A cousin and her horse and a contest

This is one of my earlier paintings, it is my cousin and her miniature horse. What you can't see, and couldn't in the reference photo either, is that she is on her knees.

We went to a family reunion on her island. Her husband is a lobsterman in Maine, and his family owns a small island in Penobscot Bay. They have built a small house there where they spend their summers with the dogs and two miniature horses that have the run of the island.

The family reunion was a great time, everyone brought food and soda, and they supplied all the lobster you could eat. Transportation was by lobster boat and everyone had a wonderful time. The horses added an interesting note to the day. You had to carefully guard your food from them as they were happy to come and eat off your plate if they could get away with it. It was the hardest for the little kids, as they couldn't hold the food out of the way. But even they enjoyed the challenge and the adults were there to help make sure the little ones did have the opportunity to eat.

The painting brings back memories of a great day spent with family. My family is very large and fairly spread out, so it's rare that we have the opportunity to get together, and it's been years and years since everyone has been together. Even at this event, lots of folks were not able to make it.

Since we just had Thanksgiving, and thanksgiving is a time for family and friends, I thought it was a wonderful time to share this painting of a happy family memory.

Now for the contest part of the blog.

I am going to give away one of my paintings to someone who reads this blog. All you need to do is to sign up as a follower (current followers will also be included). I will put all of the names in a bowl, we will draw the name on New Years Day.

Also, I am going to start taking commissions for pet portraits in the spring, so if this is something you are interested, please be sure to let me know.

The King of Cats

When I mentioned the King of Cats, you probably thought of a lion or a tiger. Spooky, named because we adopted him in October and he is a Halloween cat, is the most regal cat in our household. He knows his place in the universe, and that is ruler of all that he can see. He shows it in his every move. This pose is typical...look at me, aren't I just the cat's meow?

When the sun shines on his coat, you can see the expresso coffee color that is the underside of his fur.

This is a large painting, 18"x24", practically life size. Spooky is a good sized cat, with very large claws. He really is the King of Cats!

On a side note, the window on this painting is really straight, blame me for doing a lousy job of cropping the photo.

A time for giving thanks

In the U.S., November is a time where we give thanks for our bounties, and so many of us have many. I am thankful that I have everything I need in life, even if I don't have everything I want. I am also thankful that I know the difference between the two.

Today's offering is a Thanksgiving still life which I must quickly point out is a study of a much better painting called "Copper Pitcher and Apples and Mums" by Jane Puerini. Hers is so much better, it glows with life. I have never seen the original, it was a Thanksgiving card sent by our insurance company and one of my favorites over the year. It was the first one I have ever been inspired to copy.

I really enjoyed working on this painting. It came together fairly quickly on an 8"x10" canvas board. Trying to capture the reflections was challenging as was getting a real copper color to come through. I don't often do studies, although they are a great way to learn. I hope, if Jane Puerini sees this, she won't be too insulted that I copied her work. And Jane, if you do drop by, rest assured on the back of the canvas you are credited and this work will never be for sale. I did it solely for me.

So fellow artists-how do you feel about others using your works to create studies? I'd really like to hear from you.

Jackie

It seems that painting animals is my forte. When I paint a dog or a cat, it comes out far better than if I paint a scene, a still life or people.

This dog is named Jackie. She belongs to a friend of mine and last April, she almost lost her. We were in Atlanta working an event, and poor Jackie was at home in Colorado and got deathly ill. Her poor owner, nearly 2000 miles away was beside herself with worry. Who wouldn't be? Fortunately, in the end Jackie got better. But this is the life of people with pets. They get sick. They can't tell us what's wrong and the worst of all, no matter how much we love them, we generally outlive them.

Jackie's mom was kind enough to let me download a photo of her, and this painting is the result. I hope she likes it. I think she should have it while Jackie is still alive, don't you?

Apple Annie's

I created this small (5"x7") painting to commemorate the last days of autumn. Last year a friend of mine and I spent hours looking for an apple orchard. The one we used go to for years had closed and we were determined to find one in that area.

