Checkin' in with a Bulldog Friend!

"Meatball"
10" x 12" acrylic on canvas

Hi everyone...I thought it would be fun today to post one of my older dog paintings. I painted this guy several years ago when my color and brush style was a bit looser. This was Adam Sandler's beloved dog, Meatball who, bless his heart, has since passed away. I love English Bulldogs so Meatball was a blast to paint. Growing up, my family had three of them...Winston, Randolph and Ike. All of them had unique, adorable and strong personalities!

So tomorrow is the release date for the PAWS for Charity book. I'll be back then with a link to where you can purchase one. It looks fantastic!

I've been working on two new abstracts this week so hope to show them to you soon!

The Colors of Spring

"Vision of Spring"
13" x 16" acrylic and collage on canvas
prints are available online at Imagekind.com

I've been working on this piece all week and it finally came together today. I love when things finally "click" like that! Yay!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm going to be showing all of these new abstracts in a solo exhibit next April at the University of Denver. As a result...I won't be putting them up on Etsy for sale this year. If you ARE interested in purchasing one of the originals now, you can do so by emailing me. I will reserve the painting for you until after the show.

Hope you've all had a great week. See you on Monday!

Combining Still Life and Abstract

"Oranges in a White Bowl"
8" x 8" acrylic and collage on canvas
Prints available for purchase here on Imagekind.com

I'm continuing to experiment with different styles and combinations in my work. I decided to combine still life and abstract elements this time using lots of texture.

I was inspired to do this piece because of some beautiful new paper that my wonderful friend, Melissa Langer of Pugnotes bought me for my birthday. Here's the actual paper (below)...it's a very thin rice paper that's great to collage with. You can see how I used it...with the paper showing through the white bowl in the painting. Melissa gave me two other sheets with the same pattern in different colors so I'm looking forward to using those too. Thanks Melissa!

Collage Paper

The Bodhi Tree

"Under the Bodhi Tree"
8" x 8" acrylic and collage on canvas

*Prints available online at Imagekind

Spring has finally come to Colorado! The colors, light and magic of the season inspired this new painting and makes me feel like a happy Buddha. Hope you enjoy it!

"This mind of the bodhi tree always produces medicinal
branches of compassion, leaves of understanding, flowers of loving
kindness and fruit of realization, which understands the truth.
~ Patrul Rinpoche

PAWS for Charity Book

I'm so pleased to announce that Abby Creek Studios is going to be included in the "PAWS for Charity" Art Book that is soon to be released. At the helm of this project is Sara Harley, who previously owned a dog biscuit company and began raising money for breast cancer charities. As a result, the PAWS for Charity organization was born. All proceeds from this year's book will be donated to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade.

Here is some information about the book from the PAWS for Charity blog...

"This year's book features images of dogs and cats from 65 artists and photographers (professionals and amateurs), features 4 breast cancer survivors, and is 75 pages long. Along with some beautiful images, it contains photos of the artists, information about them, and a statement in their own words.

All proceeds from the sale of the 2010 Paws For Charity Art Book Project will be donated to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade. The two primary reasons for this choice:

1. The Avon Foundation supports breast cancer programs worldwide...in 50 countries.

2. This charity has the "Humane Charity" seal of approval."

The book will be available for purchase in April so I will be back with a direct link to where you can buy it. Here's a sample of last year's book.

Kudos to you, Sara...on the fantastic job you've done!

A Winter Day

"A Winter Day"
22" x 22" acrylic and collage on canvas

Remember the painting of Maisie I was telling you about? Well, I just finished it last night! Here is my girl, on a crisp winter day...in all her beautiful Shepherdness. I wanted to experiment and do a dog painting that was very different from my usual portrait work. I think Maisie was the perfect subject!

Hopefully I'll be back later this week with another new abstract to show you. I say "hopefully" because my Mom is coming from California today to visit for a week. She's very excited to see her Granddog...I think more than us!

Hope you're all having a great week so far! xox

Revamp and Renew

"A Delicate Balance"
6" x 7" acrylic and collage on canvas"

Original available in my Etsy Shop
Prints available online at ImageKind.com

In working towards a new "mark" in my work, I decided it would be fun to revamp a couple of my older paintings. My thought is that it will show me more clearly some changes that are developing in my style. I also hope it will help guide me to finding new paths of expression.

The painting above, A Delicate Balance" is a revamp of the painting below on the left which WAS titled,"Happy Chances". I would love to hear your opinions about the differences between the old and the new!

Make Your Mark

So, I've been going back and forth trying to finish a couple of paintings...but am still not quite where I want to be with them. I feel like I'm struggling to develop a new "mark" in my work, especially with the abstracts. My Art Professors always used that term, saying how important it is to develop your own set of symbols, figures, numerals, patterns, etc....that carry through your work.

Thinking about that...I went through some old sketches I did in art school that I used as thumbnails for my monotypes. I had a very different style then...but I see similarities that carry through. I also did a lot of research back then on other Artists to find out what types of lines, shapes and forms appealed to me.

It's time to do a little research again to see what kind of "new" mark I can make. There seem to be losts of mistakes, grumbling (mostly grumbling) and do-overs involved but hopefully it will all be worth it!

Sketches