Inkspots

It's been a while...

2009-05-20T23:06:00.008-04:00

'Stretch' 24"x12"

But not because I haven't been working. The past 3 months were spent painting art for the 2 specialty dog shows I planned for this year. Preparation included making the artworks, preparing prints, framing prints, and doing the trophy framing for the Australian Shepherd national specialty. Also had new paintings and prints for the Shetland Sheepdog National Specialty. I was in Perry Georgia for the Shelties first, where I met old acquaintances and new ones, all with a common interest in this pretty and versatile breed.

'Little Tri Girl' 6"x8"'Blue & Black' 11"x14"

My dog Encore went into the ring as did a number of his close relations, and as always it was a spectacle of great animals. Then I had a week to burn before heading for St. Louis area to do the Aussie Nationals. I spent that week at Meramec State Park in Missouri where I camped with my Sheltie and a friend's nice young Aussie in my little travel trailer. The plan was to set up camp in this park and to work on a couple of paintings I wanted to complete for marine art exhibitions which had entry deadlines during my trip.

Great plan except that it rained Every.Single.Day. All.Day. while I was at Meramec. So I was finally painting inside my small trailer with 2 bored young dogs. Not the ideal situation. But what can you do, right? I had no way to know it would be that unpleasant and I did not really want to drive all the way home before then heading west to St. Louis, so there I stayed. I never did make deadline for the juries of those shows but have a couple of paintings almost finished which will go to galleries instead. I did do this little goose while holed up.'White Goose' 5"x7"
When the day came to move camp on up the road at Purina Farms for the Aussie Nationals it was sunny and nice (of course). Well, the best way to fold up my little hybrid trailer is in dry weather at least. I packed up and moved on Sunday and waited until they were able to allow the RV's to get their spots.
'Deep Snow' 8"x10"
The following day I set up a somewhat abbreviated booth space under the main show tent and gave Blossom, my friend's Aussie girl, a bath in prep for her show debut on Tuesday.
Also started the process of pulling out the framed prints that were prepared for the trophies and judges' gifts during the show.

Blossom's debut in the ring was not an auspicious one though she did fail to trip me in the ring. Her second time in the ring on Thursday we were much better as a team though no ribbons resulted. But she is simply very green and needs to learn, well, stuff. And she will, back home with her owner.
The sculpture of the Aussie that we have had up for raffle in benefit of the Australian Shepherd Foundation was on display all week and final raffle ticket sales topped $9000 for the Foundation. I was honored to be the one to draw the winning ticket at the Thursday night banquet and, as very interesting luck would have it, the winning ticket was held by the niece of Nadine Grady, a board member who had the assignment to judge Best of Breed the next day! Nadine's niece said a few words about her aunt Nadine's influence upon her and her fun dog show field trips with her when a child, and then announced she was giving the sculpture to Nadine.

It was all very fitting, and I shipped the piece to Nadine this week. The art auction at the banquet was also quite successful and the original painting used as the official artwork for the specialty fetched a nice price at auction. (I always donate the art for this).

'Spring' (9"x12") 2009 Aussie Nationals logo image

After 3 weeks I was quite happy to return home and I packed up the art booth that Thursday (the day before actual end of show) as the forecast was rain for Friday. Sure enough Friday started with heavy thounderstorms (Tornado Alley duirng Tornado Season, in a trailer!) and they continued, and continued, aand continued some more. I finally ended up folding up my trailer wet as I'd have had to wait til noon or later for rain to end. The storms caused hours of delays in judging Best of Breed (a few hundred entries plus junior showmanship that day) and I was on the way home before judging was partway through. But I was ready to go and mission , for me at least, had been accomplished with the wrap up of the year-long sculpture fundraiser plus the delivery of all the trophy prints.

I will plan to attend Poodle Nationals next year after having had to sit them out for thew past several (since they are now in April in conflict with shelties an Aussies). Unfortunate bad luck on the timing; these are the only dog shows I even do (as an artist) as a matter of fact. But time to give Aussies a break (though I will continue the logo art) and Shelties will be in Tucson next year. All at the same time as Poodles, and I want to get back to my big canine topiary show again, I really enjoy it and I adore the breed.
"Not Sleeping' 10"x15 "scratchboard for Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau WI.

