Ann Ranlett's Blog - Animals, Art, Etc.

"Lawnmower Attachment #1" - New ACEO

2008-06-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a drawing I've wanted to do for a while. It's a close up of my horse's muzzle when she was eating. My horse is a 25 year-old palomino Quarter Horse, Bess (her registered name is Honey Moore Bess). I got the idea for this drawing a number of years ago at the local Draft Horse Classic. The art on the t-shirt that particular year was from a beautiful painting of a grazing draft horse by Adeline Halvorson. Her painting showed the horse's entire head, part of the neck and the lovely feathered front feet, but the part I loved best was the wrinkly muzzle. I tried to find the art on her Adeline's web site - that particular painting isn't there, but she has some other great equine art worth checking out.

The original mini drawing is now available on Etsy, click on Bess' wrinkly muzzle to find it.

To get the reference photo for this drawing, I put some hay out on the lawn and sat in front of Bess with my camera, happily snapping away while she happily munched away. Here's the original photo:

I decided to do a really close crop on the photo to create a somewhat abstract drawing that focused on the wrinkles of her muzzle. I cropped to ACEO size (2.5" x 3.5") and printed the color version and also a greyscale version (which helps me figure out the tones and contrast when I'm working in pencil). Then I transferred the image to my paper and started drawing. I didn't do a WIP (work in progress) of this one, but you can see my process for another pencil drawing in this video.

This drawing is "#1" because I'd like to do one or two more some day. I'll crop a bit differently and perhaps use color pencil for the next one.

Greyhound Puppies!!!

2008-06-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I had the joyful opportunity to visit a litter of 10-week old greyhound puppies. The local greyhound rescue facility (I've blogged about them before), Greyhound Friends for Life GFFL) had a "puppy open house" to show off these adorable little dogs. I was also fortunate enough to visit a litter of pups at GFFL in 2007. It's rare to see greyhound pups, so these were "can't miss" events as far as I was concerned! Of course I invited my dog-loving friend Sandy and we headed to GFFL for some puppy fun and photography. We took lots of photos and had a wonderful visit - I can't tell you how many times we said "cute" in the nearly two hours we spent there!

My first artistic endeavor as a result of that visit is this small drawing of "Paddy", which I'm donating to GFFL for the silent auction at their upcoming fundraiser "A Weekend of Grace & Joy", June 27 - 29.

Although the original is no longer available, I've made Paddy note cards - find them and other greyhound art merchandise in my Etsy shop. I'll donate a portion of the sale from these items to GFFL.

I scanned the drawing as I worked on it, so I was able to create a WIP (work in progress) video of it. It's posted on YouTube, click here to see it.

I suppose you'd like to see some photos from greyhound pup-a-palooza? No problem!

House Wren vs. Gopher Snake - Video

2008-06-14T15:01:00.001-07:00

A very cool nature moment that I have to share! Earlier this afternoon, John spotted a large gopher snake near the veggie garden and a very agitated house wren nearby. He came and got me and we stood there and watched as the wren flitted and fluttered and fussed around the snake. The snake didn't pay much attention and went about its business, slithering around. At some point the wren had had quite enough and started dive bombing the snake, actually making contact with the snake's head! I ran inside to get my little video camera. Of course by the time I got back, the excitement had ceased and the snake had moved a bit further away from the wren, but I hung around for a while hoping the encounter would happen again. Well, perseverance paid off - the snake moseyed a bit too close to the wren again and I was able to capture the action.

You can hear the agitated chattering of the wren in the video.

Last I checked, the snake was still cruising around the yard near the garden. A very handsome specimen, about 3 feet long and it looks as if it had shed recently - very shiny and fresh.

My Ostrich Egg Art Featured in a New Book

2008-06-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, Cheryl Hall contacted me to see if I'd be interested in letting her include my ostrich egg art in a book she was putting together. Of course I said yes. What's interesting is that Cheryl is in Australia - through the magic of the internet she found me and via e-mail I was able to get images of my art to her. Well, her book is now available . . . called A Showcase of Decorated Eggs, you can find it on-line at blurb.com.

