Dog Art Today

Free Shipping from Marjorie Weiss

2009-12-14T11:38:06-08:00

A Chestertown Moment

Dog Art Today favorite, Marjorie Weiss, is offering free shipping this season on all her prints, cards, and original paintings. Offer expires December 31, 2009. So visit her website and order today.

Read my review of Weiss's work here.

Grass Valley Charter School Dogs at Zazzle and The Flour Garden

2009-12-10T11:48:48-08:00

Grass Valley Charter School Dog Portraits at the Flour Garden Bakery

In October I featured a story about Katherine Schad and her one-woman initiative to turn every 1st and 2nd grader at Grass Valley Charter School into a dog artist. This month, with the help of teachers Audrey Hight, Lori Davis, and other GVCS parents, Kath completed her mission of producing 88 dog portraits. They also launched a website, set up a Zazzle store, and mounted a local exhibition of the works at the Brunswick Basin Flour Garden Bakery.

This weekend, I stopped by the bakery to view the dogs and the only way I can describe them is magical. I just couldn't take my eyes off of the spectacular wall collage of creativity, then I would lose myself in the originality of each dog. I truly think this is the kind of project that will stay with these children forever, giving them confidence in their own creativity and knowing that that confidence is the foundation on which anything is possible. Several Dog Art Today readers have commented that they would like to replicate this project at their childrens' schools. Kath has plans for creating a lesson plan on her website, but this effort has been a HUGE endeavor on her part, and any ideas or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to contact her here.

In the meantime, consider contributing to renovation of the new GVCS library by purchasing something from Zazzle. Order by December 15 to make sure you receive it by Christmas. Here is just a small sample of all the fun products:

Violet's Sweatshirt

Dexter's Tote

Zara's Tie

Makai's T-shirt

Arlo's Mug

The dog portraits will be on display at the Flour Garden Bakery until the end of December. In January, they will be on view at Summer Thyme's. A fundraiser with sales of the works is being planned for the spring. Take a moment to view all the dogs individually here and here and remind yourself that everyone is an artist...even you.

Art from Ashes Video and Reader Discount

2009-12-09T00:01:00-08:00

Art from Ashes is the only pet memorial company I have ever featured on Dog Art Today. View this video and you'll see why I think it is the best...

Art from Ashes has kindly offered a permanent 10% discount to all Dog Art Today readers. Simply use the code DOGART10 on the checkout page when you place your order.

See my other articles about Art from Ashes here.

Sterling Silver Dog Art Jewelry by Pen Andrishok

2009-12-08T11:55:17-08:00

Irish Setter in the Vines Pin

Pen Andrishok received her MFA from the University of Iowa and began her career creating conceptual art dealing with women and AIDS. Along the way, she began rescuing Golden Retrievers. Then, a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, a starving Goldie named Mardi found his way to a rescue organization and ultimately Andrishok's home and her devotion to rescue dogs grew more profound. Around the same time, Andrishok became interested in silversmithing and fell in love with it. This year, she decided to combine her two passions, rescuing dogs and silversmithing, and and her dog art jewelry line, 3 Dog Lookout, was born.

I don't feature a lot of dog art jewelry because I usually find it too cutesy for my taste. But Andrishok gives her pieces a sophistication and polish (in both senses of the word) that I adore. She also works to keep her prices for the pendants under $100, incredibly reasonable for custom hand sawn and soldered sterling silver jewelry (the cuffs and pins are more). And she sweetens the deal by donating 10% of sales to rescue dog organizations. Beautiful art for a worthy cause. Gorgeous!

Hammered Golden Retriever Pendant

Flying Golden Overlay Cuff

Other dog breed pendants

Pen Andrishok's inspiration: Mardi, Ruby, Cleo, and Sonny

Custom jewelry based on a photograph of your pup and gift certificates are available at Andrishok's website 3 Dog Lookout.

Biro Dog at The Golden Smith

2009-12-04T11:36:20-08:00

Holy moly, I was completely wiped out by a serious cold this week. I am just coming to the surface, so today's post will be brief, but it's the perfect opportunity to send you over to my new favorite blog, The Golden Smith. It's written by David Neale, a gold and silversmith in Melbourne, Australia. I just love the array of original images, and interestingly curated posts he shares. There are not a lot of dogs, but I found this one in a collection of Biro (ball point pen) sketches.

I also love his posts about spirals, Le Corbusier's contradiction between his architecture and his art, and an exquisite entry featuring elephants. Neale's own work is wonderful too. I am especially drawn to his rings. Enjoy!

I will be back next week with holiday gift ideas and discounts for Dog Art Today readers.

Pilgrim's Dogs

2009-11-24T09:52:13-08:00

I had no idea that two dogs, a Mastiff and an English Springer Spaniel, were aboard the Mayflower. They are mentioned in records of the settlement of Plymouth Colony written by Edward Winslow in 1622. They seemed to have belonged to John Goodman and probably had pet names, but none are given. Read about some of their adventures here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Prep with Jesse Freidin and Pancake

2009-11-23T10:26:31-08:00

Tiny Squash

(traveling doggie bowl from South Paw, Embarcadero)

{Another wonderful guest post from San Francisco fine art photographer Jesse Freidin.}

I'm allergic to standing in line, so I decided to take my better half (Pancake the Dog) with me as I browsed a few of my favorite local shops for Thanksgiving items. Pancake served as Quality Control when we got back to the studio, and says everything smells delicious. Guess we're ready to cook! -- Jesse Freidin.

Squeak

(turkey dog toy from Noe Valley Pet Co, Noe Valley)

So Many Chocolates

(seasonal chocolates from: Miette, Hayes Valley)

Sniff

(fresh organic wrapped salmon from Drewes Bros Meats, Noe Valley)

In The Pan

(organic produce from Golden Produce, Castro)

See more of Jesse Friedin's photography (and more of Pancake) here.

Tim Burton Opens at MOMA

2009-11-22T00:01:00-08:00

1997 Polaroid by Tim Burton

A retrospective of Tim Burton's work opens at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC today. The exhibition "considers Burton's career as a director, producer, writer, and concept artist for live-action and animated films, along with his work as a fiction writer, photographer and illustrator." It runs until April 26, 2010. Visit MOMA for more information.