Black and White Shih Tzu baby

As I was going through my drawings I found this drawing of a baby Shih tzu that wasn't more than 3 days old. He was so peaceful sleeping.

Black and White Shih Tzu puppy

It's amazing to see puppies grow. I remember seeing this puppy when it was just a few days old.

Cute Shih Tzu puppy

I never get tired of seeing cute puppies, especially if there a Shih Tzu. There face is so cute...it's an AH moment.

IF -- Paisley

Suzie was so happy to show off her new paisley dress.

Shih Tzu

I haven't painted puppies in a while. This is a Shih Tzu puppy.

Hen with attitude

This is my interpretation of a Polish White Crested Buff Hen. Chickens seem to have their own attitude...it's all in the eyes and beck. Acrylics, watercolors, and markers.

Chickens anyone???

Have you ever had a moment where an idea,an image,a video, or a photo in a book or magazine caught your attention?

Well I'll tell you a little secret that only people that know me and have come to my house....I LOVE CHICKENS. I have roosters and chickens sprinkled all through the house. The French believe roosters and chickens are good luck for a house and kitchen. And you know, you never can have enough good luck; I happen to have over 75 pieces of good luck though out my house.

So yesterday I was flipping through some magazine in Barnes and Noble when I came a across an article about backyard chickens. It wasn't so much the article, it was the colorful images of chickens and roosters. I came home and googled different varieties of chickens and found a Polish Golden chicken that caught my attention. So I was inspired to draw and paint my interpretation of the chicken.



In my moleskin I did a quick contour drawing of the rooster in pencil. Then I added color using markers and watercolor paint.


I probably will go outside later and re-take this photo because it came out a little dark.

IF -- Ripple

The canal water in Venice, Italy had a rippling effect as the boats gently moved side to side.

Chinese brush paintings

It's been a rather long couple of months that I haven't been able to go to my monthly Chinese Brush Painting class. Last Saturday I felt well enough to attend. We painted Chinese mountains and Cattleya flowers. After a few trial runs, my hand finally was steady enough to paint without making a whole bunch of mistakes.

New digital camera

Yesterday I bought my husband a new digital camera. It's a Sony Cyber Shot 14.1 mega pixels. It's an early Father's Day present. So I decided to try it out.

This is the very first picture I took of my favorite girl. I can see a painting coming out of this photo.

We already have a Sony Cyber-shot 8.1 mega pixel camera, which has taken some really wonderful pictures. We're hoping with the added benefit of more mega pixels that the photo's we snap will be just as wonderful, if not better.

Watercolor Journals

Last week I was knee deep in making watercolor journals. I finally got to use some of the pretty handmade papers that I've been hoarding over the years.This is just a sampling of what I made. Once I got the process done, the rest was easy.

If-- trail

Oh...it was so difficult to push my red ball up the mountain trail.

IF-- Slither

Coco thought if he held his breath he could slither under the fence.

Magnolia collage

I wanted to try something different. I printed on watercolor paper an old ledger sheet. Then I sketched a magnolia with bud over the ledger sheet. Finally used watercolor pencil to add color.

Bunnies in Love

Max and Sophie just met and it was instant love.

IF-- Early

It's way to Early to get up without my coffee!

Handmade watercolor journal for birds

This morning I made another watercolor journal. I happened to see a you tube video last night demo Japanese Stab binding, so I thought I'd give it a try. For this journal I use the following materials: decorative paper for front and back cover;green card stock to put attach to the decorative paper to make it more secure; 20 pieces of tracing paper/watercolor paper; and green ribbon to bind the journal.

Front Cover

Side view

tracing paper with line drawing.

Before I ever start a painting I like to workout the details on tracing paper. Once I'm satisfied, I transfer the drawing to watercolor paper. So when I put this journal together, I incorporated the tracing paper into the journal.

Completed painting. American goldfinch

Hand made watercolor journal

Over the weekend I made myself a watercolor journal. I enjoyed the whole process from picking out the paper for the outside cover to the watercolor sheets inside the journal. I probably have about 25 pages of watercolor paper which I sewed together. On the back inside cover I made a envelope to hold references.

IF--Equipment

When I think of equipment, I think of the equipment I use to create my watercolors...watercolor paints, paper,brushes,and water jar.

Field of yellow and red tulips

Just finished this watercolor moments ago. This is the 3rd painting of tulips that I will be offering as a series of 4 note cards. Once the 4Th painting is complete I'll update to my Etsy site.

12" x 12" watercolor block
Daniel smith watercolors

IF--Fearless

The baby bird was fearless as he came out of his shell!