Click on the image to see the book.
Click here for my page in the book (scroll down about 6 pages, my page is on the right - with a bobcat, giraffe & frog).

Oh, I suppose I should back-track a bit and explain. I've been drawing animals in pen & ink on ostrich eggs for many, many, many years. It all started when I began volunteering at the Sacramento Zoo. I started out as a keeper's aide, then became the volunteer volunteer coordinator and later a paid staffer as the volunteer and events coordinator. The zoo's administration staff had been presenting ostrich eggs to donors and as event prizes for some time before I started working there. I was happy to get involved and start doing some ostrich egg art. Even after I left that job, zoo staff has continued to commission eggs from me. At one point, I calculated I'd done at least 200 eggs! They commission at least 10 eggs each year. It's a fun thing to do and very unique.

This is one example, you can see more on this page of my web site. I rarely have any extra eggs available for sale, but this one is. It's in my Etsy shop, click here to find out more.

I buy drained, cleaned ostrich eggs and use a technical pen with India ink to draw critters on the egg. Usually, zoo staff tells me which animals to draw - it's often dependent on the event's fund raising goal. For example, the giraffe barn is old and really needs to be replaced, so the money raised from the recent golf tournament goes toward the wonderful new giraffe exhibit - I was asked to draw giraffes on those four eggs. The eggs were presented to the winners of the golf tourney.

If at all possible I use my own photos of the Zoo's animals for reference, but sometimes, I have to borrow a photo from the Zoo's photo collection. When I'm drawing the same critter on 4 eggs (which usually occurs twice a year) I'll print my reference photo, sized to fit the egg, and then trace over the photo onto tracing paper. I transfer the traced image to each egg, filling in some of the details with pencil. Then I do the ink work on each egg. If it's a single egg, I'll freehand the drawing onto the egg with pencil and then ink it.

Here's a set of 4 eggs:

. . . and if you're interested in an ostrich egg of your very own, of course I accept commissions!

Western Screech Owl ACEO

2008-06-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

This striking guy is Bob, a western screech owl. I met Bob at an open house back in January of 2007. He was rescued by California Foundation for Birds of Prey (CFBP).

This a small format graphite pencil drawing (ACEO - 2.5" x 3.5")
Click on Bob to see the eBay auction.

Find out more about Bob and a gorgeous golden eagle named Tesla in this post from Feb '07.

German Shepherd Portrait

2008-05-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

My latest portrait commission is Gaby, a lovely German Shepherd. This portrait is mixed media (India ink, watercolor & color pencil) on textured Claybord (now known as Aquabord). Claybord is a masonite board coated with an absorbent/scratchable surface, it has a rough texture that reacts similarly to watercolor paper. The advantage is that paint can be lifted off easily and thesurface can be scratched to add fur texture. Manufactured by Ampersand, it's a great surface for my mixed media portraits. I use it when my client wants a realistic color portrait - as opposed to a realistic grey toned portrait (which I would do in pencil on paper or ink on scratchboard). You can find Claybord/Aquabord at Blick Art Materials (type "aquabord" in the search box, note that it's "bord" not "board").

I scanned the portrait along the way to illustrate my progress.

Color reference photo of Gaby.

I've drawn in the darkest darks with India ink in a Rapidograph pen.

Here I've added watercolor to block in the basic colors.
Next, I scratched most of the portrait with a #16 X-acto knife. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a brain fade and forgot to scan it after that step! The portrait was much lighter at that point and the colors were better blended together than in the above image.

The last steps were to add watercolor over the scratched areas, and a bit of India ink in some of the darkest areas. Then I went over the top with color pencil to add the final details and blend some of the shades.

I also put together a video with a time-lapse of the portrait.

