New Acrylic Painting + Kitty update

I've been so busy outside I haven't done much painting lately, but last night I went into the studio and had a pretty productive couple hours. I've got a face painting gig on Saturday and they ask for a small donation for a silent auction and I've decided to donate this little guy. The art and craft show is to benefit a local no kill shelter in my county called Posey County Pound Puppies. So I thought a cute little dog would be perfect for the auction and I actually planned on painting this just for that purpose. I hope he gets a good home :) I think I'll name him "Can I go home with you?".  He's not quite finished, I need to add just a few little things. 


My poor kitty Glove is hanging in there. She started looking quite a bit better then all of a sudden I noticed she stopped drinking and eating again and I thought oh no, this is it. But Wednesday morning I got up and was petting her like normal and noticed this icky smell. I got to looking and she had an oozing wound on her little back end. I called the vet right away to get in because I knew in her current state she might not be able to heal very well. So I took her in and she had an abcess and they cleaned her up and clipped it away and discovered this giant hole! Turns out she had been bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider! I'll show you a picture at the bottom, so beware. Not a close up though.


We have Brown Recluse Spiders everywhere in my house, it's a constant threat for us. I worry about all the time. We have our home sprayed 4 times a year. God forbid my son get bit. But I never thought they would get through an animals fur, but then I remembered she has just had a lot of her fur clipped away due to all the matting. My poor baby! So it's been a couple days of anti-biotics, and I've been pampering her and feeding her with a spoon (she is so spoiled) and she is doing a lot better, Yay! She is eating, and wanting affection and I guess she has used up another one of her nine lives.


She also had some sort of colon clogging problem and the vet had to give her an enema. Ugh, I'm glad they did it and not me... lol. I left her there for an hour, so she wouldn't have a blow out in the cat carrier... haha  She's all unclogged now and he said it's soft food for her now for the rest of her life. No problemo, other than it stinks to high heaven, but she's worth it.


Here she is, hole and all the first day. It looks like it is healing pretty good now.

brown recluse spider bite at base of tail

IF you are a little morbid, like me and want to see a close go here.

ARtisan StARs

I have been working on a new project for Christmas. I have been asked (along with other artists) to create an ornament(s) to be sold for a club called Junior League, which raises money for different causes to help the community and of course I said yes ;) While this is partly charity, I will be compensated some what for each one.

After thinking about what I could create for a while, I came up with painting a wooden star I call ARtisan StARs. They are about 7 inches in diameter. I will create them as the orders come in. Right now, I've just provided two prototypes. Tonight was the reveal meeting, so I hope my ornaments were well received.

inked in the design before I picked up Asher from school

I got my husband into the act, he is cutting the stars out of wood with a scroll saw. I drew the pattern and he cut them out. He's pretty handy to have around, I guess I'll keep him.

sorry about the poor lighting, I was painting in the studio at night

another night time shot

These are fairly labor intensive but I enjoyed making these. I've got about two hours into each one not counting cutting out time. I didn't get a picture of the final product which just has a gold cord on it so it can hang from whatever. I will also have silver cord.

Each star is unique and I couldn't make two exactly alike if I tried. I've used my india ink and metallic paint technique. The designs are spontaneous. I love the way the flat black contrasts with the metallic sheen.

"Candy" - more traditional Christmas colors. Both sides look pretty close.

"Ribbon" - my kinda Christmas colors ;)

swirl side of "Ribbon"

Wish me luck!

Update about CMOE Dinosaur

I have an update about one of my pieces of art. Do you remember the dinosaur that I worked on for a while? It was for charity for the Children's Museum of Evansville. Well they had the Gala last Friday evening and they auctioned off the dinosaurs that had been done up by different artist, including moi. I was excited to learn that mine was the highest bid on dinosaur of the night and fetched over $300. I haven't been told an exact number yet, and it might not be appropriate to tell exactly how much, but I was so excited! I was told everyone loved my piece. It is going for a great project and I hope the new owner loves it.

Thanks for letting me toot my own horn a bit ;)

CMOE benefit project & PPF 29

I'm killing two birds with one stone here. It's Paint Party Friday and I want to tell you about a project I've got started. I've been asked to participate in a benefit for CMOE, a local children's museum. I am decorating a pre-made wooden "piggy bank" shaped like a dinosaur that you can insert a coin into its mouth and it swirls around and ends up in his belly. It will be auctioned off for their 5th Birthday Gala. I am honored to be asked to help and hope that my dinosaur will fetch a good price to help out the museum. I'm not going for a childlike theme, more of a serious piece with attitude... haha at least in my head!

It stands a couple feet high but as I paint on it, I've discovered there really isn't much surface area. So far, I've gesso'd it and ink'd it with india ink in my random pattern technique and now I've just started to add paint... metallic of course. I have more plans for this other than just painting but you'll have to tune in later to see what I've got up my sleeve ;)

gesso'd

 

ink'd

ink'd other side

adding the metallic paint

I've missed like 3 Paint Party Friday's and I'm just barely squeaking in for this one tonight! This week I've brought all my plants back into my greenhouse cause it's going to get pretty chilly tonight and it's time. Bringing all my plants in has turned out to be a big project (just like every year, how quick I forget!). I was hoping to be further along with my dinosaur by now, especially since the gala is this month... yikes! I'll make it, no worries.

Try to visit all the talent that is PPF! Til next time ;)