Monday Moods!~

Okay, so here's another shot at Ireland.... can't really escape these I guess.  This one is somewhere around Connemara, and I'm entering it at the Bloomington Art Center along with another one I'll maybe post later this week-
I've also wanted to start a new month of daily paintings, so I am now announcing October is "Otters and Others" Month!  Wahoo!  I've been wanting to paint a series of Otters, I have a pile of frogs and toads I want to do, and there are still a lot of goats I haven't painted yet, as well as some bears, and the random Maxie....
SO if you have any photos of otters, I would LOVE to see them!  I'll just be painting these at 6x6 or 8x8 and I'll be posting them at my Daily Paint Works site as well,  because I want to get that bit more active again~

Yay~  another challenge.  Can't let myself sit still TOO long, ya know!

oh, and if you are INTERESTED in this one, it is 16x20 acrylic on canvas, $400 unframed

Sunday Sept 29, 2013

So, I went to a wake and memorial service last night for Tom Dale, "Tom the Tailor" as he was more widely known-  I am still somewhat in that shocked state, where I am trying to make myself understand that this is for real, I won't see him again, I won't have that bear hug again, or that face-splitting grin he gives you when you show up somewhere as if you were the exact person he was hoping to see...
Damn.
The one beautiful thing (actually, the MANY beautiful things...) was the huge amount of people I haven't see in way too long who fell right back into that sense of family I'd had when I had ridden motorcycle a lot more often with them.  And who were able to understand the giant ragged hole in my heart because it matched theirs~

I painted this toad last night after I got home-  Max had found it a couple weeks ago over at Linda and Joe's house and I have been wanting to paint a series of them-  I like it.

And this morning, Max said to me when he woke up, "I want to die when you die.  I want to be right next to you when you die."  I had told him all about Tom, and dying...

God I love my kid!

Saturday September 21, 2013

Okay, yes, I am fine- I had a fall last Friday (the 13th) down our wooden stairs at 11pm at night, requiring 6 stitches in my chin at the emergency room and a visit to the dentist last saturday morning to get two broken teeth checked out and capped.  The biggest problem has been my jaw, which I think bore the brunt of the fall and caused a bit of discomfort (and a funny lisp) for the beginning of this week...  along with the psychological discomfort of experiencing an accident, something that you can't control that disrupts your life.  Man.  That's the part that I think is the hardest to recover from...

At any rate, I've been fortunate to have people pestering me for their dogs, so here's a few I've managed to paint!
It does always make me feel better...

Saturday, Sept 7!

Wow, trying to figure out the on-line USPS shipping label thing, and not having a heckuva lot of luck...
and I have been painting too, and wrapping and packing dogs!
So here is one of the 20 Min/20 Buckers from Aug 24 of LOLA~

 And a commission from last year that got lost and then found!  It is hard to paint a commission until I get a photo...  so make sure you get me them!

I do like the whiskery bits...

Sunday eve~!

Whew!
i STILL have a ton of photos I want to paint from both Ireland AND England!  God help us all!  Here is a lovely urn from Ashford Castle in March, looking out over the plaza to the green islands in the lake...

This piece will be with me at the Riverview Cafe this coming weekend!  8x10, framed in a lovely gold frame, $160!
Wahoo!
Yes, do come to LOLA and see what I'm up to!  This Sat and Sun, Aug 24 and 25 from 10 to 5 each day~  more info HERE!  Including MAPS!!!!

Thursday! Aug 14-

Here's a building commission I'm working on-

and I'm still trying to figure out whether the "20 for 20" is worth it or not...  I love painting, I love getting paid for it, I love that people want my work!  I don't want to sell myself short...
still trying to figure this out-
And if you didn't catch what I was doing, up in Two Harbors last weekend, I would take photos of the dogs who came into my booth and offer to do a twenty minute "sketch" for $20-  many people took me up on this offer and I had a great time and came home with actual cash, rather than waiting for someone to contact me later about a commission...
BUT I wonder if this would prevent people from commissioning later... how can I know?  Hmmm~
And I won't do these just anywhere either...

ANYWAY~
Here are my classes' cupcakes from last night!  Pretty sweet, aye!  Hee!