"HamLlama" Wacky ACEO Art

2008-05-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Every so often in the eBay art world, a "fad" takes hold. There are some subjects that always seem to be popular (cats for one) but these fads spike and then disappear for the most part. It's really obvious in the ACEO (small format, 3.5" x 2.5" art) realm - I think because generally these smaller gems are affordable. Although, when these fads hit hard, some of the ACEOs go for outrageous prices - something all ACEO artists dream about!

Since I've been selling ACEOs on eBay, I've seen a run on mermaid art, musk ox art and raven art. The mermaid fad is still going pretty strong. The musk ox fad happened when one particular buyer mentioned that he'd be interested in musk ox art - so of course, many of us jumped on that bandwagon and came up with musk ox art. This buyer snatched up most of what we created. Gotta jump on those sales opportunities when they present themselves!! The raven fad is still pretty steady too, but it really spiked when a couple of buyers got into bidding wars over raven ACEOs. When eBay artists see that kind of activity, they give everyone in their art groups a heads up and those of us who feel like participating feed the fire. I've done only one mermaid ACEO, because mermaids just aren't my thing, but I had to try one. It was goofy, a bit snarky and, no big surprise, it hasn't sold! When it comes to animals though, I'm pretty much game for anything. So I drew three musk oxen (2 sold to that one buyer, the other one, a scientific style illustration of a skull is in my Etsy shop), and 2 ravens (both sold) - you can search this blog for "raven" to see them.

Well, now, the "thing" seems to be hamsters. So here's my first hamster ACEO - "HamLlama":

Obviously, it's not all hamster, but it was fun to draw. I got the idea from one of the ACEO art group members - I had mentioned that I realized resistance was futile and it was time for me to jump on the hamster bandwagon. This artist had seen my "Llemon-Llime Llama" painting and suggested (partly in jest) a hamster llama combo. Well in my quirky little mind, that seemed like a really good idea and you see the result. I am pleased with it - it's silly and odd! I used Prismacolor color pencils in bright colors, including orange, canary yellow, neon green and neon red. Click on the HamLlama to see the eBay listing.

Are there more hamster ACEOs on the horizon for me? Perhaps, but they'll be a bit more realistic, I suspect.

A Chance for Bliss - Animal Sanctuary

2008-05-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

I spent a few wonderful (although hot) hours this afternoon at an open house for A Chance for Bliss, an animal sanctuary in Penryn, CA - not too far from my home. My buddy Sandy found out about the open house from a fellow volunteer at the Placer SPCA. So of course, when she forwarded the info to me, we decided we HAD to check it out! We're always up for some time spent petting critters and taking photos, even when it's 100 degrees in sunny California. Fortunately, the grounds of the sanctuary are very shady, providing a welcome respite from the blazing sun.

A Chance for Bliss, is a sanctuary for senior, special needs and otherwise "disposable" critters - mainly dogs & horses, but we met a donkey, a couple of pot-bellied pigs, a goat, and some other livestock during our visit. Run by David & Deanna Bartley and a caring group of volunteers, A Chance for Bliss, provides a forever home for animals that are pretty much unadoptable and have a high probability of being euthanized. The Bartleys and their crew provide comfort and care to these animals for the remainder of their lives - "a bit of heaven before they reach heaven" as David puts it.

Below are some photos I took of a few of the critters we met today (visit their web site to see photos of all the critters who live there and read their stories - links are on the left hand side of the page).

The horses were all wearing fly masks, so I don't have pix of them. We asked one of the volunteers to remove Spike's mask so we could get some photos of him.

"Happy Guy" Pit Bull Terrier Mini Drawing

2008-05-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

My first new ACEO for May, a happy, smilin' American Pit Bull Terrier. This pencil drawing is now available on eBay, click on the image to see the listing.

For reference, I used a wonderful photo provided by the director of Pit Prints Rescue. She e-mailed a bunch of great photos, so you'll be seeing more pittie art from me. I'm donating 15% of the final sale price of this piece to Pit Prints.