And new Aussie art

2009-02-16T21:25:00.002-05:00

'Bringing Them In" Oil on Canvas 16x20

I started this painting a while ago but had to set it aside until I was able to resolve a problem with it. These sheep were seen at Dicky Renn's farm a couple of years back.

A New Egret

2009-02-16T16:10:00.001-05:00

Because there are many thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of egrets in the world and I have only painted a small fraction of them, I add another, chipping away at the list.

More new dog art

2009-02-11T14:24:00.005-05:00

Still working on new images for shows I plan or hope to do this year.

Berner pups ('Sisters', 10x8)

Sittin' Pretty (Bernese Mountain Dog) 10x8
Perfect Angel (Berner Puppy) 8x10

In Triplicate (Berner Trio) 10x20

Also a Heron painting for the The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport
Evening Wade oil 10x10

New Work for the New Year

2009-01-26T19:55:00.003-05:00

Its been a few weeks since I last posted but I have been working!

In Her Element (Bernese Mountain Dog) 11x14
Oil on linen
This is one of Pete Zaluzec's dogs Midge.

Black n' Blue (Sheltie Puppies) 9x12
Oil on linen

Tess 8"x6" oil on panel

Happy New Year and also stuff about my friend Lyn

2009-01-03T14:45:00.003-05:00

Well, 2009 is now underway. Had a nice but busy season with 8 at my dinner table on Christmas and a few dozen friends in for my annual New Year's Day brunch. Now I have de-Christmas'd the house and will get back to painting, something to which I am looking forward!
I somehow failed to ever mention the Lyn St. Clair project on this blog and so I will now rectify this oversight. I have developed a web log for an on-line gallery of available artworks by some of the best artists there are, in assistance of our friend Lyn St. Clair as she faces some big medical bills. Please go here to get the details and of course to see the artwork being offered. Each artist participating has a link to their web sites and their email addresses included in the post about their work, and many of these artists have other work they would fit into the project if asked. Hope you check it out and please also spread the word by sending the link to the artistsforlyn blog to other friends. And additional note: The Lyn-blog will be updtaed as additional artists come on board so please check back regularly; in fact there is a mechanism for signing onto these blogs to be automatically notified when a change is made on a blog and you can take advantage of this. It is explained at the site.
In other news, nothing really; plans for the new year include more Shetland sheepdog subjects for the dog show I will attend and show in Georgia in April, perhaps some new Aussie art, and in the immediate future some Bernese Mountain dog subjects! I want to perhaps go to that breed's National specialty show in Wisconsin next year and so I will start preparing by doing some paintings this month and going to the local specialty in February. This is not a certainty yet so I won't post it on my calendar.
Of course the vast majority of my paintings are not dog subjects and I will continue to bring new work to McBride Gallery, Troika Gallery, and the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport .
Speaking of McBride Gallery, my solo show there last month went very well and the remaining the work has stayed at the gallery as the winter gallery show hangs; much of the show was posted on this blog over the past several months; if you are curious about the availability of any specific paintings please contact me.
Once again Happy New Year, hope everyone has a healthy and prosperous 2009~!

Another Bunny

2008-12-19T19:41:00.002-05:00

Cottontail (8x6)
Had one more painting to post; might not get much more done before Christmas, a couple of commissions beckon.

More smalls

2008-12-01T12:39:00.002-05:00

These are 8x6 paintings prepared for Troika and McBride galleries for the Christmas season. McBride in Annapolis is holding their Midnight Madness hours this Thursday and Thursday the 11th. Most importantly my solo show will continue to hang at the gallery until late December. The opening reception a couple of Sundays ago was well attended and a wonderful opportunity for me to meet collectors who'd acquired my work from the gallery over the years.
Troika Gallery will have its holiday hours and showings as well, and some of these small pieces are destined for their walls.

More new small pieces

2008-12-01T12:32:00.001-05:00

These four pieces are little commissions, all 5x7 or smaller.

Found my Marbles

2008-11-23T21:59:00.002-05:00

I started painting these marbles that belonged to my father about 2 months ago, one little painting at a time. I found I really loved the refraction of light through the glass, the highlights and distortions. I had in mind a set of 9 little paintings that would be mounted together in a frame but at this time they remain individual, sitting on a table at McBride Gallery to pour over during my show. Might still mount them sort of like they are shown here, but maybe not. Right now they are fun to rearrange on the board. They can go as a set or individually, only 4x4 inches each. You can click on the image to enlarge it to see the individual paintings.

