Christmas Gifts

Christmas was pretty busy for me but I loved it! It was so exciting for me to know that someone was opening up some of my work on Christmas morning! That is such an honor! Not only did someone like my work, but they liked it enough to think someone else would like it too! I'm just so happy with how things are going!

This is Mattie, another one of Mary's horses but the cutest thing about him is that he is a Mini Horse! He had so many good pictures to choose from! He actually held still and wasn't scared of me or the camera!

Maisy is Mary's only female horse. I was really excited to work on this project because she told me Maisy, and her daughter Aubrey, (that's who this picture is for) are both very girly and love pink! Pink is my favorite color and I'm extremely girly so I went crazy with the pink and sparkles on this one! :) This is Libby again but I just wanted to post her final product This was for a new client of mine named Courtney. This was a gift for his mom who breeds American Staffordshire Terriers. I didn't put the dogs name on this one because he didn't know it, and of course he didn't want to give the surprise away by asking. I really liked the "no name" end result. It made the actual art work the focus, and I could use a much bigger picture since I didn't have to worry about fitting the name on the canvas.

This is Holly and she's a Labradoodle. She was also for a new client, the Renwick family. She was a new challenge for me since she has such long hair! I was worried that the hair would make everything blend together and it would look like a huge hairball rather than a dog! I tired a few different ways and I found one that worked really well I and I really liked how she turned out! The Renwick's were buying the piece for their daughter, Emma, for Christmas and they are an amazing family! I had trouble downloading their pictures, and getting the perfect angle and focus, and they were very willing to keep sending me different pictures, and different formats. Holly was a lot of work but I'm really proud of the end result especially for my first long haired animal!

Thank you to all the friends, and families that supported me last year and helped me get my name out there! I appreciate all of your support and I know 2010 is going to be an even more successful year for me!

Sopra Salon in Prairie Village KS

I will be doing a show for the month of December at a salon and spa in Prairie Village Kansas! This is my first show and I am beyond excited. The owner Cindy contacted me and asked me to display some of my work in her salon and I have never been so shocked in my life! I just started and this is already way more than I could have ever thought possible! Thank you to everyone who helped me get me going! A special thanks to Jennifer for suggesting me to Cindy. Thanks to Cindy for believing in my product and thank you so much Mary Gunn (my first client). With out Mary I don't think I would have ever put myself out there. I was really scared that everyone was going to hate my stuff and if it wasn't for her excitement and enthusiasm I don't think I would have continued on! Not to mention all her beautiful animals as my models! :)

Here are some of my most recently finished products!

Dakota is one of Mary's 5 horses. Well he is actually her daughter Aubrey's (yeah its really her name too :)) He was a pretty tough subject to catch on film. He did not like the camera, but once we got his picture it was perfect. Mary's daughter is 13 and she is really into neon colors so I went with a lime green background similar to the one I used in my dog Fam's photo, and I used the bright blue to write his name to be a little more masculine.

Leo is a German Shepard, if it isn't obvious in the picture. He was previously a police dog but after her retired is owner couldn't keep him so he landed at Mary's farm. He is very obedient and was the easiest of all the animals to get a picture of. My favorite thing about him is that he is a direct descendant of the TV star Rin-Tin-Tin!!!!

Toots, like Toostie Pop is a Mini Australian Shepard. Until I met her I didn't even know that such a breed existed, and now I really really want one! She was so cute and loved the camera. She had so much energy and followed Mary and I everywhere.

Max is a Cairn Terrier, which is the kind of dog that plays ToTo in the Wizard of Oz, so decided it would be cute to add a little red sparkle to his finished product. The red glitter is obviously a nod to Dorthy's ruby red slippers in the movie. The day I met Max he was by far the quietest dog in the bunch. Mary and I were giving the dogs treats to try and take their pictures and he kept getting pushed out of the way even by the other small dogs. I only spent the day with him but it was obvious that he had a very kind soul. The kind of dog that feels when you're having a bad day and just curls up in your lap until you feel better. I really enjoyed working with him.

This picture may look familiar. I used the photo of Winchester on a blue canvas in my last blog just because I really liked how his picture turned out. After talking with Mary I got the feeling that Winchester was a gentle giant and kind of a southern gentleman so we wanted to be more old fashioned and didn't use such bright colors to fit his more laid back personality.

Personalized Pet Art

Winchester is a horse of one of my clients. He is all brown with a white diamond on is face, high on his forehead in between his eyes. Its really small but I made sure to incorporate it into the picture. Winchester is the second horse I have ever done and even though this isn't the finished product I really like how the picture turned out! It is one of my favorites!

Bullet is my younger brother Austins dog. He is a black lab and very large! He is one of the most mellow dogs I have ever met and I wanted that to come through in his picture. He was looking up at me like "What do you want? I just want to go back to sleep." He is a huge sweet heart and this was my first final product that I was actually proud to show.

This is Rocky. He is also all brown with a diamond on his forehead but his is located in between his eyes and is much larger than his brother, Winchesters. My client told me Rocky's real name is Rock Star so I tried to incorporate that in the colors and designs of the paper that I used. He was the first horse that I have ever done and I am really proud of the finished product.

Fam (short for Family) is my boyfriends dog, and my second subject ever. I have since learned that I have to use a better quality picture to properly display the emotion, and personality in the dogs eyes, but none the less I really like this one. It might be because this dog is so close to my heart but he was a real challenge for me. He is a Border Collie and it was a hard for me to properly recreate the two strongly contrasting colors of the black and white. I think it came out really well and the tongue hanging out is very Fam!

Libby is the dog of a client of mine. She is a mix but looked like a skinny, short hair, St. Bernard. My client refers to her as her "dumb blond" I automatically thought of Pamela Anderson in Baywatch so I decided to pick a red background and went with a picture where her head was slightly tilted in a confused look. My client really enjoyed it and said it fit Libby to a "T". I haven't painted her name on it yet because this client had a big order and I want all of the pieces to be cohesive but I really love what I have gotten done so far!