Painting and Prozac!

"Inner Circle" #3

6" x 7" acrylic and collage on canvas
available in my Etsy shop here

Interesting blog title you say? Well, let me explain...the above is another installment of the Inner Circle Series I've been working on. It's morphing and I'm not sure where the heck it's going...but that's part of the fun!

The Prozac part is about a new book I'm going to get..."Puppy Chow is Better than Prozac" by Bruce Goldstein. I saw it in the Sunday paper and it looks like a great read. The name alone makes me want to buy it. In a nutshell, it's about a very depressed Author who's saving grace is a new slobbering puppy that comes into his life...and actually ends up saving his life. You can get it here if you're interested.


"I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source." ~Doris Day

By the way...Happy first day of Spring! It's about dang time!

Lordy Lordy...I'm not 40!

Me and Jiggsie

Oh my...today, I turn the big 5-0! I don't know quite how that happened considering I've been 39 the past few years! Yikes!

That's me in the picture above with my first dog, Jiggs. I don't know who's birthday this was...mine or his. We always celebrated his too with cake and hats...the works. He was a very special Boston boy. (Wasn't he cute, Leigh?)

And what a wonderful surprise to get this book in the mail the other day. It's called, "Pretty in Pink, Why It's Good To Be A Girl!". My friend, Carol sent it to me. Carol and I grew up together and have know each other since we were 5 years old. She remembered that I liked pigs so thought of me when she saw this. Go and get this book because it is adorable! It will make you smile. Thank you, Carol...for such a sweet b-day gift!

So wish me luck today...I'm venturing into the unknown territory of the next century of my life!
I won't think about that today though...I just want some cake!

xoxox ~ Linda (don't call me ma'am just yet) O'Neill

Bless this Mess

My temporary work table

This is my teeny tiny workspace of late. Since we've been living and working in one big room with Maisie...it's been a bit of a squeeze. Ok...let's be honest...a big mess is what it really is! This weekend, however, we plan to get our house back together and hopefully a decent studio space for me again. Until Maisie gets some of her pent up angst out though...I need to stick close to her and keep an eye on her antics. Let's just say it's pretty amazing that we don't have holes in our sofa yet!

I'm playing along with my friend, Kate today...to keep a book meme going because I think it's a pretty cool meme. Here's the scoop...

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The book closest to my desk that I could actually grab without getting out of my chair (lazy butt) was "A Three Dog Life" by Abigail Thomas. Here it goes...

"You don't want to return to unhappiness. That's all." I will never forget that instant of absolute clarity.

Hmmm...sounds like something I need to listen to! Join in if you feel like playing along!

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?!

Pugs and Things

Melissa, Me, Emmitt

Saturday, I had the great pleasure of attending my friend, Melissa Langer's book signing in Boulder. That's her Pug, Emmitt in the photo (you've seen his face grace my blog before!). Emmitt was there meeting and greeting and generally supervising the event. I think he even signed some books himself! Here's more about the event on Melissa's blog.

The book I'm talking about is called "Emmitt & Olive"...a very inspiring and sweet story of the friendship of two Pugs. It is written by Melissa and features 25 of her beautiful Pug drawings and paintings. Now I'm not just saying this because I like Melissa and Emmitt so much...but people...this book would be a GREAT gift for anyone this holiday season. Kids go crazy over them. Melissa has several other books available on her website as well so check them out. I am personally buying several for my niece and nephew AND myself!

And by the way...have you seen this video? Tyson, the Bulldog was on Oprah last week and I think he was probably the best guest Oprah has ever had!

Hey and thanks for all your great trip suggestions!

Little Bitty Bike Journal

Little Bitty Bike Journal is 5" x 6.5"

This is my first hand painted "little bitty journal". I bought the beautiful handmade book in Hawaii awhile back...and thought it would be a cool idea to paint something on the front and back. It's a different expression of my "retro childhood" series. If you're interested, you can purchase it at my Etsy shop here.

Speaking of Etsy, there was a good article about it in this week's Business Week Magazine. A very nice coming attraction will be the ability for a person to buy several items from different artists and pay for them in one transaction. They are also slated to add currency conversion and foreign language support in 2008. Yes!

By the way...thank you so much for all of your congrats and support regarding my inclusion in the new "Best of America" book series. A big thank you also goes to William Lehman from Artist Hideout for featuring me in a recent podcast regarding this. Check out Artist Hideout for some great critiques and information on all things art.

Pandora the Piggy #2 is coming very soon. Stay tuned!

My little Valentine

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

Miss Valentine is my latest commission. What a sweet Chihuahua...it was a pleasure painting this sassy little diva!

Three things I thought you might be interested in. First, there is a great dog ecard site I found through Modern Dog Magazine. It's called Sloppy Kiss Cards. Really fun dog and cat ecards for every occasion. They have some fabulous Mother's Day cards!

Next...is something new for your dog library (don't we all have one?!). It's a book I recently read called "Just Gus" and it's a beautiful gem of a story about how a rescued dog brought joy and healing to the life of a cancer patient.

And last but not least...there is an amazing end-of-life sanctuary called SAINTS that takes in senior and special needs pets that have nowhere else to go. It breaks my heart to think of a senior animal in need without a loving family or home...so these people are doing very important work. It's getting late...but there is still time to donate something to their "Wishes for Whiskers" silent auction coming up on May 12th. If you can donate any service or artwork to them...please think about it as they are in need of funding. You can reach them through their website here.
Abby Louise thanks you!

Enjoy this first weekend of May!

Nothing better than walking a dog

"Walking the Dogs" by Louise Almon

I miss my walks with Abby. I thought about that a lot this weekend every time I saw someone walking with their dog, enjoying the day. She and I used to put on many miles together when her legs were good and she was healthy. We had such memorable and wonderful times out and about...enjoying the fresh air and thinking of nothing but how nice it was just to be together.

I have been reading a great book called, "Dog Years" a memoir by Mark Doty. It's a very moving book about a man's relationship to his dogs and what they taught him about love, life and loss. Mark is also a Poet and you can tell that when you read his luminous words. Below is an excerpt from the book about him walking his dogs and how joyous and spiritually uplifting it always was for him. It reminded me of all those walks with Abby and how everything felt right in the world when we were out enjoying a good long stroll together. Whenever I was feeling depressed or sad...a walk with Abby would always pull me to a different, better place. She will always have a place on the path next to me.

"Walking is an affirmation of physical life. We're in the world, we're breathing, we're together. I move in a straight line, more or less, along the paths, and sometimes the dogs are right in front of me or beside me, but more often, they are threading around the path, padding in the woods or thickets or marsh on either side of me. I begin to conceive of us as one extended consciousness, reaching out in different directions, sensing, our bodies making a braided trail but our awareness overlapping. That helps, just now, when a self seems fragile, erasable. With the two of them, I'm joined to something else, perception expanded, not just stuck there in the world in my own bereft, perishable, limited body."