August 13, tuesday!

wow~
bit late again!  SO this weekend mom and I were up in Two Harbors for a little art fair (sorry I didn't have a lot of info earlier!) and it was sweet to be there with them-  stayed at the Municipal Campground which had rather limited internet....  but great lake views!  Max loved being there with grampa and grama, and stayed up MUCH later than MY world would have allowed, in order to roast hotdogs and watch for meteors-  though Max called them "Meat-eaters" and wondered what they could possibly be doing falling through the sky...
These are all from my attempts at "20 Dollars for 20 MInutes" sketch/paintings-  seemed to work ok-  I may try it again at LOLA....

Thanks to Tracie Thompson for mentioning it to me!  She says she does it at the St Paul Art Crawl!  And you can go see some of Tracie's amazing work at Diamond's Coffee Shoppe right now!  Up through September!

MOnday!

WHERE is this SUMMER going?!?!  Holy moly!
Okay,  here's a commission I finished recently... trying to stay on top of stuff!

AND some of my amazing students' work from this session!    And some are still in progress~
YAY!

August 3, "The Lily-Apple Pig!"

So I spent the day biking over to Uptown (MAN are my legs outa shape!  And biking in traffic still terrifies me...) for the Kitchen Windows Culinary Arts Competition!  I was paired with Chef Dustin from the Lowry, and he did a great job of cooking pork~  we both had to include three ingredients, Peace Coffe (ground or bean), spices from somewhere else, and edible flowers!  Our mystery ingredient was the pineapple-  so I used the unground coffee as texture in the pig's ears and coffee beans for the tiny little eyes, the spices as texture in the background, and the edible lily in the pig's ear and snout, as well as apple rings for the nostrils!   Oh and I added another flower behind the pig's ear.  I think I should've used the yellow one...
 I also mixed tomato paste into white paint for the textured background and used the pineapple rind to add more texture there as well!  And then I had enough time to make a platter for Dustin to put the plate on!
And we WON!
Yay! So I don't know yet whether we are competing tomorrow or not...  if NOT, then I'll be at Wet Paint from noon to 3 for the Sketch-A-Thon for Paws on Grand!  Either way, both events are FUN!

August 1- Yup! Dogs!

Here's Nigel, who I painted last night at my Painting Class, because I just couldn't resist the challenge of a white dog, AND he shares an uncanny (hee!) resemblance to local roller-blading Santa, Erik Riese...

AND here are the dogs as I am prepping them for their big appearance!
Come on over to the Riverview Cafe Friday night!

6-8pm!   The wine bar will be open too!  Food and treats will be available!

"30 Dogs in 30 Days" Painting Video

July 31, the Guest Dog- Bandito!

Howdy~  here's another dog! Dang it is SO hard to decide!  I went with this because I haven't done many profiles!
No promises, but MAYBE I'll do another one tonight!  CRAZY AS I AM~...~
And below is what Bandito's owner has to add!

"He is an English shepherd who is just a little over a year old. He was born into a litter where he was the runt and wasnt expected to live because of how small he was at birth. His fighting spirit and the determination of his breeder got him though the rough patches and he turned into the biggest dog in the litter! I am so blessed to have him in my life. He pushes me everyday to find new and exciting things for us to do and experience. He deserves it and demands it!  That's my Bandito! We are a great team!"

July 30, Allie! the 30th DOG!

Though technically I think Allie is the 32nd or 33rd... and I will be doing another one tomorrow!  Thank you for your submissions!  I'll be going through and picking my favorite to paint!  Yay!  And I ain't telling you til TOMORROW!
Oh and I've made a video (finally!!!!) of me painting Allie here, which I will figure out how to post hopefully before the end of the day!

Here's what Lynda has to tell of Allie~  I love that these dogs are from so many different backgrounds!

"Allie will be 8 the end of December and is a retired show dog.  This picture was taken in a studio when I was having photos taken of her puppies.  She climbed into the chair I had been sitting in and the photographer snapped her picture.  She is quite photogenic and an all-around beautiful girl.  She shares my pillow at night and snores in my ear!  She is a real sweetheart and I am blessed to have her."

July 29, Louie!

And here is LOUIE!!!
I loved painting this sweet little guy!  I'll see if I can get a longer story...

Louie is our new family dog. He is a 9 month old Yorkie mix, about 6 pounds. 

We love your work!

July 28, Luna!

