My "Mug Shots" entry for Canine Art Guild

The theme was "Mug Shots", it seems simple enough, but it left me stumped. What makes you remember a dogs face? I was considering drawing my own dogs, they certainly are my muses. Especially since they're always around when I'm working. If I'm having a hard time drawing a particular feature on a dog, they also work well as live models. However, I know I need to branch out and draw more breeds. So, I started thinking of breeds that lasting memories when I see them in public.

I started thinking about the two Pekingese dogs that must live somewhere near my house. I usually see them when I'm driving in my car and I must look silly when I slow down to pass them. They're little feet are barely visible under all the fur, they almost look like they're defying gravity as they move over the sidewalk. You can barely see their faces as well, the only thing really visible feature from my car is their little pink tongues hanging in the air. Simply put, seeing them always makes me smile and makes me happy to see my dogs when I come home.


So here is my entry, "This Is My Happy Face". I just loved this little guys expression. 11"x14" Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord

Slick's Portrait

I decided to write a post as a follow up to my Valentine's Day Contest. It was a very hard choice!There were many moving stories, I actually lost sleep on who I should pick to be the winner. I decided to make Slick the winner because he inspired his owner to rescue more dogs and to become a dog handler. My dogs, Lorna and Stella, have always inspired me to help other animals, so I really was moved by Slick's story. Here is Slick's portrait 11"x14" Pastel on Velour.

Valentine's Day Contest!

Hi everyone,

I have a very special announcement to make for my website! I am going to be having a special contest in honor of one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day!

I've always had a soft spot for the holiday, so I wanted to share my appreciation for the day!

All that's needed to enter is to "like" my facebook page and write me a message on why your pet is the perfect Valentine! The winner will be picked by me and receive a custom portrait! The deadline to enter is Friday February 11th.

This contest is being sponsored by my friends at Leashes and Lovers and the winner will also receive a copy of Sheryl Matthys' book "Leashes and Lovers What Your Dog Can Teach You About Love Life and Happiness"

Did I say I had 4 pets....

As I was posting the last entry in my blog, my dog Stella was altering me to an animal in our backyard. This is typical for Stella. A lot of times it's not even an animal, it's leaf that floated by the window. However, this time, she was right on the money.

So, I logged off and went to go see what had her barking with such enthusiasm. It turned out to be a kitten! So my heart broke into a little pieces and I couldn't just sit and watch. I grabbed my coat and went out into the cold outdoors. The kitten responded to me and started to chirp. It was trying it's best to come up to me, but I could tell it was scared. So, I did what any animal lover would do and I made sure it was inside. So, I got out the havaheart trap and tuna fish.

So of course I fell in love with the kitten. This kitten is super sweet. Right now he's being kept separate from our other pets. I'm really happy that we are fostering him! He's such a sweet kitten and I'm really happy that we saved him. He's very underweight, so I don't thin he would have lived long outside. I let the dogs see him and so far they are getting along very well. We named him Logan. We're keeping our fingers crosses that he doesn't have FIV or Feline Leukemia, since that would make it hard to find him a home if we don't end up keeping him. Our vet wants to wait until the kitten is 6 months old to be sure the test results won't give false results. Our vet thinks he's around 2 months old. So I guess now we have 4 pets and 1 foster kitten! Our other pets are Simon a big red kitty, Lorna and Stella both tri color King Charles Cavalier Spaniels, and Sophie a standard grey chinchilla.


He's so sweet and affectionate. Take a look at the pictures I took of him. He even got in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas Kitty!

This is a portrait for my Aunt Joanne and my Uncle Tom! It's of their persian cat Zackary. It was a surprise for them (I didn't even tell my Mom about the top secret project!) Since it's already been given as a gift, I figured it would be ok to post it!




Zacky's Portrait is an 8x10, Pastels on Velour Paper.

Getting Back

So it's been a while. I would like to apologize for the long break. I had a neck injury from an accident and was in bad shape. There wasn't much that I could do that didn't result in pain. So under doctors orders, I need to take a break so I could get back in shape. Now I'm slowly getting back into things.

I do have many things to blog about! I won Best in Show in very tough international art competition! I also have been selling prints of my work and portions of the proceeds went to various organizations. So I have many things to be grateful for while I was going through this ordeal. The one thing I've learned is true, I'm even more grateful for my work. Even though I can't sit at the drafting table for a long periods of time, it's become even more rewarding for me now.

One thing that happened recently that I would share with everyone, I had the opportunity to meet one of my idols, Denis Leary! I have always loved his comedy and his spirit. I'm a fan of Rescue Me and The Ref is one of my favorite movies. Mostly, I love the support he has given to NYC Firefighters. So when I heard that he was going to be at a book signing promoting his new Book, I knew I had to be there!

I decided to take it a step further and I wanted to give him something, however I only had a day to do it (I heard about the book signing the day before). I knew he has a huge love for Irish Wolfhounds. At one point, he had five of them. Clancy, is the one that most of his fans know about. He was even on Rescue Me and featured in his Roast. Sadly, Clancy passed away while he was writing his last book. So I decided to draw a portrait of an Irish Wolfhound and hope that the coloring would be close to Clancy. There was a small picture on his website, but the footage from his Roast was very helpful. So I after 8 hours I was able to finish it and frame it. Thankfully, I had time to scan it too.



To say I was nervous is a huge understatement. I also was wearing heavy layers because I assumed we were going to be waiting outside (we live in NJ near NYC, it's very cold right now). We ended up being inside, so I was overheating. So being very hot and nervous wasn't a good combination for me! I was very happy that I didn't faint or do something that would have mortified me when I got the front of the line. When I got to meet him, I think I said something along the lines of "Hi Mr. Leary, I know how much you like Irish Wolfhounds, so I made this for you. I tried to find a picture of Clancy so I could get the coloring close to his." He said, "Oh Wow! Do I get to keep it? It looks very close to Clancy!" So hopefully he like it and wasn't just being nice to later put my work in the creepy stalker gift pile.

Anyway, he pose for a picture with us (that's my handsome hubby Marc, he's also a really big fan of his). I honestly could have cried I was so happy! It was a great day! (Told you I was overheating, look how pink our cheeks are in the picture!)

Intermission...

While I'm working on some new art, I thought I would post a video for your entertainment.

Here's one of my favorite videos, it's of my Mom and Dad's cat Valerie. I love this cat so much! She's a very sweet!

Here is a portrait I did of Valerie. It's also one of my favorites. It was one of my first pet portraits and I gave it to my Dad for Father's Day. I know I've changed my techniques since this portrait, but there's just something that I like about this one. I have the tendency to be a bit critical when I look at my older work, by this one gives me warm fuzzy feelings. Probably because I have such a soft spot for Valerie. Her little nickname is "Moo Moo." When she was a kitten she would walk around the house saying "Moo Moo!" it was just too precious! I think I should dig up her kitten pictures!