ACEO format: 2.5" x 3.5"
Graphite pencil

Chevy - Latest Portrait Commission

2008-05-09T15:18:00.001-07:00

I just delivered this portrait of Chevy the golden retriever yesterday. I did it in ink on scratchboard (Paris brand, white) and it's 8" x 10". I scanned it a few times during the process to try to show how I work on this type of portrait. There's a lot of detail on this portrait, unfortunately, it won't show all that well here, but I think you'll get the idea.

I took many, many photos of Chevy and then chose 4 or 5 of my favorites and e-mailed those to Chevy's owners. They chose their favorite photo from that set and I sized and cropped it as shown below. I also created a greyscale version for tonal reference.

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This image shows "phase one" or the inking phase. I've already transferred the image to the scratchboard (using transfer paper) - being careful to block in the pertinent details and tonal areas. I look for my darkest darks, mediums and lightest lights. I use a rapidograph pen with India ink to put in the areas that I want black - parts of the eyes, nose, & mouth. I'll also do some stippling (dot pattern in some of the really dark, but not solid black areas). Then, in a plastic palette, I mix 3 shades of India ink wash (India ink and water): dark, medium and light. I use a paintbrush to lay in those areas. This gives me a "road map" for the next stages of the drawing. I think of this process as refining and defining the road map as I go along.

The ink wash is pretty streaky, but that's ok, I'll soften all that up with the next step: scratching with an X-acto knife. The image below is a close up of the image above.

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Here I've gone over the whole portrait with a #16 X-acto knife. The #16 has a more angled tip than the standard #10 - less likely to gouge the surface. Hmmm, maybe it's a "less angled" tip, well, it's sharp but not quite as "pointy" as the #10 - that's what I'm getting at. I don't scratch in every single hair, but I do define the fur texture and direction at this stage. Scratching also softens the transitions between tones. The fur ends up a lot lighter and I think you can see how the effect is softer than the image above this one. Having darks or mediums "under" the lights is critical - that's how I define the layers and depth. There has to be a darker tone to scratch into in order to show a wisp of hair.

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Now I've gone back over the portrait and re-inked it, again using washes of India ink (dark, medium, light and very light). The cool thing is that now this new layer of ink fills in the scratches made previously and adds another layer of texture and tone.

It's still a bit streaky, but better blended than when I put that first layer of ink down on the unscratched surface. You can also see the detail starting to show up - especially in his ear and mouth.

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In the final stages, I scratch to soften the transitions and blend areas together and add ink where needed to pull the whole thing together. This also where I define those last little bits, like the extension of his eyelashes, whiskers/hairs around his mouth and tidy up the highlight in the eye. I'll also use a bit of graphite pencil to define the tips of the hairs and fill in small areas - just a line here and a line there. Here's a close up of the final portrait.

"Young Schutzhund" - German Shepherd (GSD) Puppy

2008-04-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

One last ACEO for April; this one of an adorable young German Shepherd (GSD - German Shepherd Dog) is titled "Young Schutzhund". "Schutzhund" (German for "protection dog") is a K9 sport created to train and evaluate dogs for their abilities in police work, tracking, search and rescue, agility, protection, etc. Schutzhund was created specifically to evaluate GSDs for their skills in these areas, although dogs of any breed can compete. Rottweiler, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervuren, Doberman Pinscher and Giant Schnauzer are some of the more common breeds you might see in a Schutzhund competition. I met this handsome guy at a Schutzhund event in Lincoln CA last year - the event was put on by the Placer County Schutzhund Club.

graphite pencil, 2.5" x 3.5" (standard ACEO format)
click on the little Schutzhund to see the auction listing

As an Art for Critters listing, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this drawing benefits Greyhound Friends for Life

This drawing serves double duty - to draw attention to both the Art for Critters and the Dog Art Show (aka K9Art) groups on eBay. I chose to draw this particular breed because it's one of the three breeds for the April Dog Art Show's "Best In Breed" competition. Each month, three dog breeds are chosen for group competition and members create their rendition of the breeds. Click here to see other art by members of this dog-loving group.

