Sunday August 26! LOLA!

Yes, you can come find me today between 10 and 5 at the Riverview Cafe on 38th Street and 42nd Ave!  LOLA is all day today too, and here is the dog I started yesterday,

 and the wonderful gaggle of bridesmaids with the BRIDE and her painting of her dog, LOLA at LOLA!  This was so much fun!  A friend of the bride contacted me to commission the painting and thought it would be fun to surprise the bride with the gift at my studio so we concocted this plan of having the painting of Lola at LOLA!  Yay!  She was VERY surprised!  She walked into my tent, looking at the paintings and said, "Wow!  That one looks just like Lola!"  Which was my cue to jump in and say, "Actually, that IS Lola!"
She looked flabbergasted for a minute, as I am a complete stranger and what the heck am I talking about, and it was just GREAT!!!!

Gosh I love good surprises!
Yay!

Wednesday, August 22~

JeIMiny!!!!!  Dadgum it I've been in a deluge under a rock with my head barely above water and it'll be a marathon run on one foot for the next two weeks so thanks for understanding the limited posts because my head is so crammed full of things I've forgotten to do I can't tell which side I got up on!

Here is a goat I painted last night that will be with me at LOLA at the Riverview Cafe this weekend! Come see it AND calm me DOWN!!!!!

Friday, August 17

So, sorry for the silence of over a week!  We were in Portland and Seattle and now we are back, and I didn't get the chance to do as much painting as I thought but I DID get this one done, of a poodle in front of my dear friend's restaurant after breakfast last Saturday morning~  WAY too much coffee there!
I do love the colors-  it is just great to be able to bring small tubes of paint and my stay-wet pallette along, though the paint does have to travel in the checked baggage as a liquid~

Sunday, August 5th

I am up, organizing paintings and making labels for another pile of dogs who will be hanging at the Sherburne County Government Center from tomorrow til Septmber 16, so if you are up in Elk River and happen to have business at the Government Center (spontaneous wedding, registering a new car, something happy I hope!)  take a look around because you will see my dogs and my mom, Rita Corrigan's pastel landscape paintings from her recent trip to Croatia with my sisters, Beaner and Belle.  Really, someone else in my family has to start a blog too so we can cross-reference one another...

Jamison

Starlee

And I spent today sketching MILLIONS (okay it only seemed that way!) of dogs over on Grand Ave for Paws on Grand and here are a few of the images I managed to complete-  Tracie Thompson was my partner sketcher, sitting next to me, and we realized we had been following each other's blogs!  She was incredibly kind as well as talented and let me share her watercolors and brushes which made my paintings go a bit quicker!  It was great!  She also owns her own HORSE which of course has left me in awe...

Moe, the Boss Cat at Cedar Pet Clinic

AND I had an absolute GAS at Cedar Pet Clinic yesterday-  the owners, Peg and Dr Bailie were incredibly hospitable, serving bundt cake (delicious!!!) and lemonade and greeting guests as they came in.  It was really very sweet and I felt like a star!  It was only when I looked up their write up for the event in their newsletter that I realized I had agreed to do a painting demo for them!  Darn it~  I do try to remember everything, and somedays there's just too much going on~  not that I would have had time for a demo anyway, with all the chatting I go to do!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Wow! Thank you everyone who made it to the show last night! Of COURSE I was too busy to take photos during the event, so here are some shots of the dogs on the walls for you~
Today we are off to Lake Elmo to the Cedar Pet Clinic where we are hanging a Kat's Cats show, with a reception from 2 to 4pm~  this is a different venue for me, and we'll see what happens!  So I've included a couple cats...  don't be startled after all the dogs!

Fattoush

The Queen Has Her Way

Gypsy View

Really, one of the most satisfying things is meeting the people who love these animals.  I greatly enjoy painting all creatures and pets, and when I get to meet the owners and talk about the life of this being, it all swings into connection and place.  And there's that intimate understanding as well of what it means to have lost one of those souls...  It never fails to amaze me how easy it is to feel tears in your eyes when speaking of some long lost friend to another human who understands...