McBride Gallery Solo Exhibition

2008-11-23T21:25:00.005-05:00

7 Jewels (18x24)

Symbol (10x8)

Cottontail (8x10)

Marsh Grass and Yellowlegs (15x30)

My solo gallery show at McBride Gallery opened this weekend and I met a number of collectors who'd acquired work of mine over the years through the gallery; that was a pleasure, as was sharing the space with Sandy Scott and her world-class sculpture. I delivered a vanload of works last Tuesday and then returned to Annapolis for the evening reception that opened the show. Back to Annapolis today for the daytime reception (the traditional show opening time for the gallery). Had some good traffic through the gallery and got to catch up a bit with Sandy Scott and her assistant Trish. Also got to see some friends who've come to my various events over the years.
The show will hang through most of December, including Midnight Madness I & II - December 4 & 11, 2008 (extended shop hours throughout Annapolis).
Here are a few more images from the show.

Some little ones

2008-10-30T00:14:00.003-04:00

Snow Bear (7x5)

Dutch Bunny (5x7)

Egret (8x10)

A few new scratchboards

2008-10-29T23:36:00.005-04:00

I find myself doing fewer scratchboards every year. These will be at the gallery show for which I am preparing, at McBride Gallery in Annapolis, in late November.
Contemplation (Colobus Monkey) 25x11

Ruffed Lemurs (16x19)

Ghost Bird (11x23)

Watchful (25x11)

A couple of Wisconsin friends' dogs

2008-10-08T17:28:00.003-04:00

Just informal portraits I've wanted to do for a while.

Ravyn, an Irish Terrier

Brad, a German Shepherd Dog who works for a living as a guide dog.

Some New stuff

2008-09-24T11:09:00.002-04:00

A variety of things from the studio in the past month or so...

Asparagus (10x8)

Markers and Trophy Plate (4x6)
Audition (24x30)

Some more new work

2008-09-24T10:18:00.003-04:00

I wish I were as disciplined as my friend TM (you know who you are) and could photograph a painting in stages but frankly, not sure I can teach much with that since I tend to flounder a bit before a painting finds itself. Except the really good ones, then they just paint themselves and I cannot say how I arrived there. Oh well. Here are some new ones. Been in an egret mode. (Imagine that).Summer Green(24x30)Watching Ripples (6x8)
Scattering Crows (24x36)

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

2008-09-08T13:23:00.002-04:00

Well, after a few weeks' correspondence and email conversation with my brilliant webmistress Winklebee, I have a completely redesigned website! It looks beautiful and is far more functional than before, as I did not do enough to update the previous incarnation to reflect the evolution of my work and business (such as the increase in dog art, ad work and photography). We are still tinkering with some details but most links are now active. I hope I do a better job now keeping this redesigned site relevant and current.

Judy, and Judy

2008-09-03T13:01:00.005-04:00

2 Views of one of the greats of the breed

Australian Shepherd Bayshore's Russian Roulette

A few new paintings...

2008-09-01T17:20:00.007-04:00

Including some still lifes (lives?). I have been wanting to paint from 'life' for a while and took this opportunity to try my hand.

Terry's Pears 12x24

Raku Pot and Silver Ribbon 11x14

Golden Evening (24x20)

Published! (And published, too)

2008-07-23T14:05:00.004-04:00

Well, today I received my copy of the book Humans, Nature, and Birds ; Science Art from Cave Walls to Computer Screens by Darryl Wheye and Donald Kennedy, and I must say I am quite humbled by my inclusion in this publication, which explores the use of art in depicting our relationship with birds over the ages. There are 60+ artworks described and shown in this book and I am in august company with works included by the likes of Carel Brest van Kempen, Robert Bateman, Tony Angell, Lars Jonsson, Chris Bacon, and Ray Ching, to name a few.
The artwork the authors have included is 'Picnic', an oil painting of mine from 1997 (omg!) that was included in that year's Birds in Art exhibition and which belongs to a friend and collector from way back. They write a narrative of the subject and the significance of the behavior shown (ravens with a bit of trash) and then follow it with a lovely evaluation of the painting itself. Very gratifying indeed.

