Because WE LOVE the dogs...

Who's watching the dog show tonight??

Last night and tonight, Westminster Kennel Club's Doggie show is ON!
USA, 8 - 11 pm. Set your DVR!!!


Doggie LOVE Story for Valentine's Day 2006

Your dog may help you click with others
Can Fido can help you meet that special someone?
(Of COURSE!!!!! :) We already know that though don't we :) )

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Molly Abigail

Molly Abigail © 2006 Kathy Weller

Molly Abigail is a doggie whose portrait I've just completed and sent off to her mom. I really enjoyed doing her portrait a lot. As I mentioned in a previous post, her mom was going for a certain mood in MA's portrait- a magical, twilight, foggy-mist-over-the-lake type of mood and we were both thrilled with the results!! :)

Here is the finished portrait along with some details. It's tough to show all of the detail in the portrait through one 425 pixel width, 72 ppi jpg, so here are a few other detailed shots. Not complete by any means but helps to give an idea of the level of detail in the portrait.

Molly is known as the "Treat Aficionado". The border is dotted with some of her favorite treats: greenies and doggie biscuits, as well as a couple of harmonicas, because she enjoys harmonica music.

Here is a detail of Molly Abigail's paw with her favorite toys-her blue Hurley bone and black Kong toy as well as another doggie biscuit. A ladybug and and some wildflowers hang out, too.

A butterfly sits on Molly A's paw. Molly A is also lying on her favorite real-life blanket.
A detail of Molly A's name banner, and also of the sky dotted with stars and moon.

The background features a misty lake and mountains. A Weeping Willow tree sits on each side.
Molly is a German shorthaired Pointer and has a beautiful coat with some auburn and white mottling
which was a fun and challenging texture to create for her coat.

Fun Friday Pet Tip

I want to mention Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl II (which aired last weekend opposite the Super Bowl) as a good TV program to keep the doggies content while you're doing whatever business at home that you need to take care of. It was obviously created to be watched during commercial breaks because it's basically just a bunch of cute puppies playing around and rough-housing in a football-inspired doggie play pen. My pug Ruby seemed to really enjoy the show (Daisy her sister was sleeping so I couldn't gauge her reaction, but she is the sardonic one and probably would have rolled her eyes at it anyway). I decided to Tivo it because after seeing Ruby's involvement, I thought it would be the perfect thing to keep her entertained during those times when we need a TV pug-sitter. :)

Irish Princesses

Bunny & Martha are all inked in! I'm really excited to begin painting them in.


(Edited to add:)

Notes on the Bunny & Martha portrait

-There are little clovers which dot the border on both sides.

-Left border sports a celtic design, right border has a nice tree with ivy design.

-The bottom scroll which sports Bunny & Martha's names is decorated with a harp.

-The top flag says Princess Bunny & Princess Martha.

-Bunny's collar also has a little flag on it which reads "St. Bunny", her nickname.

-Martha wears her kilt coat which is a shout out to her family's Scottish heritage.

-Both girls wear crowns; Martha's is based on the claddagh design and Bunny's is a more traditional crown design.

-There are two castles in the distance (presumably, one for each doggie to rule over, but close enough to have tea-time every day)

-The landscape is that of an Irish countryside

-The flowers n the landscape are indigenous to Ireland

What's cooler than...

Getting noticed by your peers? Feeling like a high-school girl getting asked to sit at the cool table (okay, so I never sat at the cool table, LOL), another pet portrait artist, Rebecca from Art Paw, wrote some really nice things about my pet portraiture in her blog the other day. It's just extremely flattering to be noticed in general, by peers, media and other pet industry folks, but not only has Art Paw has been around since 1998, but I like a pet portrait artist (or company) who has a specific specialty and does it the absolute best that they can, and that's Art Paw. So not just the artistic talent and focus required, but also the talent for business (and staying in it). So I really take it as a high compliment. Thanks, Rebecca.

Some pet stories to snack on

Dogs succeed in diagnosing cancer - The latest on this fascinating research.

A cut-to-the-chase animal doctor - A profile on Dr. Larry Hawk, president of the Angell Memorial (MSPCA) Pet Hospital here in Boston.

