August 26, Muffy for Marley

 Well, it's been a week of workshops at school and I've been fighting a cold or something that I think followed us from camp and may have been the result of poor air quality as well- kinda like losing my voice and all, and I tested for Covid three different times with negative results each time, so here I am.

And my students, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th, show up next week.  Like a lot of teachers, I feel prepared and also a bit anxious. One of the awesome things about teaching is that we always start with a totally new year. The people who make up the class are never the same group, and nothing ever goes exactly the same way. In the art room, there are a lot of variables as well, like what materials I have on hand, what I remembered to order, if that order showed up on time, oh just so much!  And I like the renewal ever year, that there's a fresh start, a fresh page. And so much is up to my attitude and how I react to things.

We were supposed to do the Millstream Art Festival in St Joseph MN tomorrow, but I've cancelled because of how not well I've been feeling. I'm relieved that I did. I haven't cancelled an art show before, ever, but I've not felt this stressed about having an event the Sunday before classes commence. I did it last year and it was fun, definitely not a money maker, but fun for sure, and we figured it would be fun to do again. But I'm so glad I've said no.

I do need to learn to do that more often. I'm a terrible YES person!  My friend Lara is really good at a sweet rather evasive way of saying no! She responds so positively at first, like "of course I'd love to!" and then she says "Shoot! I can't fit it in my schedule" or something... I love it.

This is a small painting I did of my friend Marley's dog Muffy. Muffy is a bit elderly and I don't know how she's doing right now... and Marley is starting her first full time teaching job in Duluth! I hope her year goes great!

I hope your school year goes great too!

6x6 acrylic on wood

August 15, Forest Bathe

 Whew. It's Tuesday!

I taught two back-to-back Paint Your Pet classes at Wet Paint today, and I'm a bit tuckered out!  It's a bit like performing, to teach people. I had adults in the morning, and kids in the afternoon, and it can be a bit emotional for people to paint, in public... so there's some fun and some helping and some paying deep attention and trying to read what someone needs with their piece... Do they want me to help, by putting my brush in there, or not? It's all a bit of a trick, really.

And I think we all did very well.

I'm still not quite recovered from our month up north yet, though. And here is a painting of the walk I took daily...

I will probably have it with me on Saturday at the Carpenter Nature Center Art Festival if you'd like to see it in person!

10x8 acrylic on wood

$165

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August 10, Time To Breathe

 I've been painting other things than dogs up here in the great north woods, and have just a couple days left, though our campers and staff are all getting packed up ready to go home. It's so lovely here. We have trees everywhere... and the air feels sweet.

Ah.

This is an evening view of Lake Pokegema from the field~

I'll have it with me next Saturday at the Carpenter Art Fair just past Hudson on the Wisconsin side of the St Croix River! Sat August 19th from 10-5!

36x18 acrylic on canvas

$1296

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August 8, Dogs #30! Zooley and Katie-Blue!

Duane's best friend from school, Bill, lives in Walker, not far from where we are right now in Grand Rapids, MN, and he invited us over one of the first days off we had. We went to his house and he graciously made us walleye, crusted with crunched up ripple potato chips because of my gluten-free-ness, and we had such a great time, chatting, the two of the catching up. Bill suffered a devastating tragedy this year as well, in his wife Diane's death in March. It was unexpected, a kidney infection, I think I understood, and Diane was an artist who left a lot of supplies behind. Bill kindly allowed us to fill a couple bags with her glass beads and fittings and all, and I've been using them here at Camp with the kids. These two pups are Zooley and Katie-Blue, and they both loved Diane as well and now are quite attached to Bill. They are a little older than Pom and weren't thrilled with her exuberance and energy...

So I'm painting them as a Thank you to Bill!  We'll send them on to him when I've got them varnished~

And this concludes our 30 Dogs in 30 Days!  I'll be wiring the pups up and varnishing them this week and I plan on hanging them at Diamond's this Sunday morning, the 13th. We'll have a Celebration/Pick Up Party on Sunday September 10th from 2-4pm!~

6x6 acrylic on wood

spoken for

Katie-Blue

6x6 acrylic on wood

spoken for

Zooley

August 7, Dog # 29 is TIPPY!!!!

 Tippy belongs to our incredibly generous and kind neighbors, Andrew and Andrea, who showed up the night of our fire and offered us their "extra" house to live in. Which means we haven't had to really move anywhere other than across the street, and we've been able to keep an eye on our house as the work has progressed, and it's really been unbelievable how great a place it's been.  I've even been able to park in the garage!!

