I also received my first pet portrait commission that I will be posting on www.PetIllustrations.com and mailing out later today.  I haven’t launched my online marketing plan, in hopes that I get a few more local orders to ‘test’ the ordering process, but I should be starting by the end of the week.  Wish me luck, and again I am open to ideas!

I got an idea for a new painting series that will allow me to branch off from the architecture series I’ve been working with for the last several years.  It’s been a while since I had a series concept that I was excited about.  We’ll see how that develops in the months to come.

Lastly, I’m hoping to start on a new piece, possibly for the gallery, to seal the end of my “Artist Block.”  It may or may not have something to do with the new series idea.  Oh, and with Halloween, my favorite holiday nearing, I might be doing something related to that, time permitting.

You see, we have been trying to conceive a child for the last three years, undergoing infertility treatments for half of that.  It has been a long and arduous journey, that has taken it’s toll on me emotionally.  So for the last six months we’ve been heavily weighing our options and seriously considering adoption.  A couple weeks ago we concluded that rather than undergo anymore treatments at this time, we are going to try and adopt an infant.

As many of you know adoption isn’t cheap, and our funds have been seriously depleted by infertility costs.   Despite the federal adoption credits and programs out there, we know that we will need to raise quite a bit of money to help fund this adoption.  Which is where my talents are going to be put to use.  My husband and I have created a new website www.petillustrations.com, for which I have created several pet portrait samples to display.  I hope that everyone will check it out and consider commissioning me for a pet portrait to help our cause.  Additionally, I will be trying to market the site on various pet and adoption forums and groups, so if anyone has any information or ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.

“…we fed him a banana last night, and he fell asleep in the palm of my hand. We put him in his basket outside on the back porch for the night and this morning, he was still curled up sleeping in there around 7:30am…”

As I looked at the images and read about him, I kept thinking how adorable he was. So small and vulnerable, but also brave and sweet. I wondered about his courage and what made him unique; before long I was thinking up a story about his life and how he came to be there.

“Knight,” 30×40 inches, acrylic on canvas (I’m still working on a better photo. If you look closely you can see the clematis at the bottom).

“Chivalry”, 30×36 inches, mixed media (collage, acrylic, pen and ink). A major change in the last hour included taking out the top center helmet and replacing it with knights on horses jousting.

Frames: Ended up purchasing two frames from Hobby Lobby. One needs to be painted and the other had to be cut down to size, but I think they will both work very well.

Drawing: Completely done, mounted, and framed in the shadow box. It’s difficult to see the 3-D effect in a photograph, but I tried anyway. My (great, wonderful, stupendous) husband and I spent well into the morning, and used a whole package of round self-adhesive foam core to lift each piece off the background, so that they create a 3-D cityscape.

“Knight”: Completed final critique, just waiting to complete the finishing touches and frame. No photo available (I took a few, but none they were all horrible).

“Chivalry”: Incomplete. I decided to add another element to the painting before completion. (Below is my progress, most noticeable is that I continued the knight down over the castle, to help regain it’s dominance).

I’ve actually taken a couple steps backwards with “Knight” the stone bricks just weren’t cutting it, so I bought some sea sponges and went to work. As much as I hated the idea of starting them over, (it’s a huge setback), but my pride wouldn’t allow me to submit a painting I’m not satisfied with, as would’ve been the case. Please forgive the horrible photo I was in a hurry because I need to get to the hardware store to buy molding to create frames for the paintings (ya, that does mean that not only do I need to finish each the painting, I have to make the frames and frame everything.)

I’ve made several changes to “Chivalry” this week. I darkened the castle, the cat, and the dress; but I still have a ton to do.

Last, but not least I’ve made a lot of progress on the drawing. I still have to cut them out better, arrange and layer them, draw the background, mount them onto the board, and frame them.

At this point I could use all the luck I can get. If everything doesn’t go perfectly this weekend one or more of these pieces will not be ready for the show; and therefore not be submitted. Keep your fingers crossed!!!!