"Chicken in Charge" - Tootsie

2008-04-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

Tootsie, a brown leghorn hen, is one of the girls in a small flock of chickens that enjoy life in Stacey Lamothe's world. Stacey is a fellow member of the Auburn Old Town Gallery and she creates wonderful things out of metal. I have a couple pairs of her earrings and a custom bracelet. Click here to check out her work!

Click on Tootsie to see the eBay auction.

This mini drawing (ACEO format: 2.5" x 3.5") is in ink, watercolor and color pencil on cold-pressed (smooth) illustration board. I titled it "Chicken in Charge" because of the confident look on Tootsie's lovely avian face.

I made a short WIP (work in progress) video of this drawing. Click here to watch it.

"Alpaca Kiss" - Love & Fiber

2008-04-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

My latest ACEO features a tender moment between an alpaca mom & her baby. Alpaca fact: a baby alpaca is called a cria. Alpacas are native to South America and are closely related to llamas. Their fiber (hair/fleece) is used to create yarn which can be made into wonderfully soft scarves, hats, gloves, etc. Anything that can be made from wool yarn can be made from alpaca fiber.

Click on the alpacas to see the listing in my Etsy shop. I used watercolor for the underpainting and color pencil (Prismacolor) for the details on this miniature (2.5" x 3.5") painting.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will benefit Sarvey Wildlife Center.

My thanks to Granny Maple (the Alpaca Granny) of North Star Alpacas for providing the photo that I used for reference. Alpaca yarn and handmade items from Granny Maple are available in her Etsy shop.

This is the original photo.

I took the original photo, flipped the mother alpaca and moved her up to the top of her baby's head. I cropped and sized that to the standard ACEO size and then filled in the background with a photo of a field of yellow flowers, which I interpreted as dandelions. I also added a dandelion to the cria's mouth in the painting .

"Jolly Boy" - Standard Poodle - New ACEO

2008-04-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is "Flash", a handsome standard poodle and a very happy guy . . . which would by why I decided to title this drawing "Jolly Boy". I just love that big friendly grin and his shiny button eyes.

Click on Flash to see the eBay auction for this miniature pencil drawing.

I met Flash a few years ago when I was working on an activity book for the Roseville Dog Owners' Group (RDOG). We met at Flash's owner's house to discuss the book.

Click on the image to take a peek at the book, for which I did the illustrations.

Now Available - Square Magnets With My "Paintings With Petzazz"

2008-03-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to introduce square magnets featuring my watercolor "Paintings with Petzazz".

My art's been available on a variety of merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, rectangular magnets, etc.) at CafePress, but I hadn't yet found a source for square magnets - a format I wanted for my square paintings.

Visit my Zazzle Shop to see the new magnets.

For originals, fine art prints, earrings & note cards, visit my eBay Store or Etsy Shop

"Golden Ambassador" - New ACEO

2008-03-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

I've just listed this ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") drawing of Murphy, a handsome golden retriever who belongs to another Art for Critters (A4C) member, alabama_artist. My thanks to "a_a" for providing the reference photo that I used for this drawing.

click on Murphy to see the auction listing

A portion of the final sale price of this drawing will benefit Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue (AHRR).

Click here to see all the A4C eBay auctions that benefit AHRR.

I mirror-imaged, and slightly rotated the image before cropping it to get my reference photo:

Here Comes Peter Cottontail . . .

2008-03-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

. . . Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail.

I had a little wind-up Peter Cottontail when I was a kid - I think of it every time that song comes to mind. It was metal, shaped like Peter dressed in all his finery and it would play the "Peter Cottontail" music.

But I digress a bit. . .

I've just listed a new ACEO (2.5" x 3.5" format art) on eBay:

Click on the bunny to see the listing.