30 dogs in 30 days

30 dogs in 30 days
Hmmm... not sure what this does-  I'm wanting to save this little post about my project- I apologize if this pops into your email!  I've not tried to do this "bookmark" option before....
Thanks!
Kat

Thursday August 2, 2012

I took yesterday as a day off, sorta, because I had to hang a show at the Egg and I (2828 Lyndale Ave, Mpls) which includes a number of new and smaller dogs as well as a bunch of dogs from my "AutobiDOGraphy" Series, of which I am attempting to include a link to HERE, though sometimes it doesn't seem to be functioning... I am still readjusting to a new website after MobileMe died, and I am having a hard time finding the perfect fit.   If any of you out there have found a great, easy, photo-friendly website, would you give me a shout?  I feel like I've lost my arm or something...

 These are a couple of lovely older dogs that I've been trying to get done while working on our incredible 30 Dogs in 30 Days Project, so they could be affectionately know at the 30-extras...

I DO hope to see you tomorrow at Diamond's!  I just hung that show last night with the help of my dear friend Kris (thank you Kris!) and I LOVE seeing those dogs all hung up together!  See you tomorrow from 6 to 8pm!  1618 Central Ave NE!
Here's a pic Kris took of me with the dogs on the green wall...

Tuesday, July 31 Pepper! The last dog!

Wow~  this is Pepper!  She jumped on the 30 Dogs Bandwagon just this Sunday at the Red Hot Art Festival!  I did have a couple other just for fun dogs I really want to paint, so you can stay tuned and see who else gets painted as part of my addiction to the brush....
And Pepper REALLY is a pepper-colored dog!  It was tricky trying to figure out how to get the actual color of her fur to show up...

I think it worked...
I am hanging a show tomorrow at the Egg and I on Lyndale and 28th in Uptown, and will be hanging all the dogs tomorrow night at Diamond's if you want a preview before Friday!  Yay!  DO come see us all at 1618 Central Ave NE Friday from 6 to 8pm!  I will have adult beverages and crackers, and Diamond's does great sandwiches and caffinated drinks!  Oh and I'll have hopefully a few cards of each of these new dogs too, for $4 each!
Yay!
It's been a GREAT July!  Thank you so much for following and supporting me!  You make it all so much easier!

And here is what Pepper just sent to me!
Hi Kat,

I asked Billee and Butch to write something

about me, but they are too busy and said "You do it."

I am very excited about having my picture painted.

B&B have painted pictures of their departed dogs on the

walls and I was thinking that it would be nice to

have one of me while I'm still around.  I came to them at

one and a half years old. I'm half Schnauzer and

half poodle, they call my breed a "Schnoodle".

Butch says it is just a fancy name to get more money.

He says when he was growing up, I would have been called

a "mutt".  I was very shy and quiet.

Never barked.  It didn't take me long to learn that

if I barked, I could be in charge.  So I bark a lot

these days.  I'm 12 years old (almost 13)  and

I don't run like I use to and my back is a little sore....

sort of like Butch's.  We're all getting old over

here at the MusicBarn.  I like to do Yoga with Billee in 

the mornings. But the only pose that I really know is "down dog".

My favorite activity is "BEING INCLUDED".

Thanks again for painting my picture.  The photo is a picture

taken awhile back when I was looking a lot younger, but

don't tell anybody.  It's my favorite picture.

Always howling,

Pepper

Monday July 30, Sam!

This is Sammy Louise~
Another noble, beautiful, fuzzy face....

Sammy Louise died at 14 years young.
Here is a bit of her story:
I had just finished a MS 150 mile bike ride.  It was raining, I was vulnerable and emotional driving home from Oklahoma with a girlfriend. It had been a year since I had had a dog because my mother told me that my last one was the reason I was not married.  Don't you just love mothers. So I gave it a year.  My girlfriend and I stopped by the SPCA on our way home as we did quite often just to give the dogs a little love.  She was standing by this cage and wouldn't move. I finally got there and gasped. It was like a spark between Sammy and me. I found out she was female and that was about it. Let her out of the cage, put her in my lap as she curled up legs spread (showing full trust) and I fell in love.
I knew I was too emotional to get her right then so I went home to rest my legs, and watched tv for a couple of hours. The only programs on tv, I swear, were dog related. So I gave up, drove back to the SPCA and rescued her. She had heart worms, weighed about twenty pounds, had a bullet in her head and was seriously a scared mess.
Long story short, my full bred Llewellyn Setter was one of the wildest, most independent, bull headed, sweetest, sofa loving, love bugs I have ever had. Serious hunter...she used to stalk doodle bugs when a puppy all the way to bringing me possums in my house. The greatest form of flattery for a bird dog is for them to lay their kill at your feet so proudly. Although Possums "play possum" then wake up in my house. So needless to say she was a trip to live with for four years. I have chased her all over Texas. ...Literally.
I wouldn't have traded one moment of life with her... however I don't see another Llewellyn in my future. One was enough. Rest in Peace Sammy and run free.