A field of tulips

I just love tulips! Watercolor 12" x 12". I really like this format size of my canvas. Fabriano extra white watercolor block. Daniel Smith watercolors.

IF--Cocoon

When I saw the word Cocoon, it instantly made me think about a baby bird forming inside the warm cocoon of an egg.

Spring is here!

With the weather changing and all the flowers blooming...I can tell Spring has arrived.

Watercolor 12" x 12"

IF--Muddy

Rufus had a difficult time not getting all muddy!

IF - - Focused

Maggie is so focused on her bowl of food!

IF-- wilderness

Nothing like mother and child out in the wildness.

Happy Birthday "Just Crazy About Dogs"

It's hard to believe that I started this blog 4 years ago today. When I started Just Crazy About Dogs blog it was to keep the creative juices flowing and also a place to see my work progress.

Since starting my blog, I've moved from Washington State back home to California. Two of my beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have gone to the rainbow bridge. We adopted a boy dog "Coco" from the shelter and I'm waiting for a new Shih Tzu puppy to be born hopefully sometime this year.

As for my creative outlet, I take an on-going Chinese brush class once a month, which has allowed me to become more loose with my style of painting. I've learned how to bind books and make them; I've developed the Finger Touch Stamper, which I have a patent pending; I finally opened an Etsy shop to sell prints and cards of my work; I've gotten rather involved with making greeting cards from rubber stamp images and lots of embellishments; But....most of all, I create art every day. I think without having this blog I would of gotten lazy and not make the effort to create. So I'm rather thankful that I could have this forum to share my work.

So a heart felt "Thank You" to all those that have visited.

IF--Confined

This weeks illustration Friday's word is "Confined". I liked the idea of the bird being free and the flowers being confined in his cage.

Papillon's anyone???

This is another dog I was considering getting was a Papillon. There known for their butterfly ears. They look rather fragile, but are quite a hardy dog. After visiting several breeders, I decided that this was not a breed for me. Very hyper, cute but hyper. Who knows I might change my mind about the breed.

Birds of Murano

A couple of years ago I spent a fabulous week in Venice, Italy. While there I fell in love with this beautiful bird flower vase. Unfortunately the birds on the vase are so fragile that I'm not able to use to display flowers in;instead this vase sits in my hutch.

cavalier on couch

I've been going through my moleskin finding drawings that needed to be complete. I sometimes start a drawing and if I feel it's not working I put it aside and revisit at another time. With this drawing I wanted to include my harp in background with the dog lounging on the couch.

Shih Tzu puppy sleeping

I've been on a waiting list for almost a year for a Imperial Shih Tzu puppy. While the mother dog had puppies and this was one of the female fur babies available. I really had my heart set on a Chocolate fur baby, seriously thought about buying her. After three days of uncertainty I decided not to get her ...I hear she went to a good home. So I'm still waiting for my Chocolate fur baby.

I really like the way this goddess turned out. I created her in my moleskin using colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and acrylic paint. I think it's just a matter of practicing drawing faces before I really feel comfortable doing them.

Goddess with lots of hair

With this goddess portrait I did this using watercolor pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paint, and rubber stamps.

Goddess #6

With each portrait I seem to be getting more comfortable with doing portraits.

Goddess with black hair

On this goddess I used colored pencil for the shading.

Goddess #4

I think my goddesses are getting better. Figuring out how to shade the face and trying to get the nose just right.

Goddess #3

Another goddess using neocrayon in my moleskin. The right eye looks a little wacky.

Goddess #2

Here is another attempt at drawing goddesses in my moleskin. I made the mistake of using both sides of the page,which unfortunately cut the portrait in half.

Portraits of goddesses

I took an online goddess portrait class, learning how to draw faces in my moleskin. This was my first attempt.

Collages

I forgot I had completed this collage piece that I did in my sketch book. This piece is a 2 page spread using napkins, digital art clips,watercolor paint, oil pastels, and markers. When trying to do collages in a sketchbook, I discovered that if I glued 2 or 3 pages together, the collage stayed some what flat and the paper didn't bleed.

Doing collages seems to be a several step process and waiting for the layers to dry before a new layer could be applied. I think this piece took me a total of 12 hours to complete.

Happy New Year!!! 2010

OK, 2009 was kind of a rough year and I'm so glad it is over! I'm not going to post goals for 2010 because life has a tendency to take over; so instead I'm going to live in the moment and see what happens. All I know is that I want to draw, paint, and practice playing my harp everyday. I happen to find this photo of me taken back in 2004; I forgot how sometimes the simplest things in life make me smile.