For the love of Duke

The past 3 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me.  Our dog, Duke has been sick and loosing weight.  We took him to the vet on July 9 and he was diagnosed with a bacteria infection and put on antibiotics, no improvement.  Back to the vet on July 18, more antibiotics, still no improvement.  Third visit to a different vet, who took an xray, found a mass pushing against his stomach, MRI revealed that his intestine was collapsing into the colon.  He is only 9 months old and tough as nails, we couldn't give up on him, so he had surgery yesterday and we are hoping for the best.

Lots of prayers were offered and I believe that is the only thing that kept him alive.  The vet couldn't believe he had survived 3 weeks in his condition. 

I am thankful for the advancement in veterinary medicine, for God's blessings, and that Duke has a chance.

Today I spent sometime in the studio, I had a art journal page that I had some background colors on that I really liked and had been saving (for who knows what), so I just started putting down some paint, then drawing in a figure and this praying girl showed up.  God is good.

I was also inspired by a print I purchased from Juliette Crane etsy shop  http://www.etsy.com/shop/juliettecrane.

Pets offer unconditional love and companionship, I cannot wait to get Duke home and watch him return to his old self.

Thanks for reading!

Whimsical face drawing w Jane Davenport

I bought the DVD by Jane Davenport available through Cloth Paper Scissors. Well worth every penny. Jane is a great teacher and takes the fear out of drawing a face. Here is my whimsical face, her nose is very long but I am happy with it overall.

I used col erase colored pencils, acrylic paint, tissue paper for background, distress ink for hair. 

If you want to learn to draw faces Jane's classes and DVD is the way to go. 

Owl Family Paintings

My friend, Kristin, had a birthday on Sunday and a few weeks ago I painted an owl family canvas to give to her.  I had some cute ephemra with family quotes and I picked one that said "family, forever, for always, no matter what."  I glued that down with Americana Decopauge glue (my favorite - dries clear and holds well), and started applying paint.  I used the edge of my pallete knife to apply some turquoise streaks to the background, really like the result:

I drew on 3 owls as she has a little boy 2 yrs old, and choose some colors to compliment the background:


Here is the finished piece:

Since then I've made another owl family painting for my step daughter representing their family of four:

I enjoy making art for gifts but there is always that fear, what if they don't like it and it ends up in a closet somewhere??  I usually have a pretty good idea how the person feels about my art so I don't worry about it too much.

What about you, do you give your art away as gifts to family and friends?  Do you sale your original pieces, and if so, how do you determine a price?

I appreciate your visit to this blog and any feedback!