And this is Tippy, who is a sweet natured grumpy old man who tolerates Pompom in his yard as long as she isn't jumping on him, and who adores his owners to no end. He has the greatest little trot when he's walking out in the neighborhood, and he likes to let everyone know he's around!

8x8 acrylic on wood

spoken for!

August 6, Dog # 28 is Choo Choo!

 Isn't this the greatest face? We had a beautiful brindled mutt when I was growing up, Rusty, whom my brother affectionately renamed The Beast, and he had a noble face as well. Something about that texture and the shape of the nose maybe, the eyebrows, the strong neck leading into the shoulders...

This is Choo Choo, and Mary is sending me a little story about him yet!

This had been a great session of painting for me, and now that I'm almost done, I'm finding myself looking around for more pups!  I do have two I'll be squeezing in at the end here, maybe instead of Pompom because I haven't found the iconic Pompom painting yet...

We are still up in Grand Rapids at Camp Mishawaka, and maybe I'll write another little post about the cabin and painting in it, because it's pretty sweet... though we miss Bunny in it terribly.

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

August 5, Dog #27 is BEEGEE!!!!

It was hard to pick just one photo of this charming face!  Holy buckets!

Beegee is an amazingly fluffy and open faced sprite! I had such a great time painting him!

Here's what Donna his owner/best friend says about him!

He’s named Beegee because he is the spitting image of Barry Gibb. He is a playful and snuggly guy and his goals in life are to acquire more human friends and dog treats. If he could work a phone he’d be on Instagram and TikTok with thousands of followers!

8x8 acrylic on wood

spoken for!

August 4, Dog #26 is Jaco the Poodle!

 At the moment, we are at Camp Mishawaka in Grand Rapids, where we've been coming for a month for the past three summers, and we run with the poodles here! Marley is a 5 or 6 year old white poodle, and Rummy is a youngster, black and white, and Pompom loves to play "Race Race Chew on my Face" with her!

THIS lovely brown poodle is Jaco, who is with Mary, who says:

These puppers are Jaco(brown poodle) and Sophie (Brittany Spaniel) She is in charge and always has been but Jaco is trying playfully to chip away at the hierarchy.  Sophie is 5 years old and belongs to my neighbor and Jaco has been with us for a year now~

You'll have to see the photo after the painting!

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

 

August 3, Dog #25 is BEN!

As in BIG BEN! And very Zen Ben, and such a joy to paint!

And he has a pretty amazing story, as told by Ann~

Zen Ben

Retrieve A Golden of the Midwest coordinates very complicated rescue missions to get dogs out of China, into U.S. foster homes and then, onto their forever homes. We signed up to foster a dog named Ben, who was in an over crowded shelter in Shanga, China. A shelter run by Buddhist Monks. Ben had been there since he was nine months old, and like the thousands of other animals in shelters, had little hope for a family to call his own. Surprisingly, Ben arrived to our home completely unscathed by his days long journey in a crate (traveling with tens of other dogs in crates) via shuttles, planes, cars and vans. When he finally did arrive, this foster dog Ben had nothing but wags and hugs and smiles for us. We fell in love instantly with this big, handsome, wildly affectionate boy and within hours we knew that Ben was home. Much like the Buddhist Monks that protected him, he is a quiet, calm and loving friend to all. 

20x10 acrylic on canvas

spoken for!

August 2, Dog # 24 is Mr STUBBINS!!!

 This is our delightful friends' rescue, and he's a sweet little guy! And here's what Zan says about him!

Our little Chihuahua-Yorkie, Mr. Stubbins, aka McStubbins, Stubbs, StubHub, came to us as a rescue from TX. He finds nothing more exciting than seeing us pick up his leash so he can go investigate the neighborhood and bark at any passerby. When he's not sniffing or barking, he can be found enjoying a sunbeam.

8x10 acrylic on wood

spoken for!

August 1, Dog #23 is MULLIGAN!!!!

 Oh my lord!  Yes, can you tell this is another of the dogs that I just had to paint?  I mean, seriously, look at those ears, those eyes, that knowing little smile... I LOOOOOVE it!!!

And here's what Erin says of this unique creature~

The Italian greyhound, Mulligan, is our high class man, hence the judgement in his expression. If he was human he would be riding a moped through Naples collecting the women with his charm. He is an old man now and wears a diaper but still charms with the best of them.

12x6 acrylic on wood

$250

click here to purchase!