I will always love you~

Wow~  that's a story-  I do want to know more about the bullet in her head though....  Amelie?  Will you comment?

And one more dog TOMORROW!  Oh, and I need to repost a few that I've worked on...

The show is being hung Wed night and the Opening Party is this Friday at Diamond's, from 6 to 8!

Sunday July 29th, Hazel!

This is the biggest one yet, at 12x14!  Which seems HUGE after a bunch of 8x8, but not so big next to a 30x40...  but FUN!  And I will be continuing work on it tomorrow, as it was a challenge to get this far at the Red Hot Art Fest today!  Though very VERY fun! 
Hazel even came to visit and see the piece in progress, and she is a MUCH BIGGER dog than you'd expect as well!  A wonderful terrier mix, she looks a lot like what I think a Danish Griffin would look like....

stay tuned for the finished piece!

Saturday, July 28, 2012! Gus AND Cody! Happy Birthday GUS!

Whew!  A two-for-one!  On an extremely full weekend!  Am I insane? Of COURSE!  Crazy for the love of PAINTING!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUS!!!!!

I've been thinking about getting a photo of Gus here to you for months.  Then your 30 dogs in 30 days came up and Gus will be a perfect candidate.  He will be 10 yrs old on July 28th!    He is absolutely the kindest, sweetest dog in the world and is my pride an joy.  We've had him since he was a wee puppy and now he's our 70 lb sweetheart.

This is Gus' brother (not by blood-just love).

His name is Cody and is a Rat Terrier/Besenji mutt.  He's very naughty yet we love him anyway.  He is super athletic and loves to bark unlike a full Besenji.  

We adopted him several years ago and since then we've discovered he can eat anything (and will) with no negative effects.

He has the most expressive ears.  In this picture they are saying, "did someone say treat?"

Friday July 27th, Penger!

I once had the pleasure of dog-sitting Penger in Seattle for my cousin and her family while they were gone for MEA weekend and I had traveled to the east coast.  He was a magnificent goofball, silly and elegant, with a very large dog-door to the backyard.  We would walk around the Fauntleroy neighborhood, up and down the streets and alleys, looking out at the Space Needle across the sound.

What a good dog.

Penger was always included in the family photos-  this one was cropped from a shot with young Frank, sitting next to Penger in a little rocking chair.  Frank is now seventeen and as tall as three Pengers!

Thursday, July 26~ Tess the Dane

Tess has a very noble demeanor, and such elegant lines...

"That's the biggest dog I've ever seen!" "Do you have a saddle for
her?" "How much does she weigh?"
These are just a few of the comments we receive about Tess!
Tess is our three year old, Mantle (black) Great Dane.
Most days you'll find Tess sprawled out on our couch - yes, she takes
up the whole couch- or curled up in a little ball on her favorite
leather chair!  Tess comes from a long line of champion Danes and is
very regal in all ways and mannerisms. That's not to say she doesn't
have a "sassy" side when she wants our attention or reminds us when
it's time to eat!  At a svelte 115 lbs, Tess loves to run Agility
courses and enjoys play dates with her Dane cousins. For a young lady,
her ferocious bark is quite deceiving. She is truly a "gentle giant".
And yes, she does sleep in our king-sized bed with us!!

I LOVE big dogs!

Wednesday, July 25th,

Today's dog is Hannah, and when I first saw her photo I thought she was winking! 

I was completely charmed and wanted to include 

her even more when I heard her story~

Eight years ago today, I met my sister in Memphis, Tennessee, and she had Hannah
in the car with her. They had driven north from New Orleans, where my sister
was living and where Hannah had been rescued. I had visited my sister weeks
prior, in May, and accompanied her to the animal shelter down the street
where she volunteered. Hannah had been at the rescue only 2 weeks at that
time, and was recovering from an eye removal in addition to being treated
for heartworm. I wasn't ready for another dog (my lab was 5 years old at the
time) but I couldn't say no to that sweet one-eyed face!

And I also thought I'd include a commission I finished this morning too, just to show you

 I'm not slacking off....

Tuesday July 24, Jet!

THIS was a FUN dog to do!  My beloved Bingo is the black lab mix that taught me how to paint black dogs and DARN IT but they are so FUN!  Especially a shiny sleek son-of-a-gun like JET!