This is a color pencil drawing with a watercolor underpainting. I had a heck of a time getting the colors right on this image - I'm still not completely happy with it, but it's pretty close to the original. I always use my scanner to capture my art but this time it just wouldn't grab all the detail and subtle colors, so I had to resort to the camera.

The model is Snoopy, a friend's rabbit. This friend, Dianne Van de Carr, is a talented artist and animal lover. She works in fused glass - check out her website! Dianne has become a rabbit owner/rescuer by default - her first rabbit, Wasabi, was found in the street, missing most of his front feet. The damage had healed and no one knows what happened or why he was roaming the street. But he was a wonderful little guy who lived happily with Dianne and her family for many years. Now she has Snoopy, Chance & Ellie - all three are rescues. To find out more about one of Dianne's favorite rabbit rescues, visit F.U.R (Friends of Unwanted Rabbits).

The Art for Critters (A4C) group to which I belong came up with a promotion for March to benefit The Bunny Bunch (another rabbit rescue organization). A4C is encouraging folks to buy rabbit art, not rabbits during the Easter season. Buying a bunny for Easter is all too often an impulse purchase that results in far too many homeless bunnies! A4C artists are donating a portion from the sales of a variety of bunny art to help The Bunny Bunch's education and adoption efforts.

Click the image to see all the bunny-helping eBay auctions.

A Basket of Pepper

2008-03-06T16:58:00.000-08:00

And this is the last portrait of my latest three - just completed yesterday.
Pepper (a border collie/Aussie shepherd mix) is now a lovely grown lady, around 2 or 3 years old, I think. Her owner provided this screamingly adorable photo of puppy Pepper sitting in a woven basket.

I decided to use graphite pencil for this portrait, which measures 5" x 7"

and this is the reference photo, both in color and greyscale

Annie the Border Collie

2008-03-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

My next new portrait is of Annie, a playful border collie.
This portrait is watercolor on Yupo, 10" x 7"

Here's the reference photo I took:

Sadly, Annie is no longer with us - she was a sweet and beloved companion of "Aunt Cynthia" - proprietor of Aunt Cynthia's Bed & Biscuit Inn.

Here's the first portrait of Annie I did in 2004 (ink on scratchboard, 9" x 9")

A Bevy of Chihuahuas

2008-03-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

I have 3 recently completed pet portraits to share - I'll post them separately, starting with this one:

Niña, a long-haired chihuahua.
Ink on Scratchboard, 5" x 6"

This is the reference photo I took, first the color version and then the version I converted to greyscale to get a better idea of the tones for the drawing.

Niña is one of 6 chihuahuas belonging to the same family. In 2004, I created a portrait of their first 4 chihuahuas (all in one drawing). Now they've commissioned individual portraits of their 2 newest girls and new individual portraits of the 4 other girls. Here's the 2004 portrait of the 4 girls.

And a photo of all 6

"Blue Sky Eyes"

2008-02-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

I've just listed this ACEO to benefit Cast-A-Way Cats (CAWC).

20% of the final sale price will go to CAWC. This organization is, like many rescue groups, run on a shoestring and always struggling to place the pets in their care into forever homes. This all-volunteer group is in dire need of funds right now and with kitten season approaching, the need will be even greater.

Graphite pencil & Prismacolor pencil (eyes & background)
2.5" x 3.5"
Click on the cat to see the auction listing.

I used a reference photo provided by an Art for Critters member (golders) - it's her cat "Tootles". I was taken by the look on Tootles' face and by her lovely blue eyes.

Here's golders' original photo:

and my cropped and greyscale versions sized to ACEO format:

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use graphite pencil for the drawing and then tint the eyes when the graphite work was completed. At some point while I was working on it, I decided to add a hint of blue to the background as well. There is graphite under the blue of her eyes and the background. I sprayed the graphite with a workable fixative to keep that layer from smudging while overlaying the color pencil.

Million Dog Mosaic

2008-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

What if you take 1 million photos of dogs and mosaic them? You get an image of a dog, of course!