A few weeks ago I was graced with my copy of The Australian Shepherd Annual 2007 which included a feature article on my artwork, The Artist's Eye. Last year the editor had contacted me and asked if they could feature me, and asked me to write something and send artwork so they could do this about me. Well I wrote and I wrote and I wrote, and figured they would sort it all out, edit what they wanted to include, and that was that. I really did sort of forget about it until the book arrived and I saw they'd used the entire document and included all the artworks I'd sent (not all dog art either). Anyway it is a really nice thing to be featured in this book and I intend to add the article to this site as soon as I get clearance from the editors. (Yes, I did write it but it is their publication so permission needs to be granted, I think, to scan the pages and post them). Incidentally the entire book is interesting as the annuals always are and so it is a worthy addition to any dog person's library, I feel.

A few more new little pieces

2008-07-20T20:46:00.004-04:00

Late Day (6x6)

Tall Grass (5x7)

Highland Cow (5x7)

Spring Light (6x8)

Artists' Open House

2008-07-12T16:42:00.003-04:00

Well, Terry Miller, Karryl, and I had our Artists' Open House today at my home and have had a nice day visiting some our faithful collectors and meeting some new people as well. We converted my house to a full service gallery space with sculpture, paintings and drawings filling the house's 3 main rooms. This is the first time we've done this event in the summer (usually done in December) and we will be discussing what time of year we want to do this in the future. We are open to suggestions from our collectors of course!

Here are some of the newer works I have hanging.

Time to post some new artwork

2008-06-17T16:40:00.005-04:00

Yes, I am still making art. It has been a busy couple of months so I have been remiss in posting work. Here are a few paintings. Several will be available at the Artists' Open House of July 12 in Eldersburg, showing the new works of Terry Miller, Karryl, and me. Contact any of us for directions, hope you can come!

I spend a fair amount of time on the roads of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Last Light (6x6) oil

The marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge are of endless interest to me.
Marsh Afternoon (6x6 oil)

The marshes of Blackwater also provide countless good painting subjects in the form of birds.
Gliding (12x24 Oil)

She is a lovely girl I photographed last year and then did her portrait for the Sheltie National Specialty last month. Black Bi Sheltie (10x9) scratchboard (in print).

Changes in the household: More loss, and a gain as well.

2008-06-05T21:11:00.005-04:00

In the beginning of April I left home for 3 weeks to go to Colorado to attend 2 National Specialty dog shows: Sheltie Nationals and Australian Shepherd Nationals. It was a hectic few weeks leading up to my departure for a number of reasons.I was preparing for a show I'd not taken artwork to before (Shelties) and so I needed to prepare a lot of new artworks and prints of the artwork. I had the trophy art for the Aussie Nationals to frame and package. In addition I had a litter of puppies out of Ribbon which were growing by the day and turned 7 weeks the week I was leaving town. They needed their veterinary eye exams before heading out for their new wonderful homes and lives. It was a particularly busy week of calls for Poodle rescue, which I'd been doing for several years for Greenspring Poodle Club. I actually was handing off the rescue duty immediately prior to leaving town but of course got calls to place dogs just before I could hand off.
I was leaving on a Sunday and the plan was to go to Virginia on Saturday to drop off the remaining 2 Ribbon puppies with their co-breeder. As for the resident population I planned to board Flash (my adult male tri Aussie), to leave 13 year old Emma with 9 year old Ziggy my Standard Poodle in the care of neighbors and my sister, and to take Ribbon and Encore. with me on the trip. Encore was entered at the dog show and Ribbon was leaving her litter and is an easy travel mate and company for Encore.
Friday night was the normal routine at bedtime: everyone had a cookie at bedtime and Ziggy slept in the 'dog room' off the kitchen. All was normal and nothing out of the ordinary.

