Write A Post,Help A Dog

Hi all,
           Reading these posts from my bloggy pals Jeanette (illustrated life) and Sue (pencilpix) I thought I would do a post too and pass it on hoping some of you may do the same. As most of you who read this blog will know that I have a little rescue myself, who came to us a real wreck...skinny,underweight,scared of everything no house training at all, filthly and very nervous of men. With love and patience, good homecooked food,lots of playtime, walks and a huge help from my beloved PooPoo, she is now at the age of five a totally different dog. Having said that there are still some things that I think she will never get totally over and we just accept that and go with what we have....We love her just as she is.

With apologies to Sue (Pencil Pix) I've lifted the following from her site as I think this is a wonderful idea. If you could all make a post on your Blogs think how much food Pedigree will donate to the dogs shelter. What a generous gesture from Pedigree.

Please hurry as the offer ends September 3rd.



Here’s how it works:

• The Write a Post, Help a Dog program is aimed at raising awareness of the more then 4 million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year. As well as to help get them all food (our goal is 10,000 lbs of food in the next two weeks) for the more than four million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year.
• For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs — its best recipe ever — to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.
• Feel free to mae your post more visually appealing by using either or both of the two images seen in this post.
• The Pedigree Foundation — a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.

The Pedigree Foundation depends on charitable contributions from individuals to carry out its mission to help dogs find loving homes. In addition to writing a blog post, here’s how you can help:

• Donate online at http://pedigreefoundation.org/donate.aspx
• Apply for a shelter grant from the Pedigree Foundation by completing a form atwww.pedigreefoundation.org
• Purchase Dogs Rule Gear at www.dogsrulegear.com where the proceeds go to the Pedigree Foundation to help loving dogs find a home. SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10 percent off Dogs Rule Gear by using the promo code BlogPaws10 from August 22 – September 30.

Once you get your post up and ready please feel free to grab the link code to include it in your post and add your link to the list so it is easier to keep track of all the posts plus it makes it so easy for your friends to learn about the event and see the progress we are making towards our goal of 10,000 lbs of food.

This is a Blog Hop! 22 entries so far... you're next!

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1. To Dog with Love	2. Two Little Cavaliers	3. Boccis Beefs
4. www. houstondogblog. com	5. Lis Careys Library	6. DogTipper. com
7. Grouchy Puppy	8. Keisha the Spaniel : )	9. Saving Pennies for a Rainy Day
10. Kyndall @ Say No To Recycling	11. 4 The Love of Animals	12. Julianne @ Just a Simple Life
13. Write a post, help a dog	14. Laineys Pawtique & Bakery	15. Blog for Paws
16. Non profit organizations weekend on Empire Avenue	17. Brando and Bogart	18. Adriel Hampton on Tumblr
19. Write a Post, Help a Dog	20. Write a Blog, Save a Dog	21. Write a Post, Help a Dog
22. Help Feed Some Shelter Dogs This Week

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 12 days, 3 hrs, 31 min (9/8/2011 12:59 AM CST)

Another Rottie

Hi all,
          It has been a week since my last update on this blog, but I have not been idle, my pens,pencils and ink have been furiously busy tangling away on artiinspirations and it has been much fun with lots more to come.
         This another Rottie drawing that I started some time a go and forgot all about, and decided to get it out and finish it. Having done two previous pictures of the same dog, one a full frontal in CPs and a small one of this pose in Graphite, I thought it would be nice to do it again in CPs. She is stunning to look at and I was very lucky to get some superb pics of her, so this is 10 x 8 on Fabriano.  
         I also wanted to say thank you to everybody for their kind comments on my previous post, this week has been much better, but with experience I have learnt that I could go for a week or longer without too much pain, and then have a week completely knocked sideways, it is as with most things manageable with a mixture of rest, meds and exercises. Yesterday I had my first lot of treatment and did get some respite overnight but this morning the pain and uncomfortability is back with a vengeance and my left leg is literally a dead weight. Having said all that it is early days yet and we shall how things go along.

Manic Week

Hi all,
          It has been a rough week and I have kinda got lost in time too, due to the amount of pain killers that I have had to take, mixed with lots of sleepless nights and bouts of nausea, it has not been good. The Arthritis is bad enough and sad to say not getting better, but down to that and an old knee injury which in turn has affected my hip, I am not having a good time. Ever since I was a child I have walked everywhere, which some of it was dictated by lifestyle, but also because I enjoyed it....it gets you out into the fresh air, gets you fit and is gentle enough for the most unfit of us to do. Last year I after a lot of work I managed to walk on average about 2 miles a day, sometimes more....I was always knackered and if I over did it paid for it big time the following days, but god it felt good. All my frustrations,depressions, anxiety were in the wind and I felt mentally refreshed, and my little Bluebell always accompanied me getting up to no good making me smile along the way. Now for the past month or so that has had to stop, because walking is aggravating my hip which in turn is affecting my knee, my left leg just seems to drag along and is very unstable, so much so yesterday on a visit out I resorted to using a walking stick to aid my balance. Good news is that I start treatment this week and am hoping for some much needed relief, especially at night. Apologies for the miserable post, I don't like going off topic usually, especially in relation to my health, but I just needed to vent today.

