A House and a Dog

"Little Winter House"
6" x 7" acrylic and collage on canvas
available on Etsy here

This is my newest painting (between Maisie patrol)...of a little winter house. Gotta say though...as beautiful as winter is here...I am ready for spring and some warm weather!

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday. My multi-talented friend, Melissa came over for a visit and brought me this beautiful painting of Maisie Rose! James and I just love it...and think it really captures Maisie and her "look". This is sort of the "I'm sorry I ate your sock, mom...but I'm too adorable to be mad at" look. Thank you so much, Melissa...you are the best!

"Maisie Rose"
11" x 14" acrylic on wood
by Melissa Langer - PugNotes.com

And speaking of Miss Maise...she gets an x-ray this Friday to see how her toe is healing. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Maisie Chronicles

So little Miss Maisie got herself into more trouble on Friday. While I wasn't watching her for a whole two minutes...she managed to push her cast almost completely off her foot! As a result, she couldn't get up and walk on it so I had to scoop all 5o pounds of her up and into the house. I had to cut the rest of it off her foot and SOS James to come home from work so we could get her to the Vet. The above picture of her (at an unusually sedate moment) is with her new cast that now only has the hard part on the bottom and a soft wrap on the top. Our Vet decided it needed some dressing up too so wrote Maisie's name on it with a little flower to make her feel better. Sweet! Let's hope we can get through this week without another Maisie mishap!

I was recently tagged for a dog meme by my wonderfully talented friends, Melissa and Kate who are the moms of two of my favorite sassy, beautiful dogs; Emmitt and Lytton.

Here is how Maisie responded...

What are your 5 favorite songs?

1) Born Free (from the movie soundtrack)
2) Any Irish jig because my last name is O'Neill
3) Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
4) Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
5) Anything my Papa sings because it makes me cock my head

What are your 5 favorite toys?

1) I have a Kong I really like.
2) My other toys don't really last very long because I like to take the stuffing out and chew them up so only tiny pieces are left.

What are your 5 favorite things to eat?

1) Bully sticks
2) Ice cubes
3) Peanut butter
4) Bananas
5) Pretty much anything else put in front of my nose

What are your 5 favorite activites?

1) I'm kinda sad right now because I have a cast on my leg and my very favorite activity is to run and play with other dogs.
2) Car rides
3) Chewing on things
4) Sitting in the sunshine
5) Generally acting like a goofball

What are your 5 bad habits?

1) Stealing socks
2) Eating non-food items I shouldn't
3) I kinda like to dig.
4) I bark too much at things that aren't there.

I'm supposed to now tag three other people so think I shall tag Kim and her cutie pie dog, Junior...Jamie and silly sweet Fergie and Michele with her adorable Chloe.

Have a nice Monday! xox

A Little Rain Storm

"Rain Storm"
6" x 7" acrylic on canvas
available on Etsy here

You should SEE my studio right now...if you could call it that! With Maisie needing a whole lot of attention and unable to do the stairs these next few weeks...I've had to move my studio up to the living room. Let's just say that it's not a pretty picture trying to live and work in one small room! We also had to store our dining room table for now and move the TV down from the loft into the living room. James carries Maisie upstairs at night when it's bedtime...but aside from that, the three of us are sharing a very small space. It's been pretty difficult to get a good block of time to paint...but I'm managing to squeeze in a half hour here and there during the day. I just finished the above piece.

James took the below picture over the weekend. Of course, I had to fool with it digitally so this is the result. As you can probably see, I have a treat in my hand that Miss Maisie the food monger is pretty interested in. We are trying to take a good photo (not so easy!) for a book I'm going to be in later this year. Can't tell you much about it yet until the publishing dates are set...but it's about people who devote their lives to dogs in some way. It's being written by two very talented women who live on the East Coast. I can't wait to see the final results!


I've got Maisie chewing on a bully stick right now...let's see how long that keeps her occupied this morning! Any bets?!

Maisie Rose and her toes

Here's Miss Maisie at the Vet's office last Friday...wearing her very stylish doggles in preparation for a laser treatment on her broken toe. We have to take Maisie in once a week to change the cast so when we do...she gets a laser zappin'! If you haven't heard about the Class IV laser therapy it's something you check out. It's an amazing new technology that helps alleviate chronic pain and accelerates an animal's healing and rehabilitation.

The photo below is of James, Maisie and our wonderful Vet, Dr. Abbott. Even though this has not been an easy time for all of us...we always laugh and have a good time caring for this little girl. Dr. Abbott is an amazing person too. She was Abby's doctor and we will always be thankful for the incredible care and kindness she showed us when Abby was so ill.

