Sneakie Peekie and the Lake

Here's a sneak peek at my latest commission...Bianca, the white Boxer puppy. I'm almost finished but am not quite happy with the background just yet. I don't want to rush it so I will finish this sweet little girl when I get back from Idaho.

The photo below is where James and I and our good friends, Steve and Kathleen are heading for 6 days. We're going to visit my dad who owns a home here on Priest Lake which is way up the Idaho panhandle by the Canadian border. It's a beautiful, peaceful place to be. My brother is flying in from California as well so it will be great to have him there too. We'll hike, canoe, swim, boat and also do a lot of nothing! I'm kinda likin' the sounds of the nothing part!

I hope you all have a very nice Labor Day weekend. I'll be back to blogging a week from today. Many hugs and xoxo!

New Doggie Painting!

"Emmett"
10" x 11" acrylic and collage on canvas

Just finished Emmett last night. Most of you remember Emmett if you've been following my blog...he's the big beautiful boy that stayed with us awhile back. I painted him for his person, Greg...who had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. Happy b-day again, Greg!

Emmett took quite a long time to paint. I just couldn't nail his coloring...but my super Art Critic husband, James helped me with that. I wasn't getting the beautiful red/brown hues I wanted and was ending up with too much grey/greenish in his highlights. We were looking at it the other night and James said, "Why don't you look at that Bensdorp Cocoa we bought...I think that's his exact coloring.". Well, I took his advice...sprinkled some cocoa on a white napkin, took it down to the studio and mixed the paint to match that color. I went back in...added more color to his coat, then added a little white to make it pop his highlights. Whamo...it worked!

And for all of you who haven't tried Bensdorp Cocoa as the actual food product it is...you can get it here. It's pretty much the best cocoa I've ever had and makes THE best brownies in the world.

Go here for a really sweet video I found on CNN yesterday. And might I add...there are NO ugly dogs in MY book!!

New Abby Creek Postcard

Here's the new Abby Creek Dog Portrait Postcard! If you would like one...just shoot me an email with your address and I'll slap a stamp on it and send it to you.

I worked most of the weekend since James was out out town. The two dog portraits I'm working on are taking a long time so I won't be able to post them for a couple more days. Some dogs are more difficult than others requiring layer upon layer of paint until I'm happy. I also usually change a background at least once or twice to achieve the results I want.

We still don't know about the house. At this point...the bank countered the other people's offer...but apparently the negotiations are not going well. If they walk away...the bank will probably come to us. This has been three weeks of real estate torture! I'll keep you posted!

Have a nice Monday! xo

New Abstract

"Two Hearts" 6" x 6" acrylic and collage on canvas
available for purchase here

I started this painting in Shari Beaubien's class over the weekend and just finished it. Shari introduced me to some new techniques so I started with those...and then incorporated some of my own when I got home. It's sort of Beaubien/O'Neill original! Thanks, Shari...for showing me some very cool new texture techniques and for the idea to incorporate heart shapes into my abstracts. I had a lot of fun with this one!

My sweet James just left today for a four day abalone diving trip to California. I miss him already. He has a group of friends that he meets at Salt Point once a year and they have a blast. I've joined him before on this trip...but I guess you could say I'm not really a "camper". That's putting it mildly. Let's just say a nice hotel with a beautiful view and a glass of chilled chardonnay are more my speed!

Image by Ann Taintor

I miss my girl dog

"Abby"
painting by Vicky Knowles

I'm really missing my girl today. It's five months today that we lost Abby Louise. I thought sharing this painting by artist, Vicky Knowles would be a good thing to do today in Abby's honor. Vicky and I participated in a Pet Portrait Swap for EBSQ three years ago. She painted Abby and I painted her dog, Lisa (below) who had already passed away. It's interesting...both Lisa and Abby died of kidney failure at about the same age of 12. I look at Vicky's painting now and it makes me laugh and think of how funny and precious Abby was. She had THE biggest brown eyes that would melt your heart...and she definitely WAS a princess. Thanks, Vicky...this painting is even more special now that Abby is gone. I love you, Abby...hope you're having a blast running in the green grass.

"Lisa"
painting by Linda O'Neill

A new painting, the workshop & the house

"Fiesta Cup"
5.5" x 6.5" acrylic and collage on paper
available for purchase here

Three bits of news to share...one being the above painting I just completed. Seems I'm on a bit of a yellow theme lately.

Secondly, Shennon and I had a great time at Shari Beaubien's mixed media workshop on Saturday. It was so great to finally meet Shari...she is just the sweetest person...and was so gracious and open to all of us in the class. I would highly recommend taking a class from her...she's a super teacher. The workshop was a blast plus it was also very well planned and organized. Shari readily shares her wealth of knowledge and her enthusiasm...I learned a lot!
Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures and this was really the only one that came out very well. Shari might have some on her blog in the next couple of days. Hi Shari!

left to right: Shari, Linda, Shennon

And last but not least...a house update. Well, let's just say...I wish I HAD one! Our agent, Kathy thinks we may hear something by tomorrow. Say a little house juju prayer for us...we're not out of the game just yet!

Have a good Monday. xo

New Lemon Painting

"Three Lemons"
8" x 8" acrylic and paper on canvas
available for sale on Etsy

Just finished this one yesterday. Kinda makes me want to go make a lemon cake or a lemon meringue pie now!