 "Luna is a 2 year old, 12 pound American Eskimo Dog who thinks she is either a human child or a cat or both. Her BFF is a 6 year old, 20 pound Maine Coon cat named Ziggy and they do everything together. Ziggy even bathes her and we say that's why she stays so white!  Many people think she is a white fox.   Luna is incredibly smart and extremely affectionate.  She lets out a soft cooing sound when she snuggles and has a large vocabulary.  We swear she knows what we are saying because she will respond appropriately with either a smile or will shake her head no.   I had another "Eskie" 30 years ago and felt I could never have a better dog.  So I waited 30 years for Luna and she is such an amazing friend....just like her predecessor.  I don't know why I waited so long.  My FB friends love seeing pictures of her.  You might say she has a FB following!"

Luna and Ziggy Spooning~

Darcy is a lucky owner to have such a joyous spirit around!

July 27, Lily!

Wow I think this is the latest I've posted yet!  It's been a busy day~  we had to go drop art off at the fair and then to a parade to collect candy for Max, and then have ribs and then all of us had to nap...  just one of those kind of days!

And here is Lily's story!  Always be careful about going to pet stores that have real puppies...!  Though I imagine there are a lot of kids who would prefer a puppy to a snail, given a choice...

When the boys were little we went off to Petco one day to get a snail for Jack's aquarium.  They were out of snails so we came home with a puppy instead.  Lily was truly Sam's dog and she saw him all the way through school, from kindergarten to 12th grade when we had to say goodbye to her.  This painting is for him so he'll always remember.

July 26, Boomer!

This is a great example of an Oldie but a Goodie...

And what Evan has to say~

Well...Boomer is on her last leg. Thirteen years old and still too loyal to let me shower alone. We got her soon after we were married and proved to be great training for having "real" kids. She is a great dog who let my kids ride her and pull her tail. When Emmett was too rough I would say, "Do what you got to do, Boom."  I trusted her...

July 25, K9! Happy Birthday Tom!

Ha!  A bit of a departure for me, painting a metal dog rather than a fluffy one, but darn this was fun!  I know, I know, I say that all the time.  I don't ALWAYS have fun.  Really.  Sometimes traffic gets me down, or those mosquitos at night, or the sun shines right in my eyes and I don't have a hat with me...
Anyway, this is a Birthday Present for my darling younger brother, who was the biggest Dr Who fan I ever knew~  we all loved Tom Baker, and my mom knit a scarf for my brother when he was in high school that was yards long.
So let's all say "AFFIRMATIVE" for Tom's birthday!

And I am including the original request for this painting, as I think it is quite amusing~

Hello Mrs Corrigan,

I would be interested in a commissioned painting of my dearly beloved companion.  I've abandoned versions of him at different points in the time-space continuum and I would like a picture to remember him by.  I would like the painting to be 3*pi x 3*pi inches (9.424777" x 9.424777").  Please don't paint him on Thursday.  I never could get the hand of Thursdays.

July 24, Moonie...

AND the story of MOONIE is below!
I still didn't get the part of how she got the name...

When our daughter Maura was in fourth grade, we learned a valuable lesson: Never let your child sleep over at a friend's house where there are newborn puppies!  We met 8-week-old Moonie and, after a family discussion, we took her home the next day! Moonie has been an important part of our family ever since. She's half Jack Russell and half Sheltie -- the vet told us the Sheltie part of her calms her down!  At 11 years old, she's gotten to be pretty calm, though we still see the puppy in her sometimes!

July 23, Burkley, or "Mr. Burkles"!

Burkely mysteriously appeared at a woman's home on the Mille Lacs Reservation one day and would not leave. Because he was a puppy and did not belong to any of the packs, the woman thought he was a spirit dog, sent down for a specific purpose. Turns out the purpose was to be my guide. He was a very unique dog in the fact that he was more human-like than dog - truly - ask anyone who knew him. And throughout his life many "spirit dog" things happened. Like - he healed a cracked tooth (the vet was astonished) and he survived getting hit by a car - cracked his skull but rebounded in 2 weeks! Sadly, though, he couldn't survive hemangiosarcoma (blood cancer) and had to be put down in Nov. His favorite things were our morning run on the Parkway and canoeing/camping in the BWCA.

Written by Melanie, who was the fortunate one who lived with Mr. Burkles...   It always pleases me how well dogs can be both elegant and goofy...

 I love when the eyes still speak through an image...

And I apologize for the not-the-best photo-  I'll take another later-  this was taken with Photo-Booth on my Mac because I forgot my camera!

And we are getting geared up for NEXT FRIDAY'S 30 Dogs Opening Party at the Riverview Cafe!  Yippee!
I am glazing and gluing and prepping the pups for their debut!  Be there!