Whatcha'll doing today? It's REALLY cold and snowy here right now. I think it's a balmy 12 degrees at the moment...a good day to stay in and savor a warm, cozy house with a very sweet husband and a crazy girl dog.

New Pug Painting

"Emmitt"
11" x 12" acrylic on canvas

Here is another painting I finished during the holidays of Emmitt the Pug. This little man belongs to Melissa Langer...a wonderful Artist I had the pleasure of meeting last year. The best part is that Melissa lives only ten mintues from me...so we have become fast friends. Melissa and Emmitt have brightened my life in so many ways...so I wanted to thank them with a painting of "Mr. Handsome" himself. Who could not paint this face anyway??

On another subject...many of you have heard about Bernie Berlin over at "A Place to Bark"...and her efforts right now to raise enough money by January 31st to get a matching $50,000 donation for her animal rescue organization. You can find out more about it on her blog here. Just click on the badge on the right sidebar of her blog to donate or click on the one below.
Bernie does so much to help animals in need...so let's help her!

My Two Dog Babies

"Maisie doll sitting on the mantle"

Is it Monday already? Well, I guess I didn't post on Friday like I said I would. Maisie is keeping things pretty interesting around here so everything else is taking a back seat. She's doing ok although is VERY frustrated. We're having to resort to some sedatives at times to keep her calm and unable to hurt her little paw boo boo even more. I think her Mama needs some sedatives!!

Anyway, before I let any more time go by...I wanted to share with you two very special gifts I received for Christmas. The first one is from my friend, Shennon (Hi Shens!)...who made this adorable doll of Maisie. It was inspired by the work of Claudine Hellmuth. The little sign Maisie is holding is a quote by Will Rogers and it says, "Go out on a limb; that's where the fruit is". I love it!

The digital painting below...I had commissioned for James this Christmas of our beloved girl dog, Abby who passed away last March. I have always admired the very talented work of Rebecca Collins at Art Paw so I commissioned her to paint Abby. What can I say but we were thrilled with it...it is just an absolutely gorgeous painting. Both James and I consider it to be a very special gift from a most wonderful Artist friend. You can read about it a little more here on Rebecca's blog.

"Abby Louise"
16" x 20" Giclee on Canvas

Hoping to get some work done between "Maisie time" here this week. Wish me luck!...and think good thoughts for Maisie, ok?...her little puppy heart is kinda sad right now.

A Gimpy Girl and a Golden

My sweet Maisie Rose
(not really wanting this picture taken!)

I know, I know...calling Maisie a Gimpy Girl is not very nice of me. We're actually calling her Pegleg now! Guess you gotta have a sense of humor in these cases. That's all you can do. I have to say though...isn't she cute with her new beautiful scarf on? My very special friend, Kate made it for her...thank you so much Kate! Seems her Chocolate Lab, Lytton has a crush on Maisie and wanted Maisie to be nice and warm here in Colorado this winter. And Kate...how did Lytton know it would match her cast?? That is too cute!

"Arcea"
12" x 13" acrylic on canvas

Here is another one of my Christmas commissions...of Arcea, a beautiful older Golden Retriever. He has the sweetest eye lashes...and heart to match. It was a pleasure to paint this boy.

Have a nice Thursday...tomorrow I will be back with pictures of two wonderful gifts I received for Christmas this year!

New Years Blues

"Murphy"
11" x 14" acrylic on canvas

Meet Murphy...a wonderful rescue dog who healed the hearts of some very special people who lost their previous beloved dog, Oscar to a sudden illness. How could a face like Murphy's NOT help someone!? Cutie pie!

And speaking of hearts that need healing...I am in the doggie dumps because my sweet Maisie is dealing with yet another medical setback. She broke her toe while we were playing ball last Wednesday and now has to wear a cast for six-eight weeks. We've had this wonderful dog for six short weeks and during that time she has been sidelined with kennel cough, abdominal surgery and now this. James and I feel so badly for her...we had just gotten the go-ahead for her to resume normal activities only a few days before this happened.

I have to think there is a reason we are all going through this or I would fall off my New Years branch and cry a big birdbath. Maisie is the sweetest, dearest dog...so why is this happening to her? I guess you can't really question why though or you drive yourself crazy. Instead, I need to hunker down and help her through this, keep her busy and happy and let time run it's course. Let's hope by Valentine's Day...Maisie can get this dang cast off and finally let her heart run free. In the meantime...where the heck is that kong?!