Meet Patsy, a new furry face to love.

Thanksgiving day my husband and I, daughter Meridith, her fiancé Mitch, and my mother feasted in style while our 2, Mom's 1,  and Mer and Mitche's 3 dogs more or less lay politely at our feet. We were missing and remembering our recently passed senior dog, Petey and M and M's Stella.  Friday the four of us and our five dogs loaded up in Johnny's van and drove to Pacolet SC to visit Dreamweaver Farms, home of Carolina Poodle Rescue, to meet adoptable dogs and see if we could help fill the hole in our hearts and give another dog a furever home. 

Johnny and I fell on love with beautifully little Lisa whom we renamed Patsy Louise. Mer and Mitch had given up on finding their perfect match for their household but, on the way back to the van, laid eyes upon a gorgeous big cream Standard Poodle named Lily. It took another trip back to the farm on Saturday, but Lily is now a member of their family and happily settling in her new home in Gainesville FL. 

Believe me, there's a real art to going through a successful adoption at CPR. You can start out with specific wants and needs in mind ... I wanted a small poodle, my husband wanted whatever we ended up with to be a male. My daughter wanted a little female something, preferably a poodle, to cuddle. As you seen we ended up with another white hairy Petey looking dog, a little long legged female, possessing the softest hair you could ever imagine, and M and M, who wanted to find a little girl to cuddle, went home with the biggest of the biggest Standard Poos.  

We can't force love or art. We need to be open to going with the beautiful opportunities that arise, to seeing things with new perspectives. Watercolors especially have a mind of their own and constantly force me to adjust my thinking about my subject matter.  Patsy has given me perspective on losing sweet Pete. I'm ready to pick up my brushes and finish his portrait. In the meantime, here's Patsy Louise. 

A Portrait of Petey

Sunday, November 16, our beloved little senior dog, Petey, had a seizure in the morning.  After an emergency visit to the vet we learned both his kidneys and heart had started to fail and he likely had a brain tumor.  We spent the day saying our goodbyes to him, and by evening he let us know he was in pain and it was time to help him leave the world.  He's buried in our back yard next to his sister, Maggie and kitty Sam.  Wednesday, at my husband's request, I started this portrait of him. When I reached his eyes I had to set it aside.  A portrait begins to come alive for me when I start to paint the eyes.  I needed some time to adjust to my intention and emotions.   I have a lot of dark detail work yet to do on this, and I'd hoped to have it done by Thanksgiving day.  Petey brought so much joy and laughter into our family when we rescued him. He was such a cute little dog that every moment was a Kodak moment - or worthy of a painting.  We are thankful to have been owned by him.

More Poodle Painting

This is Chloe.  After seeing my painting of Millie and Daisy on the Carolina Poodle Rescue Family and Friends Facebook page (our Millie is a CPR rescue dog), I was contacted and commissioned to do a 5 x 7 painting of Chloe as a Christmas present for my client's mother, Chloe's owner.  The original photo I was given to work from was not high resolution which meant the details of her beautiful face were not clear at all.  It also showed Miss Chloe as being all white.  Not wanting to say no, I asked for and was supplied with other pictures and realized that Chloe has lovely apricot coloring too.  I ended up gathering information from a number of different shots taken in different lighting.  This is not an ideal way to come up with an accurate likeness so you can imagine my joy when, after emailing my client a photograph of the finished painting, she replied that she loved it and it looks just like Chloe!!

Working on Chloe brought back so many memories of another beautiful pale apricot Standard we were owned by when my girls were little named Abby.  She was shy but ever so anxious to please and was a joy to take through obedience training.  Before Abby we'd had Tuffy, a large black Miniature who was my baby before I had human babies. After Abby was Charlotte (Charlie, a black Standard) ), then Magnolia Mae (Maggie, another black Standard), Petey, our senior who will turn 15 next month (a roadside rescued Havanese mix I've yet to paint), Mildred Mae (Millie) and Daisy Mae.  Each fur baby has delighted us with their own special personality, so when I was commissioned to paint Chloe I asked about her and was told "she's very spoiled and mischievous."  Those traits definitely did NOT show up in any of the photos but, knowing Standard Poodles as well as I do, I think I was able to capture the very direct human like gaze typical of this super intelligent breed. They're also known for their terrific sense of humor.  I think Chloe appears to be planning what she intends to get into if someone doesn't come up with something very entertaining ASAP.

A Commission and Two Poodles

I finished another commission that I was nervous about even starting - a jumping horse and rider.  The photo I worked from offered a number of challenges, but my client was able to also provide a few other photos of the same horse and rider that were helpful.  It's a little nerve wracking to do a painting of a horse that you know will be seen by a lot of horse owners and riders, especially when you know next to nothing about horses to begin with.  But, as I worked, I connected to what I was painting and my client was please - so I was pleased!

Wednesday I med with my artist group and decided I was going to tackle painting our two poodles, something I'd avoided because painting that much curly hair and working in black and white seemed very daunting to me.  Turns out I loved painting Millie (our Standard Poodle) and Daisy (our Miniature), the "girls!"  I shared this painting with the rescue group we adopted Millie from, Carolina Poole Rescue, and have to admit, poodle people are definitely partial to poodle paintings!!  Next on my list is our darling senior doggy, Pete, who's all white.  After all, I can do white horses!

Seeing the world in a new light....

Today my mother turned 96.  I took her shopping and out to lunch yesterday to celebrate.  Our SC weather has been crazy with record highs for this time of year and record lows yesterday complete with snow in the Midlands area - we had some flakes.  I was exhausted by the time we headed home but Mom was still happily chatting away, having bought a purse she was delighted with (lightweight and not too big for her petite size).  We stopped at a traffic light and she said, "See those trees?  They're not just green.  There's yellow and dark greens and pale greens and spaces between them that are dark and also light showing through.  Since I've been working on my art more the last two years I see so much more when I look around!"

I was thrilled with her observation because it's something I've become so aware of myself ever since I started to paint.  It's such a personal awareness and difficult to explain to people who aren't seeing with an artist's eyes.  Mom and I talked about how easy it is to get almost distracted sometimes with the things we see - the way light falls on objects, the way things we once used to think of as red, blue, brown, etc. are so many different values of a color or are made up of more than one color when we look closely.  We both have noticed that we can become sidetracked from what we're watching on TV when beautiful lighting or scenery or such catches our attention.

I can remember times when I've been outside and felt life and joy fill me when I realized what a beautiful day it was.  Painting has opened my eyes to different kinds of beauty -  intricate, simple, subtle, harsh, smooth, textured ... I'm so grateful for this experience, and I'm so happy that my mom, at her age, is alert and aware, still learning, being inspired by and experiencing things that are so pleasurable to her.  It's something to aspire to.