Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Ink and Watercolor Cat and Dog Art


I'm getting ready to head back to Ohio after spending almost four glorious months in Montana. I'm having moments of breakdowns as I think about driving AWAY from the mountains, the blue skies, the dry air, the milder winters and heading into damp, cloudy, sunless, snow-filled Northeast Ohio. I will go hiking in the mountains one more time before I leave Friday. Hopefully I will be back next spring. 
Since I don't want to add much bulk to my inventory that I must take back, I have been painting and drawing. These are all available in my shops and can be accessed by clicking on the art. They are all affordable,original works, not prints. 



"I Did It"



"Napping Furkids"



"The Scolding"



"The Righteous Man and His Cat"



"Feline Lickin' Good" 

Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday MEWsings - A Vintage Shop of CATS!

 Vintage shops abound on Etsy. You can't look at a Treasury, click on a page of Pounce, or glance at Recently Listed Items without seeing vintage. BUT...you don't often see a vintage shop dedicated almost entirely to one theme. This week, as part of the ongoing Cat Avis Unite Team features, I have found one such shop! Libush is a fairly new shop and a vintage cat collector's dream! You will find Fabulous Feline Figurines from porcelain to pewter in  many PURRsonable poses.  Click on any of these listings to find more information. Or better yet - just check out the entire Libush shop! 



Large Arnart Japan Tabby 



Hagen Renaker Ceramic 




Vintage Pottery Snooty Cats  



1950s Black Lead 



Spelter - old!



Late 80s Pewter
>^.^<
(My fave with mama hugging kitten!) 



Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ink Drawings for Cat Lovers


For the cat lovers! 



Have you ever seen black cats wandering around a pumpkin patch? So intriguing! 
Card stock drawing in black and brown ink. 




There are so many sad kitty stories out there. Always heartbreaking. I was doodling in bed last night and ended up listing this as it reflected my dreams of a cozy loving place where I wish all kitties could go. 

Listed in Catcalls 



Thursday, September 22, 2011

How to make a Wiener Wonderland!


I had a fun week creating  a  wiener wonderland here. I was constantly thinking about the next wonderful wiener I was going to make, whether for Halloween or Christmas. I started with some Christmas wienies.   



This is my very warn, holey pattern for the minis.




A close up of how bad it looks! I really need to make another before this totally disintegrates! The tail is about off.




These are my sophisticated stuffing tools. They were free. 


Berthold

I started with Christmas doxies. If you have a red wiener dog...



Bertram

you must also have a green. Unwritten rules of wiener creating. 



Burchess

And then because I had brown and pink felt , I made this one, which is my fave. 
All my Itty Bitties start with a "B"



The Welcoming Crew




I then added some Hallowienies. Boo....




and Batdog. Here is Batdog's description:
"Every wiener dog has large dreams...dreams of being able to look those Great Danes in the eye, of running with the grace and speed of a Greyhound, of flying to the rescue of all fellow wieners and small brothers. Every wiener dog wishes he were BATDOG! "




Now for the bigger boy. This pattern is a stubby version that I just lengthen when I cut. The pencil line is for the leg placement.


Willy

Willy was a bit time consuming as I had to sew together all the pieces (placemats in a former life) and change thread constantly. Then I gave him felt eyes to see with. No one wants to be blind - not even a Hallowiener. 




Finally, I decided to make a dachshund skirt. I have plenty of kitty skirts in The Cat Rack, but wanted to add one to Dogbarks since I sold the only one last week. This two piece pattern is also the one I use for pillows. I randomly cut out legs, tail, and ears. 



This fabric was a nice find at a thrift store. An unused bit of  yardage made of some natural blend fiber. It bled quite a lot when I washed it in hot water. But a cold water wash should be just fine now. The doxie is a wool houndstooth in black and white. Handsome little fellow! 

You can click on any picture to see them in my shops. 
Hope you all get a chance to have a Wonderful Wiener Week, too! 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

New Cat and Dog Artwork with New Pens!


I have been in a drawing mood the last few days. I sold several pieces of artwork in the last week and wanted to replenish. I sold my all time absolute favorite kitty painting to a cat lover which made me happy! I almost pulled it many times, but now I am glad it has a good home. 




Full Tummy 4" x 6" Watercolor 


I have used the IDenti-Pen and Ultra Fine Sharpie for most of my art.




But I wanted something finer, so bought these two new Micron pens last Saturday. 




You can see the difference in these pictures.




The series, Cat and Spider, was done with the IDenti-Pen and watercolor pencils. 



Yummy!



To Eat or Not To Eat




Uh Oh!

*********

This was my first ink drawing with the new pens. It was going to be completely in  brown, but I didn't like it so added the black for definition and shading. And I used blue ink for the kitty's eyes. 




In a Punk


This one was going to be another complete ink drawing but looked too plain, so I used watercolor pencils, too.





