One of my clients...

Got GREAT press -- Entertainment Weekly reviewed her new book! I am so thrilled for her! (She is Loki & Kiddun's mom.) They do not have the review posted live yet, but, Oh My Gosh, they gave it a B+!!!!! How awesome!!!! Read about her new book, called Love In The Time Of Taffeta. You can read the first chapter on her web site. I plan to pick it up as soon as it is available, officially April 1st, according to Amazon, but I heard that bookstores such as B & N will get copies in as soon as March 26th. Yay Eugenie!

Happy Monday

Hi everyone!
It's been a busy weekend!
I want to share with you that I have updated my About Me story. My newly updated story is a bit more personal and gives a little more insight into how I began this wonderful, exciting journey. It also tells more about how I came to doing pets, specifically, which is kind of cool, because pet portraiture is such a niche thing to go into, that no doubt there is a lot of philosophical thought and heart behind such a decision. :)

Here is little Selma!

Selma is complete!! I love how the colors came out, and look at the smile!! She is such a compact and cuddly little bundle of happiness! I am very very happy about the piece. I love the friendly birdies, and the flowers too. Her crown is really ornate and detailed too and I painted it as well as her beautiful necklace with iridescent watercolor paint.

Web site updates

New: Lucky 7 Pet Portrait Referral Program page


Wear Your Pet page now features links to all of the portrait shops, plus other shops such as all of my kitty designs sections.

Updated the doggie magazines on the Resources page.


Added new pet portrait pics throughout the site - you'll see a bunch of new ones interspersed throughout!

Added Kaya, Modern Dog magazine's top dog, on the enter page!!

Also added the Modern Dog illustration on my Press page.

Just keepin' you in the loop! :)

Kathy Weller illustration in Modern Dog Spring 2006 issue

I have very exciting news! I created an illustration of Modern Dog magazine's resident doggie diva, Kaya, for MD's Spring 2006 issue, which has just come out!! I am really looking forward to receiving my copy to see where it is placed and how it reproduced since I did not see a proof. Modern Dog has very high quality standards so I know it'll look sharp and rich in color. Anyway, here is the ink and painted stage of the portrait "Kaya Welcomes Spring", for your viewing enjoyment! :)

Work on Selma Jane continues - Ink stage

Selma's portrait is going wonderfully. There are several intricate things which have been included in this portrait which embody Selma, her life, her personality and all that she loves and appreciates. There are of course her Rita Polkapants and Crabbie toys which are pictured next to her but there are also a few little surprises. The landscape used for a backdrop is actually based on Selma's own neighborhood green areas. The birds in the upper right have special significance as the actual types of birds which live in Selma's neighborhood- among them, Cardinals, Chickadees and a family of Crows, all of which are represented here. We also included wildflowers as well as orange tiger lilies, morning glories, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans - all of which are alive and well in Selma's neighborhood. I added butterflies and a ladybug or two to the bottom banner to help illustrate that Selma is a 'snugglebug' pug. She is surrounded on both sides with her favorite toys - the aforementioned Rita Polkapants and Crabbiebut also a pile of carrots as well as her carrot Nylabones and her Wishbone toy. A tiara completes the picture for this Pug Diva Princess.

This portrait was my first in which I am using my new Rapidograph technical pen in a size smaller (.18) than what I have always used previously (.25). That means MORE DETAIL. It is amazing and I am very thrilled to be using a smaller and more detailed line!!!! My work is improving and continuing to become more and more refined. It's so wonderful to be creating beautiful art work of beloved pets, for people who love and appreciate it so much. What did I do before pet portraiture?

Miss Selma Jane

This is Selma Jane. She is an adorable, and I do mean adorable, 7 year old black pug. She is shown with her Rita Polka Pants, her Crabbie, and a pile of carrots to munch. I look forward to continuing work on this portrait! :) It will be very colorful.

Perry sleeping under the stars

This is a portrait of Perry. Perry owns my sister and her husband, and this portrait is a birthday present for her. I gave it to her last night and she loves it! Perry is really adorable doggie.

New Pet Shops -and lowdown on dog magazines

New Pet Shops...

Happy Friday!
There are three new pet portrait shops today. Bunny & Martha, Katie Kitty Cat and Princess Merry (YES, Pampered Puppy's Merry, the one and only!!! :) ) The first two are brand new portraits and Merry's I did a few months ago, but I had not put together the store until just now. So there you go. :)

In other news...
There is a NEW doggie maggie which I can't wait to check out. It's regional; a Las Vegas production called Lucky Dog (great name). looking forward to subscribing to that one.