I recently found out about this project, sponsored by Pedigree (no, I'm not getting a kick-back for mentioning this). For every photo uploaded, $1 will benefit a shelter dog (up to $20,000). So far they have nearly 23,000 photos uploaded.

This little cutie is the mosaic image. All the images that dog lovers upload to the site will be composited to make up this one large image.

I've uploaded mine! I used this drawing I did of my 6-week old Magpie (she's now 6 years old).

Click on Magpie to find her image in the mosaic.

Once you're on that page, you can zoom out to see how all the photos make up the large image. And can add your own dog - go ahead, you know you want to!

And speaking of mosaics, I'm participating in a mosaic of equine paintings called the "Glory of Horses". It's very similar to the Million Dog Mosaic - but with a lot less pieces. The final mosaic will be 16 feet tall and 20 feet wide and will be made up of 240 individual 12 x 16 inch paintings, created by equine artists from around the world. I just received my panel today, I'll post more info and progress photos soon! To find out about this ambitious project, visit the Glory of Horses web site.

Contrasting Dogs

2008-02-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

Big Dog, Small Dog, Monochrome Dog, Colorful Dog. . .

Two new ACEOs now on eBay.
Click on the image to see the auction.

A big, hairy, jowly, slobbery Newfoundland, titled "Got Cookies?"

2.5" x 3.5", graphite pencil
This is Desmond, a sweet lug of a guy, who sadly, is no longer with us. I was thrilled to meet him a number of years ago when I was commissioned to create a portrait of him. I took lots of photos at that time and of course I saved them for future reference. Sure comes in handy when I'm looking for new ACEO subjects!

Here's Desmond's official portrait in ink on scratchboard:

And a stylish, colorful, sweet Australian Cattle Dog
I have a friend who calls them Australian "Comfort" Dogs! 'Cause although they do enjoy having a job - whether it's herding sheep or catching a ball - and they work hard, they love to kick back & relax in their off hours.
I created this mini painting in memory of Rocky who lived a wonderful, happy life with fellow A4C member hissnhowl. Rocky recently passed away and is dearly missed. What's A4C? It's Art for Critters - a group of animal loving artists who sell their work on eBay and donate a portion of the proceeds to select animal charities.

"Rock On"
2.5" x 3.5", watercolor & color pencil

I was moved to create this little painting in memory of Rocky when hissnhowl listed her own painting of him. Her painting reminded me of an image of my buddy Patch napping on the bed. So I snagged her photo of Rocky from the listing and used it for reference.

A portion of the proceeds from "Got Cookies?" and "Rock On" benefit animal charities. See the auction listings for details.

Valentine Art

2008-01-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

Thinking ahead to Valentine's Day, I've listed an assortment of LOVE-ly art in my eBay Store. Note cards, prints, magnets and of course a couple of ACEOs with a few different images.

This ACEO, "Puppy Love #4" is my latest. Click on the image to see all my "art with a heart" on eBay.

This one's watercolor & color pencil on paper, 2.5" x 3.5"

In case you're wondering, yes, I have created 4 "Puppy Love" ACEOs. #1 & #4 are on eBay, #2 sold a while back. #3 is going to the Auburn Old Town Gallery, a fantastic co-op gallery where I show my work. And I'm not only a member artist, I'm also the web master!

The Year of the Crow??

2008-01-01T14:19:00.001-08:00

There seems to be a crow/raven bandwagon rumbling through eBay right now. I was all too happy to hop on with these raven drawings. Both are ACEO format (3.5" x 2.5") on black scratchboard.

"Nevermore"

Click on the raven to see the listing.
Only one bid right now, auction ends Friday around noon.

"Poe"

Click on the raven to see the listing.
This one's just listed and will be available for 10 days unless someone buys it with the "Buy it Now" option.

A portion of the final sale price of each drawing benefits Sarvey Wildlife Center

Happy New Year - best wishes for a terrific and art-filled 2008!