol, but hey no worries it is all good and shows the world what a great art community we are .

Dalmation

Hi all,

Just a quickie to share my finished drawing of the Dalmatian. Really pleased with this one and the size is 8x8 square, slightly unusual size for me, but it works for this drawing.

Dogs,Wind,Rain and Sunshine.

Hi all,

Today as been a bit on the mad side as I visited a local dog show, where we had a mixture of rain, sunshine and loads of wind, but got to say a fantastic day. It is so strange because I bumped into people that I met at dog shows from last year, and catching up is great fun. This is the case of my Rottie, whom I now know is called Leia. She came to a dog show last year and this is when the photo was taken, I could not resist that lovely bright pink collar and adorable face, and today I bumped into her again. She looks just the same, just as nice and is much loved by her owners, so much so they entered her into the fancy dress class as fairy....she looked super ! I also met up with Niko a very large Neapolitan Mastiff, and is now just coming up for about just over 1 yrs in age. He was big when I saw him last year but he is still growing and turning into a superb handsome dog, very laid back and again much loved by his owner. Sol was there too a Dogue de Bordeaux, who won best rescue a few years back and had his portrait done by yours truly as the prize. There were so many dogs, all shapes,sizes and colours and I just let the camera click away taking as many photos as I could. Some came out great and some came out crap....note to self practice more with the camera ! Bit tired now so off for a glass of wine and put my feet up for a bit of telly lol !

Artists and Authors needed

Hi all,
I have made a post on the AIP blog looking for artists and or authors to contribute to our BC casue. I know that alot of who visit and become followers on my blog are superb artists of one kind or another, so if you fancy in doing something for a really worthy casue then we would be pleased to have you on board....you can read the post here AIP. If you are interested leave a comment here on this blog or on the AIP, or email me and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Just another thought I know time is the ever growing enemy of artists but you dont need to invest alot, just what your are able, either by a piece of art or by writing a post.

Sunny Sunday

Hi all,

Whew for a moment there Blogger decided that it was not going to let me upload my pic, but after 3 attempts it must of had second thoughts ! So my Dalmatian is almost done really pleased with this one, and I seem to be on a Graphite spin at the moment, as I am thinking about another one too...perhaps a wildlife pcture for a change !

Just a qucikie here the Art In Pink has had its first post by yours truly, a few links added to BC sites and to contributuing artist authors, so please take a quick look, bookmark it and come visit often.

Art In Pink

Hi all,
I have some exciting news to share with you, which although is still in its early stages hopefully will take off. Some of you may remember some time ago that I made a post about the loss of one of my sister's to Breast Cancer. This is a subject that is very close to my heart and I have long wanted to organise something that helps raise awareness about BC and to raise funds for the Cancer Charity. Most of you will also know that I am a member of the Wildlife and Pet Portrait Forum owned by Melanie Phillips and she has kindly set up a board solely for what now is called Art In Pink. The idea behind it is to set up a Zazzle shop and any of the artists who are interested can donate a piece of work to be used in the shop to create products, like cards,postcards,magnets etc. There are some guide lines to follow and all the information can be found by following this link Art In Pink. A blog is in the pipeline, along with a face book group, perhaps a google site and some other things as well. This is very new and still in its embryonic stage, but this week has seen a flurry of activity and me panicking just a tad to get it all organised, so if it does all read a bit manic, please forgive me, it will come together in time.

Dalmation In Graphite

Hi all,

I would like to thank everyones comments on Bluebell, and I am happy to say that she is doing so much better. We bought her a new toy today and she has been running around having a little play, and it was a joy to watch. Her appetite is still a little off, but that is to be expected, but on the whole she is recovering well. I love to her pieces and she is becoming a real sweet heart, and I cant help but admire her because she was wreck when we first got her, with some major issues, but time, love and trust has worked wonders.

Here is one of my current pieces that I am working on a Dalmation in Graphite, reference photo from the challenges that are held on the Pet Portrait Forum. I really like this pic and have had it on my to do list for a while now, size will be 10 x 8 approx.

Old English Sheepdog

Hi all,

It has been a manic week with one thing and another, and today is turning out to be no exception. The time is 5.47 am and I have been up for ages already, after being kept awake with Bluebell. She does seem to be acting strangely at the moment and seems to need alot of comfort and reassurance, and as she shares our bed too, the last couple of nights I have been woken up with a dog licking me and cuddling up close into my neck, not like her at all, she usually hunkers down on the end of bed amongst her blankets. We have been a bit concerned so took her to the vet yesterday, to be on the safe side. If you read my previous post you will know that I had her spayed but it turned out she had Pyrometra which is life threatening. We wondered if she might be having a reaction to the antibiotics and the vet told us that some Bedlington Terriers can be prone to a reaction, but she does not have a temperature which is a good sign and despite the lack of appetite, odd behaviour, and a bit of diarrhoea, nice clean healing wound, she checked out ok. The vet did say because of the pyrometra it was the right thing to do and to keep an eye on her over the next few days, but I like to have all my knowledge to hand, so asked her if she could still die from this. It does seem that it is a possibility, because although the uterus/ovaries have been removed, any toxins from these could of leaked out into the body, hence a pyrometra spay being very tricky to perform. I did a search on the net and found some pictures of a infected uterus, and cannot believe the size it gets to, in comparison to a normal one. If Bluebell had been diagnosed first then she would of gone on antibiotics before the op which would of made things a little easier, but in a way I do blame myself because I had knew nothing about this or what causes it, having always had boy dogs in the past, having a female has been an experience to say the least. I will keep you updated and urge anyone with a female dog to use the link on this post to Pyrometra info on Wikipedia.

The Old English Sheep dog drawing was 50th birthday gift to a friend of mine, and she was really pleased with it. I wanted to try and keep it loose with a sketchy feel to it and used some pastels for a bit of the background, I feel it came out quite well. On the drawing board next is a flower drawing, another few dogs, one of which will be a wip once I sort out a few details and a few more aceos...phew I am knackered before the day has begun !

Post cut short

Hi all,
Just a quickie and apologies to all, my previous post was cut short due to an ongoing conflict between my digital phone, router and tv......looks like we will have to do some new rewiring, to resolve this. It has driven both mad because the problem only started when we changed the living room around a few weeks ago and got a new digital phone, so by a process of elimination it seems to be a mixture of the three. Posts may be a bit intermittent until resolved, but should not be too long.

Returned

Hi all,
I have returned from my little break at Mums, and had a really nice time....great food (fish and chips from the chippie too) laughs and tears and a few good walks.The sun shone all the time, but at times the heat and humidity became very oppressive, so lots of cold drinks were the order of the day.We also made a visit to the local horse sanctuary, and saw some lovely rescued horses and donkeys all with heartbreaking stories, but now being looked after a great team of people. I did manage to get a few decent shorts and have earmarked some of these for future portraits.

On a more serious note Bluebell my little Bedlington Terrier cross was spayed yesterday, and to our shock found out that she had pyrometra. I did have it in my head for a while to let her have one litter, and then spayed, but she had a few phantom pregnancies which in turn really affected her behaviour and character, and that made the decision for us. We love her to pieces and she has come a long way from her very sad and unhappy start in life, so keeping her fit and healthy is all important.....all I can say is thank god we did not breed her. She is doing ok now, very sleepy and quiet, but that is to be expected, plus she she has a course of anti biotics for 10 days....Poo has been star, checking in on her but not over crowding her at all. Last night was rough for all of us, not much sleep, so am hoping to catch up on the z's and be able to function a little better tomorrow.