Here is what Tif has to say about Jet~
We rescued Jet in October, 2010 when he was about a year old. He has been a wonderful dog! He is a super shiny, fit, active dog, who is rather ball obsessed, and is very food motivated! He will do anything for a piece of kibble and his latest tricks involve jumping on top of his crate and then through a hula hoop! He is a big swimmer, too, and loves the monthly labrador pool party. My husband will tell everyone who meets Jet that he was the very best that Golden Gate Lab Rescue had to offer! We couldn't be happier with Jet!

Thanks so much for following!  This has been a GREAT month!

Monday, July 23, Snow Dog

I was just hanging the laundry out on the line, sweating deliriously while doing it, thinking about how dangerous it feels just to be OUT there....  this is the part of Minnesota I really REALLY don't like.  So today's dog is a larger, fluffier, hairy monster who is actually covered with little bits of snow in the photo but I am not sure how to include that in the piece and don't have enough time to address that issue at the moment... I'll have to do some practice later, when I have time... whenever that may be!

Sunday, July 22, TYLER FOOTE!

And here is Tyler, who has a wonderful terrier-tilt to his sweet head~ and tufty ears, and poofy eyebrows, and just the squidgiest face!

 Moira wrote a haiku for Tyler~

in the deepest wound

everything is black and white

my honky tonk dog

 

 

 

And you can read more about Tyler on Moira's incredible blog, Dog Art Today, in this chapter HERE  which explains how she adopted him and his incredible surgery and in earlier posts, you can read about how hard it is when a beloved companion has to go.

Thanks Moira!

Saturday July 21, Eli, Rock Star of

Eli just looks like such a sweet rascally scalawag, I couldn't resist painting him!  I mean, LOOK at that smile, and that great muppetty hair-do!  What is NOT to love!!!

"We are a canine rescue in Wilmington, NC, Sunburst Foundation of Wilmington, & we would love to submit our beautiful, funny Newfi/Chow mix, Eli, for your event.  He was a rescue from Pender Co AC in 2003, at age five, and he is now around fourteen years old.  Even though he is older and definitely slowing down now, he continues to bring a smile to everyone's face who meets him."

Thank you SO much for your continued support, comments, and advice!  This really is a community project~
I will have some of the dogs with me this weekend and next, at the Joan of Art Show today, and next weekend for Red Hot Art.  They mostly aren't for sale but you can certainly enjoy them!

Friday, July 20, NAUTUS!

OOOh I really had fun with this one!  Nautus is an Australian Cattle Dog, I believe, and it appears that his owner is a heckuva photographer because I looked through a number of beautiful photos before choosing this one to paint!  In the photo, he actually has a birthday hat on...

And here is his little story~
"I originally got Nautas as a companion for Jack, his older brother.  Jack was the dominate dog in the house - having already been with me for 2 years.  He taught Nautas many things and Nautas quickly learned his place in the pack.  Playing ball meant Nautas would do the work of fetching only to give the ball to Jack, who would then carry it the last 10' and drop it at my feet.  This was the pattern all of their lives until Jack passed away unexpectedly.  Nautas mourned the loss of his brother Jack alongside me, helping me through one of the most difficult times of my life.  Emerging from this darkness, Nautas has come into his own.  Absolutely neurotic when a ball is nearby, he can play for hours by himself.  On the bed, he pushes the ball in tiny increments with his nose and catches it just before it falls off the edge.  He'll use his nose to roll the ball back and forth on the carpet to anyone willing to play with him, and he has many takers because it's so fun to watch him do it!  Nautas is a phenomenal dog - incredibly smart, intuitive, loving, loyal and patient."

Wednesday July 18, Gopher!

Got up early to get this one done!  One of the issues that comes up for me with this project is the fact that my time is very limited and I really REALLY have to plan and keep to a schedule, and sometimes I am not completely happy with the painting and know I will be going back into it when time permits~  With Gopher here, I am not sure I am happy with his expression~  I'll have to see what happens, but I am out of time today already, can you believe it?  I won't be able to paint again til tomorrow morning.  This is why my social life is rather structured and I can't stay out late like I did in my days of hanging at the Turf Club til bar close....  but tonight is my parents' anniversary and I can't miss that, and we have to go to the zoo this morning, and then I have summer program!  Whew!  Life is BEAUTIFULLY FULL!