The latest issue of The Bark is out. I just love this maggie. In fact sometimes I wait to open it because once I start it's a total time-suck and I can't seem to put it down. It may seem trivial, but my favorite section is the Smiling Dogs section, which always makes me SO happy. Every time I check it out, it makes me so happy. Anyway I think that the new issue's content teases are not reflected on their site yet, in case you go there to check it out. But it is out. :)

Bunny & Martha

This week I drew Bunny (an almost 5.5 yr old Beagle) and Martha (a Boston Terrier, about a year old now), a couple of real cuties. I am really excited about their portrait for many reasons but I'll just share one right now. It's a lot of fun to be presented with a theme in which I can learn something new in some way, whether through the overriding theme, the dogs, the scenery, landscape or geographical location chosen - and this one provided a lot of opportunity for this type of learning. The theme is Ireland, with a shout-out to Scotland (Martha is wearing a kilt). The Ireland/Scotland theme is an homage to the doggies' parents' cultural identities.) The doggies are portrayed as Irish Princesses, and I got to do a little digging for flowers native to Ireland, irish ivy, landscapes, ornamental celtic designs, claddaugh symbol (this is used as one of the girl's tiaras). All in all, just a very fun and whimsical, yet also a very *classical* looking portrait which I look forward to continuing work on. And the dogs are just absolutely adorable!!! It's sometimes tricky posing two dogs but I have to say that I am very happy with the way this is coming. They are posed in a sort of classical-looking style, Bunny is standing and Martha is sitting - and, well, describing it might just be confusing and nothing else, so I'll just keep working on it and not attempt to describe it any longer. :)

The busy weekend past

This weekend, I did a lot of photo reference research for upcoming portraits. I also did some paperwork. The end of the year is here (or, rather, the beginning of a new one ;) ) and I did some number-crunching to see where I fell in terms of profit and loss, in my first full year of pet portraiting. It was a little sticky because I wasn't very organized last year. I thought I'd give myself one year to really see if this was something I wanted to continue, could continue, believed in enough to continue (ok, *my* believing in it wasn't exactly the issue, really - I had to see if *others* believed in it, too - that would be my clients). Well, now that I can't imagine NOT doing pet portraiture, I guess the answer to that is YES!

In the past few weeks I've done a LOT of legal work. It's amazing what a person can accomplish with a list and complete commitment. I'm also learning Quickbooks and populating it with all of my business information. It's quite a deep program! I have another appointment with my accountant in a couple of weeks to go over it some more.

Pinkie Fun

Pinkie's portrait is complete! Well, *almost* complete. :) I need to touch up her nail polish first to a nice bright pink! And, after that, her portrait will be shipped to her mom!! :)

Latest pet portrait news, Tues., Jan. 24

Got news!

My client (the one who seemed to be MIA) contacted me today! I am so happy, because I was a little concerned. She was fine, just away for a week. She really loves her portrait!! Which makes me so happy!! :) I love it, too! It's very moody and magical...with dragon flies, weeping willow trees in the background, a lake in the background, an outdoors, dusky, misty scene. And Molly is just a beautiful, regal doggie. I think she looks very wise. I absolutely loved doing this portrait.

It's such a great feeling to try to give the best of myself to each and every portrait. I try to channel the pet, in a way - I know that sounds totally hokey, but it's true! I look deep into their eyes in the photographs. I study them. I want to capture something special which is unique to their own individual spirit, and capture this feeling in the painting. It's this 'thing' which gives comfort to the pet's parents, when they gaze at their portrait time and time again.

the latest

Charissa's mom and Pinkie's mom both love their portraits!! Yay!!! I am so happy that they are happy!! I do have to make one small revision to Pinkie's painting - I missed a tiny but critical detail - her little painted nails - so I will include this and resend a proof as soon as possible.

Another one of my finished portrait's recipients still has not gotten back to me, re: the final portrait email proof, and this is very out of the ordinary. I hope they are all okay! I'm a little concerned... I will wait and see. It's been just a little over a week.

small grump..
My knee is acting funny. I kneeled on it last night and it hurt above the knee cap. The pain is still there, but it's very minor - under my knee, it feels like - but I am fine to stand, lie down, walk. I feel the pain if I kneel. I think it might be bursitis. Yuck. I'll ice it tonight!