Except that when I got up Saturday morning and went to let everyone outside, I found Ziggy in his crate, dead. He always went in to eat his cookie there and then slept out on the floor or a dog bed. There had been no sign of any illness the evening before, he'd been his usual energetic self, normal appetite, etc. I think he'd been dead only a couple of hours before I found him.
After giving the dreadful news to my sister, who adored Ziggy, we took him to the vet to be left for a limited post-mortem exam (nothing found, incidentally) , and I then went on to VA as planned to deliver the puppies to their co-breeder and co-owner, and arranged for Emma to go stay with a friend for the month as she'd have been extremely lonely without a buddy in the house . (Flash is too much dog to leave in a dog-sitting arrangement with neighbors; where he boards he gets to run with girls and get some serious exercise).
I left for Colorado with Ribbon and a loaded van on Sunday (well, left with Ribbon and had to travel EAST for 2 hours to pick Encore up at a dog show in Southern Maryland, THEN start heading west. ). Not much time to process the loss of my dear sweet Ziggy and terrible for my sister, who was truly bereft over the loss. (A side note: I had originally planned to leave for Colorado about 3 days before I ultimately did but plans changed due to my host's schedule; I can't begin to express how fortunate that change was, as otherwise my sister would have been the one to find him that morning instead of me).Ziggy and Bobby a couple of years ago.
My 3 day drive gave me plenty of time to think about Ziggy, and Bobby, and the importance of my dogs in my life, but leaving home after his death was a bit surreal as well; I would not have had him along anyway, so I had a distressing sort of removal from the occurrence; I'd much have preferred to have been at home to experience his absence in the proper way, if that makes any sense. My departure so soon was also difficult for my sister, who had a very profound sense of loss. She'd been having him over to her house when she wasn't working and had really become his favorite person, and he, hers.
I talked to her at least daily the first week or so after his death, and after a couple of very sad weeks she decided she would like go ahead and get a dog. Up to now she had always planned to do this after retirement in a few years. But with her living so close it would be easy for me to help out by letting her dog out during the day. So I sent out some feelers to friends likely to come across possible candidates (young adult female something-mix, not too many issues for a novice dog owner) . In addition we made plans to go see Ziggy's breeders and talk about Ziggy when I returned home. Thy don't breed anymore, we just wanted to visit and tell them how much we'd loved him.
We walked out of that visit a couple of weeks later with my sister resolving that indeed it would need to be a Poodle for her, and we discussed a little about how we might find something suitable. Of course the paradox was, the day before Ziggy died was the day I mailed all the Poodle rescue paperwork to the club and had my name removed from the web site's rescue page. I would probably be filling out one of my own applications and mailing it to the new rescue chair.
A week or so after our visit to Ziggy's breeders my sister and a friend and I were watching TV at my house and I did a quick email check and decided to check the dedicated rescue email account I'd created, just to be sure I wasn't getting correspondence that needed to be forwarded. Well, a friend from the club had included me in a small group mailing telling of a 3 yo cream StdPoodle in her training class on the Eastern Shore, who needed to go to a new home. She reported the dog as basically perfectly trained, sweet, no apparent issues, needed placement because of a conflict with another dog in the house which had seniority over her. She been with owner SS for a year, having been adopted by her as a favor to an acquaintance who'd gotten displaced in Mississippi by Katrina. So Deja was the odd girl out in the household. SS is a kennel manager and a true Dog Person, working in agility and obedience with her terrier breed and also had Deja ring-ready for Rally, but she had decided the best thing for this dog would be a home of her own if something really good were around. She wanted the best for this dog and she wasn't in a hurry.

We were, however. I called the writer of the email immediately and got the contact info and some more details ; at 9am the following morning we were on the phone to the owner and by 9:30 were on the way to the Eastern Shore to the property where Deja lived .
Well, too late to make a long story short but Deja is here at my feet now (my sister's double shift day) and is beyond perfect if that is possible. Bright, good natured, sweet, friendly with everyone though very 'soft' in attitude, extremely well trained (unlike any of my dogs, come to think of it...!) and a pleasure to be with. We took her home that morning. And since then, every day my sister pinches herself over the good luck of having her come along and she is a perfect First Dog, if deceptive (since few are so good and none are unless trained well by a good trainer) . Anyway, that is the story of loss and gain in this little family. I include pictures of my dear sweet good boy Ziggy, who opened the way for Deja to become a member of this family. And then lovely lively Deja, who is turning my sister into a Dog Person. This is a good thing to be, of course!

Conference (oil, 30x30)

2008-05-16T23:13:00.002-04:00

This year's Birds in Art contribution from me. I completed this painting just prior to heading to Colorado last month, having come up with an approximate composition but lacking good Magpie reference. The generosity of a sculptor friend provided the reference I needed. Of course my trip resulted in hundreds of excellent photos of my own of Magpies in every conceivable position and light condition, well after I could have used it. I suppose a few more Magpie subjects will be painted (or sculpted?).