Morning Visitor


I sold both of my Greyhound art pieces in my Dogbarks shop, so added this yesterday. It is a combination of the Micron pen and watercolor pencils. 




Is This What They Call A Couch Potato?


These are all ACEOs, or trading cards, 3.5" x 2.5" and are available in my shops. Just click the photos! 

I have yet to make any prints of my work. Everything is an original, signed and dated on the back. Sometimes I think I should offer them for those who want art for less money. The original ACEOs are $8-$10. Any suggestions? 


Sunday, September 18, 2011

Monday MEWsings presents Artistically Created Cat Photo Cards


          JoysBarnLions


Welcome to another week of Monday MEWsings! The PURRson I have chosen for today's post is not only a member of the Cat Avis Unite Team on Etsy, but  also a believer in spay and neuter programs for feral cat populations. Her shop is full of  charming photos and artistically altered photos of sweet kitties in the form of note cards. ( And one lone dog photo!) Your purchase will serve as a delight to your eyes AND provide help for the feral kitties in Joy's neck of the woods! 

"I created Barn Lions to help control the overpopulation of cats. I donate profits to help spay and neuter feral cats. Barn Lions was named after one of my barn cats who looked just like a little lion when it was a kitten. I began taking photographs of cats as a hobby. I work with the images to bring out a more enchanting dimension of the cat. I've been printing my images on note cards and giving them as gifts, now I offer them for sale. You can find out how Barn Lions is helping cats by visiting my website at www.barnlions.com."

Click on the photos for more information and purchasing. 











THANK YOU for your kind heart, Joy! 






Thursday, September 15, 2011

Meet Baron - my first plush German Shepherd!

A couple of days ago I started offering custom made plush dogs. You can choose a breed I have already made or one that I have yet to make! I received my first order the next day for a German Shepherd. I was pretty excited. I thought I would share what happened so you can see the process I use. Nothing Harvard would approve of, but nonetheless, successful. At least mostly. 
First I look at the dog breed. I pull up dozens of pictures on the web: live shots, drawings, silhouettes, clip art. I mostly study the live shots. The hard part about the shepherd is that almost all the photos are of a dog with his mouth open! I had to guess. I then start drawing on whatever piece of paper is available...newspaper, drawing paper, bags, magazines...anything available. I have quite a colorful collection of patterns for dogs and cats! I usually end up piecing the pattern together. This one is a combination of yellow paper and brown shipping paper. With lots of tape! This is actually the tweaked pattern. You can see how I shortened the legs by folding and taping. I'm so creative!


I thought a nice black and white fabric might be kind of cool. The buyer left fabric choice to me. So I carefully cut out the shepherd and sewed it together. I knew from the start that the ears were going to be the most difficult. Something about pointy ears always gives me trouble. As soon as I started stuffing, I realized my mistake. This is going to be a zebra! I could also tell the legs were too long. I always have to remember that fabric stretches, no matter what kind, when stuffing. This is what is left of my first attempt. Go ahead and laugh....


Pathetic dog...scrap that.

I decided flannel is good. I love flannel and have made many dogs from it. I cut again. I sewed it all with a zigzag stitch on the outside like all my dogs. Looked pretty good. I stuffed...and stuffed....and stuffed. BIG dog! Almost a whole pillow! (I use standard pillows for fill) And then.....arrrrrgh! Neck too long, legs too long, not buff enough in the chest. The tail was awesome though! Here's what's left of that one. Head is still stuffed and tail cut off. 



I hate to destuff a dog that is almost finished. I feel like I am killing it! I name them all and they become my little buddies, my fosters, if you will. Fortunately, I hadn't named this one yet. 

After fixing the pattern, I cut again. I could tell this was much better. But I still had the ear problem. I decided to go with just stitching them on at the top and hope they looked alright. I had tried to place them on the side and hand stitch them on, but they looked funny. After all of that, I finally ended up with a shepherd I approved of.





I decided he needed eyes. I don't put eyes on a lot of my dogs, but this one begged for eyes. Felt eyes and a felt  nose. And a nice country collar. 


Say  hello to Baron! If the buyer does not want him for some reason, I will put him in my shop. He will be $35.00

Here is one of my listings for a custom dog. There are two so you can see a variety of dogs. Click the photo to go to the listing in Dogbarks. I will add Baron somewhere in the group of photos. 






Monday, September 12, 2011

Wearing the Cats and Dogs of Autumn

I've been adding some more fall and Halloween things to my shops. It is such a colorful time of year that helps us get ready to bed down for winter. Click on any photo to find out more.


Pumpkins in the cornfields
Gold among the brown
Leaves of rust and scarlet
Trembling slowly down
Birds that travel southward
Lovely time to play
Nothing is as pleasant
As an autumn day!

~anonymous










A fallen leaf is nothing more
than a summer's wave good bye

~anonymous












And this was just too cute to pass up!