Also, I happened upon one other doggiemaggie which I'd never even heard of (no wonder, it's a UK production) called K9. Looking forward to checking out their web site when I have a little time. (Looks heavily celebrity-ish on first peek. Just an observation! :) )

Lastly on the maggie front, I want to alert all doggie mag lovers to Wag magazine. They have a fresh new design, PLUS, either excerpts or the whole last 2005 and first 2006 issues are downloadable, on line! Yes, this is not a joke. So go, read! Check out! Then subscribe, because we like them and we want them to keep publishing their funny, cute doggie rag. :) Cool!!!

Tuesday - Blue is finished.

Finished painting Blue last night. I am really happy with it - it' a really nice painting and a bit different than many of my other paintings. It's more painterly, I guess, in a way. Blue is pretty tightly rendered - but to play off of this, I went looser in the background painting and used a lot of scumbling - or I guess maybe more of a dry glaze (overpainting but with a dryish brush/paint to give a thicker glaze of paint) - to layer the paint. It has an outdoorsy, woodsy, and natural feeling. The colors and the tones I used are all very earthy, yet there is some real color play between Blue and the backdrop. I find it very refreshing and I really enjoyed the process. I love to be 'in the zone' during the painting process. I sometimes can't believe that i went so long without picking up a paintbrush or pen. It's so obvious to me that this is my life's work.

What I got goin' on...

Let's see...list of workload next couple of weeks:

Katie the kitty is DONE!!!! ('cept for a tiny tweak I will do tonight)
Finish painting Blue (halfway there)

Next up:

Selma the adorable Pug
Choo Choo a very sweet and lovey black Schnoodle

YIPEE! Can't wait.

I'm waiting on pics from Daisy, a golden lab who is very very active, and I look forward to doing something very adventurous for her! But her mom is extremely busy person and I'm sure she'll get me the pics whenever she can. In the meantime, I've got plenty to do. ;)

Stores coming up:

Bunny & Martha
Merry/Meredith (Pampered Puppy's resident Princess Pug and mascot)
Katie the kitty

My world...of eraser bits

Yesterday, I finally attached my art supply caddy to my painting table. I did not realize that I had so many tiny eraser bits. I actually do use all of them too. Sometimes I cut them in certain shapes to help erase certain lines without removing too much graphite. I took some photos of my art table to celebrate my new neater and more organized table! I think the paint tubes look like little soldiers.

Kathy Press - - Life magazine !!

Please check out the Life magazine insert in your local newspaper!!

Please make sure to NOT throw away that Life maggie in your local paper on Thursday, Friday or Saturday of this week!! There is an article called "14 Things To Do With Your Dog", and commissioning one of my pet portraits is #11!!! How cool! How AWESOME!! My mom called me at work and told me the good news this afternoon. Really cut into my concentration level... but I recovered. :)

Please check which newspaper in your area carries the Life magazine, and check it out, if you are so inclined! How exciting!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

"Lucky 7" Referral Program

I am instituting a new referral program. This is pretty much the soft launch. I've been planning to put together a postcard mailing campaign to send to all of my past clients, but I have not done it as of yet, and I keep collecting more and more clients who fall into the 'past' tense...and, well, for now I will just loud-speaker it here for all to enjoy!! :)

"Lucky 7" Pet Portrait Referral Program

It goes like this...

If one of my clients racks up 7 portraits to their credit through any of the following:

-Their own purchase
-A friend's purchase whom they referred
-The purchase of a gift certificate

they will receive one of my 6x6 sized original pet portraits for FREE (150. value)!

The fine print:

-The referral is only good for 7 PORTRAIT referrals, not 7 PET referrals - - so if you refer a freind who gets two 2-pet portraits, that only counts as 2 towards your goal, not 4.

-The Lucky 7th portrait must be redeemed within 6 months. This means: from the time of your being granted the Lucky 7th portrait, you will need sign up for your free portrait by getting on my Portrait Wait List. Your portrait will not necessarily be completed in six months' time. For instance, if you redeem your Lucky 7th portrait four months' after you receive the honor by contacting me to sign in and getting placed on the waiting list at that point, I may still have a three-month waiting list at that point, and would not get to your Lucky 7th Portrait until 7 month's after you received the Lucky 7th Portrait honor.

Enjoy!!!!

(Please note: This post has been edited for clarity, for typos, and to add pretty colors to selected type)

New Ink! Katieville...

Here is Katie! She is a beauty and very cute kitty. We came up with an old-fashioned postcard theme! The paint will be muted colorful tones - kind of like colorized old movies, but better! :) Here is the ink drawing. I'll be painting it in very soon.

Detail of Katie's face. Note the Swiffers in the landscape, keeping the palm trees company.

Detail of the lower left portrait. Note Katie's ball disc toy in the left side
background behind her (along with more Swiffers, which she also likes).

Bottom right of the portrait detail. See her favorite ball hidden in the right bottom
corner. Also note her scratching post is behind her, beside a palm tree!