My friend, Shennon and I are heading to Timeless Creations in Fort Collins tomorrow to take Shari Beaubien's mixed media assemblage workshop. Shari and I have been good blog friend's for about a year now and this will be the first time we actually get to see each other. Yay! I'll take my camera so hopefully will get some good pics of the day.

About the house...we haven't given up hope yet. The reason this is so difficult is that we are dealing with a bank on a house that was foreclosed on. It has been vacant for a year and the bank has no idea how much work the house now needs. Both offers came in at a much lower price than they want for the house...so that's why we're at a standstill. They are re-evaluating and we are just hoping they understand the situation and what the house is actually worth at this point. Banks are banks though...and the bottom line is profit. I'm trying not to stick voo doo pins in my bank man doll just yet...we're still positive that things could turn around. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Hope you have a great weekend! xo

New PETCO Commercial -- Reflection-Apparel

This new Petco commercial totally cracked me up today. Enjoy!

Goats and a silly poem

Isn't this just the cutest picture?! I couldn't resist posting it because we can all use a little sweetness every day...and because that little baby goat reminds me of Abby! I found this on the San Francisco Chronicle's website SFGate.com which I usually check daily for their fantastic photographs. Click on "Day in Pictures" in the right sidebar to view them.

Here's a poem called "Old Hogan's Goat" from "I Went to the Animal Fair". Enjoy!

Old Hogan's Goat

Old Hogan's goat was feeling fine,
Ate six red shirts from off the line;
Old Hogan grabbed him by the rack
And tied him to the railroad track.
Now when the train came into sight.
That goat grew pale and green with fright;
He heaved a sigh, as if in pain,
Coughed up those shirts and flagged the train!

New Still Life

"Egg"
5.5" x 6.5" acrylic and collage on paper
available on Etsy here

This is my newest painting...a little bit of a departure color wise for me. I was reading an art show prospectus recently on Art Deadlines and the show called for a "white" theme...so I thought I would give it a try. It was not that easy...I'm so used to using bold, bright colors in my work. I felt like I was painting with my left hand! This was a good exercise though and I like the way it turned out.

And thanks to all of you who have sent such sweet, supportive comments and emails about our house offer. We are STILL waiting! There are some issues holding things up...and today our agent, Kathy told us we may be waiting the rest of the week. Oh great. Forget the wine...give me a martini!!!

An apple a day

"Red Apple", "Yellow Apple", "Green Apple"
each painting is 5" x 6" acrylic on 1.5" deep canvas

Red Apple Poem

A little red apple
Hung high in a tree
I looked up at it
And it looked down at me
"Come down, please" I called
And what do you suppose
That little red apple
Dropped right on my nose!
-unknown

I've been cleaning up my studio a bit and found these three apple paintings that I did probably three years ago. I thought they looked pretty cool together...so I am having a lollapalooza blowout sale! These individual paintings usually sell for $90.00 each...but I am putting them in my ETSY shop for a short time for $150.00 for the set.

Still waiting to hear about the house. This is nerve wracking! Pour me a glass of wine!

Hunting for Houses

"One Thousand Houses #254"
Artwork by Jamie Johnson

I wanted to at least check in today to say hello! Haven't posted as much as I would like to lately because James and I have been house hunting like crazy people! This has made me think of Jamie Johnson's paintings of houses. I absolutely love her work. She has been doing a great series of "One Thousand Houses"...so check out her website and her blog when you have a chance.

So we did find a house over the weekend that we are making an offer on today (gulp!). It's pretty cool...has a big studio space for me and a three car garage for car boy (James). Those have been two musts in our search. We are trying not to get our hopes up just yet until the inspections are done...but we hope it all works out. It's on almost one acre with lots of trees and beautiful views. All the neighbors around this house have dogs...a very good sign in my world! Keep your fingers crossed, k?

I'm trying to work as much as I can with all this going on but it's been hard to concentrate. I have three paintings in the works; two dogs and a still life so hope to have those to show you very soon. Stay tuned! xo

Art Girl says TGIF!

"Internal Combustion Girl"
5" x 6" acrylic and collage on canvas
it's available for sale ~ email me

This is "Internal Combustion Girl"...a small painting I did last year. This girl is always on fire and thinking about art. Don't really know why I wanted to post her today other than I like her and it's been a good art day!

I was also fortunate enough to meet a new artist friend today that you should know about. Her name is Melissa Langer and she is a fellow dog artist who does some wonderful work. Melissa and I recently discovered that we lived only ten minutes from each other...so we met for coffee this morning and had a great time. Especially for all of you Pug lovers out there...you should visit her site PugNotes.com. She has some fantastic Pug art and Pug products...very original and whimsical...inspired by her cute as a button Pug, Emmitt. I get to meet him next time. Yay!

Hope you all had a good art day too! Have a fun, relaxing weekend. xo

New abstract and a joke

"Dragon Flower"
acrylic and collage on paper 5" x 6"
*email me for purchase information

This is my latest painting, just finished today. My art critic, James O'Neill summed it up this way...

"It can be viewed on a meditative level. The Tibetan dragon a portal or guardian between a world of nature and another space of...what? Which side does the guardian protect?"

Hmmm...must be because of the ying and yang pull I've been feeling in life lately!

And speaking of meditation, ying yang and yada yada yada...here's kind of a funny one...

Q: What did the Buddhist Monk say to the Hot Dog Vendor?
A: Make me one with everything.

OK...on that note...I'd best be going now. xo