Back update:
My back is doing well - - so much of the 'cure' is management: stretching a few times a day, back and ab exercises every day, regular wokouts otherwise, adequate rest. And NOT sitting. I've been kneeling a lot, so it's no wonder my knee took a hit. I've been going to physical therapy 1 or 2 times a week and seeing steady improvements in my strength (and doing workouts on my own the rest of the time). I saw my Physiologist last week for a check up and she said that I'm doing very well, but she wants to see a bit more improvment in my flexibility. I will see her again in a couple of months and for now, as usual, flexibility training is in the front seat... and it should stay that way, after suffering this injury and knowing the repurcussions of inflexibility! :P

updates on pet portrait work

(Above: portrait sketch detail of Suki. Top: first sketch. Bottom: revised sketch.)

This weekend, I accomplished a lot! I completed Pinkie and Charissa's portraits, and emailed their mom's the proofs. I hope that they each love their portraits! :)

I also revised a portrait sketch of Suki. I had originally drawn Suki's face with a closed mouth, but Suki's dad was interested in having Suki's mouth open and smiling in the portrait. I revised Suki's face and I emailed the revision of Suki, and he loved it! I think it came out great, too! I look forward to continuing work on Suki's portrait.

Next up:
Bunny & Martha (a Boston Terrier and Beagle. Check out Martha's blog in my blog list at left!!)

Blue (an Irish Setter - posthumous portrait, R.I.P.)

Katie (a cute little kitty cat)

Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo

This is the sweetest story!! It *begs* to be adapted into a children's book!! Very, very cute!!

This week so far:

Completed Molly Abigail portrait!! :) :)
(Have not heard back from Molly's mom yet on the proof.)

Started painting Charissa's portrait! I have her painted, and the sheep so far. I can't wait to work on it some more!! :)

Tonight I have a meeting with my accountant so I don't know how much painting I will be doing. I hope to get some in, perhaps 45 to an hour. We shall see!

Changes

Changes!

Case Studies:
Three new Case Studies are up...

Norbert - the Bassett Hound in London
Novia - The NYC kitty
Ritzie - Queen of the Kitties


Price Increase...
I've increased prices on the 8 x 8, 7 x 10 ans 9 x 12 portraits. I thought I'd give a little insights in case you are curious as to what led to this decision.

Time Spent per portrait
I've been spending more and more time per portrait, not just in the actual artwork time, but also in the research for reference materials. It's extremely important to me to get as many of the details right as I can in each portrait and this requires research which takes more time.

Details
My work has been steadily getting more and more detailed. It's the nature of my growth as an artist to continue this effort, and I love seeing new developments in my skills and knowledge base, and am very happy to see my expertise continue to grow. The increase in detail does require more time however and I am finding that I needed to build some of this time into my prices.

New Sizes...

In order to give more choices in price range, I've also introduced some new sizes, which I enjoy working in!

6 x 6
6 x 9
the new 7 x 10 size is the same size as my former 7 x 9. I'm just correctly identifying the size now.

Thanks for reading!!
Please enjoy the new Case Studies!!

Pinkie

Pinkie photo courtesy of L. Hawthorne

Pinkie is one of my current client's doggies. This is the doggie that won Pampered Puppy's pet photo contest last July. Pinkie is an adorable and tiny chihuahua. She has three cats too, one of which makes an appearance in her portrait.

I love Pinkie's portrait theme partly because it reminds me of something from my childhood which I loved: My sister Nancy had one of those Barbie dream houses, and I coveted it! (Actually, I was completely nuts for any and all things Barbie - it was the beginning of my total fashion obsession in my earlier years, which has now mellowed to more of just an 'interest'). I loved all the pink, colorful, tiny stuff - the tiny plastic shoes! Everything was so small and detailed and cute and, well, doll-house-ish- but all with a modern-girl twist. Now, I was never a fan of doll houses per se, but there was something so cool to me about that Barbie dream house and all other Barbie-brand trappings. (I honestly was obsessed. I'll admit it).

Anyway, Pinkie in some ways reminds me of a real live little doggie living in the middle of that fun Barbie dream house, if that dream house was actually suited for little doggies instead of a plastic lady.

Pinkie is, in every way, shape and form, truly a pampered puppy. And, she loves pink, too! :)