The story is that we decided to one morning to go to the orchard in our old neighborhood, about 30 miles from where we now live. When we found the orchard closed, we thought we would go find some of our other favorite places in the area. Much to our dismay everyone of them were no longer in existance. We spent several hours driving around looking for various businesses and getting very discouraged. And to top it off - we didn't have our apples or our cider yet.

Thank goodness for cell phones. We were in the neighborhood of another friend, and I knew she had a local orchard that she went to. So a phone call to Lynn saved the day as she directed us to Apple Annie's in Brentwood, NH.

Apple Annie's has apples, pies, cider donuts and apple cider that hasn't been pasteurized taking all the good flavor out of it. You can pick your own, or buy them already picked. There are other baked goods, fresh vegetables in season, recipes and lots of other things to make it interesting. The friendly farm dog can be seen eating apples in the yard and the place is very photogenic. It's owned by a couple in their retirement and they are delightful. It's a little off the beaten path but well worth the trip.

Remember the old adage about an apple a day....enjoy!

Mindy an American Spitz

This is my father's dog. Although he says she is a pain in the butt, he would be lost without her. She keeps him moving with her frequent demands to be either let in or out.

Two weeks ago, he heard her barking and barking, but she wasn't coming to the door. Since this is not a particularly unusual behavior he didn't pay much attention. Finally at some point, it got closer to the door and became annoying, so he went out to speak to her. He found her with a bloody chin and totally unable to use one of her hind legs. It was dragging on the ground and she hadn't yet figured out how to manage with just three.

She spent the weekend at the vet. They ran lots of tests but didn't find anything dislocated or broken. She had no feeling at all in the leg or any muscle control. Ultimately they sent her home with antibiotics and steroids and a wait and see attitude.

When I last spoke to my father, he said he did see her attempting to use the leg here and there, which seems to indicate that she is getting muscle control back, and maybe some feeling. We have high hopes and still a lot of questions which will probably never be answered.

I painted this particular painting nearly three years ago as a gift for my stepmom when she was going through chemo. When I started painting again, she provided tons of encouragement and support. I miss her dearly.

Life is short, and the people and animals we love sometimes pass through much too quickly. Embrace life, embrace love and don't forget to show them all how much they mean to you. You never know when your last opportunity to do so will be.

Treasured Companions

Nearly all of us who have pets, adore our animals. For many of us, they are our family and often loved as much as our children, perhaps even more, as children grow up and become independent, but our pets truly need us, rely on us and give us unconditional love. Who doesn't want unconditional love?


Over the years, my husband and I have had to say goodbye to many companion animals, but we have been very fortunate not to have to say goodbye to two of them within the same year. That is not the case for my boss. Over the past several months he has lost both of his labs due to advanced age and illness. That fact that they were older dogs did not make the parting any easier. In some ways I think it makes it that much harder.


He keeps a photo of the two dogs on his desk which prompted me to think about creating a painting. So a few weeks ago, when he was out of the office, I 'borrowed' the photo, had it scanned and made a copy for myself and began the painting.


My thought is to give this to him for Christmas. I don't usually give him gifts, and this wouldn't start a trend. But he's a nice guy, and a fair boss. By fair, I don't mean as opposed to excellent or poor, but truly fair in his dealings with everyone. I think he would like this.


A gift like this is tricky. What if he doesn't think it looks like his dogs? Then we are both in an awkward position. Me for giving him something that he doesn't care for or perceives as a burden, and him for having to pretend to like it. Of course, he can just take it home and tell me he hung it in a place of honor and I"d never be the wiser. But it could be even more complicated than that. The year my mother died, my dad had a photo of her enlarged and framed and gave both my brother and me the photo for Christmas. I was unprepared, it knocked me for a loop, and if anything my poor father got a less than delighted and totally unexpected reaction.


I may not have thought this through. Or perhaps I am just over thinking it all together. What do you think?