On a lighter note I did have being some creative art, which you can view on my other blog....kinda of need a few new followers other there, so if any of you fancy it, you would be most welcome.....here is the link artiinspirations

GSD Finished

Hi all,
      Yesterday I went to a local dog show where I had a great time and met up with some old friends. The day dawned grey and wet and for a while I was doubtful if it would clear and if we would have any sunshine, but I was not let down, because by about midday it was beautiful.  Always a bit of worry if it is too hot and humid as I always think the dogs get a bit agitated, understandably so but a coolish temp of about 21/22 degrees and a breeze is ideal and down on the seafront you are more than likely to get this. I saw a pair of beautiful Bedlington Terriers who were so sweet, but funny looking at the pure version of my beloved Bluebell ! A harlequin Dane came along who I met when he was still a pup and now three years old in his prime and absolutely stunning to look at, also the owners of the above GSD who is called Juke at just a year old with enormous paws and a hefty a weight is going to grow into a very handsome boy.They also bought along their 13 week old pup called Tia another GSD and a real sweetie, which they hope to at the right time mate with Juke. A super silver grey standard Poodle, a wonderful Parsons Terrier who again I met as a puppy and now just over a year old and so funny...just love him. A little jack cross/chi decked in pink and a real floozy with all the dogs, but not intimated by size or breed ( she was very small) a very handsome boxer and a gorgeous jet black Belgian Shepherd, along with lots of other breeds in various colours,shapes and sizes. All in all a really good day. I came home knackered but happy and spent the rest of the day with a large glass of wine in hand watching the box.

Google +

Hi all,
        Just a quick post today about Google + which I imagine that quite a few of you heard about over the past few months. Having just nabbed myself an invitation I have set it up and am playing around to see how I like it. I do love google and all that goes with it and use most of the tools that comes with this account and to date am pleased with everything so am hoping that + might be the same, however it is early days yet. On reading a few reviews it has been likened to FB which is something I really don't like, and despite having an account don't use. Twitter is cool as is a few other social networks that I visit on my travels in cyber space, but as is with all internet stuff ,the downside is that you kind of get addicted, but as an artist trying to get exposure in this ever growing world that might be seen as a good thing.
    I do have 150 invites here to give out and what a better place to share them than on my blog, so if you fancy giving it a whirl click the link below...It would be great to see a few more arty friends around and I shall keep an eye out for noobees !
    Google +

    If the link does not work let me know and I will see if it can recitfied.

Sunny Tuesday



Hi all,
      Kinda of stuck for a blog title and did not want to repeat myself with same titles, so as it is weather wise a lovely day here in the uk, thought that would be apt.  It is a shame that I cannot not apply that to the rest of the country with the awful rioting and wanton destruction of peoples property...without getting in to it too much, perhaps bringing in the army as a backup to the police would be the next best thing!

     As you can see above another update on the GSD, and I am feeling a lot happier now with how it is looking. I widened the nose on the left as it was just too narrow and so did not look right and applied a few more dark tones in places to bring the right ear out. It is strange that sometimes that a piece of art that tests your patience and skill is the one of the ones that you end up loving.

Update on the GSD

Hi all,
       Another little update on the GSD, but I have to say that when I scanned this I realised that it was not looking how I wanted it to. I could see straight away that there were parts that needed tweaking, and although the reference photo is "usable" it is not the best to work from. I did nearly bin it and start again which I really hate doing, but I will stick with it and tweak where needed.

Arti Inspirations

Hi all,
    I know that I said I would not create another blog again, but on further thinking because I find myself veering into new creative adventures I feel more comfortable keeping it separate from this blog.To me what I do here is fine art portraiture,pet portraiture,wildlife etc created in pencil/pencils and that is how I want to keep it. For the more  new creative stuff that I am doing as in stones,wood and my extreme love of Zentangles/zendoodles/zendalas I am going to blog about all that here http://artiinspirations.blogspot.com/.
   I will be adding a link to my gallery on picasa for this,and links some my other favourite bloggers who work in this type of style as well. So I hope you will come over there and follow my creative endeavours and hopefully it will become as popular as this one.

Juke GSD

Hi all,
       Behind with my updates a little this week, had a few minor setbacks health wise but am getting back to normal now. Another GSD has landed on my desk this one called Juke and is about approximately a year and a half old so really still a pup yet. I don't know this dog very well suffice to say that he is a beautiful pale colour all over but with some traditional dark facial markings leading from his shoulders down his back to the tip of his tail, a real stunner to look at. The portrait is just head and shoulders 12 x10 in graphite.