There are so many animals of different kinds that end up in Rescue due to abandonment or abuse worldwide, not to mention the huge number of wild animal species affected by human behaviour and destruction of habitats. Most of the Rescue and Charity Organizations that help theses animals depend solely on donations to help them continue with their work.

While I have supported various animal charities for many years, I guess like many animal lovers, Ive always wanted to be able to do more to help more of these organizations continue with their wonderful (and desparately needed) work. The problem of course is that there are so many worthwhile animal charities that need help, from dogs and cats to native Australian animals, tigers, pandas, wolves and endangered wildlife worldwide, how is it possible to help all those in need of financial assistance?

I am happy to create and donate artwork for fundraising purposes, however due to the time it takes to create my very detailed portraits, there is a limit to how many I have time to fit into my schedule. Also, rather than donate to just a couple of organizations I would like to help as many as possible as possible, and so I have come up the idea of an “Art for Animal Rescue” Referal Program in which $15.00 AU of each paid pet portrait commission referred to me by any organization in the program will be donated back to that organization.

A selection of different size website links, banners and graphics are available for Groups to use on their website or newsletter, and a small poster promoting my “Art for Animal Rescue” program can be sent out for display on a noticeboard if the group has a public facility.

The program is open to non-profit, no-kill groups, including animal breed clubs that do rescue work, wildlife groups and registered charities. International organizations/rescue groups are welcome to join the program (must be able to accept payment through Paypal).

If you would like to support your local animal charity, please ask them to sign up for my “Art for Animal Rescue” program so that I can support them to.

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Michelle

Technorati Tags: animal rescue, fundraising, dog art, painting, artist, artwork, donation, Pet portraits Home

Taking nice photographs of pets and other animals is the easy part when you know how - part of it involves taking hundreds at a time:).  That’s the best thing about digital cameras, taking hundred’s of photos every day isn’t expensive like it was in the days of film.

But learning to take good photographs is only the start , you really need to learn how to use a good graphics program like Photoshop, or at least that’s what I tell myself after I’ve spent *another* three hours playing with a photo;)  Seriously though, there are so many cool effects that you can do with graphics programs that it is so worth the time and effort that it takes to learn how to use them.

Generally speaking, it is always better to get everything with the lighting, pose and background as perfect as possible before you take the photo.  But sometimes with animals that is just not possible - especially when photographing cats.  If you have a cat, well then you know that cats just do what they want when they want and you really just have to work with them rather than against them.  Ha ha - otherwise you end up with a cat-astrophe!

The first photo below is an original photo of one of our cat’s, Tara and is a good example of the background not being perfect.  Tara is not a particularly affectionate cat and she really does not like having her photo taken so good photos of her are few and far between (actually, that is an understatement, judging by her reaction when she sees it, I am sure she thinks that the camera is some sort of cat-torture-device!). 

However, I managed to snap this photo of her as she was running away from my camera/cat-torture-device only because she stopped to give me this look of disgust:) 

Unfortunately, in the photo it looks like she has a stick growing out of her ear and under her chin. 

Thank goodness for Photshop because I was able to remove the stick that was growing out her ear, as well as the bit under her chin.  I also burned the background edges to focus more on Tara’s face and I lightened her eyes just a tad.  Viola!  Now I finally have a photo of Tara worth having enlarged and framed!

In a similar fashion, using the clone stamp, healing brush and blur tools of various diameter I was also able to remove the collar and tags from this photo of Jess, and then burn in a black background so that the focus is now directly on Jess.  Oh yeah, and I removed the gooby drool hanging from her bottom lip (the Schmacko’s made her do it!)

Taking a photo from this…

 To this…. 

Although I really need to put a white border around it so that the edge of the photo shows up against the black of this page.

I’ve always believed that Photography is in itself an artform, and just like photography, using a graphics program to enhance or improve photos is just like learning to use another art medium (like pastels or oil paint).  At some stage in the future I’d really like to explore abstract nature photography combined with digital manipulations because I think that the possibilities for creating unique art would be endless, and a lot of fun.  Course I will have to work out how to fit another three or four days into the week just to find the time:)

Technorati Tags: photography, pet photographer, Photo Gallery, artist, photography shoot, pet photography, dog, Australian Cattle Dog, abstract photography, nature photography dog photography, cat photography, photoshop, editing, digital photography

Happy New Year everyone! Wow, where has the last month gone? The rush of Christmas has come and gone and here we are already at the end of the first week of 2007.

While I havn’t managed to update this blog in the last month, I have finally had the time to add some new work to the Dog gallery and also the Photography Gallery. I quite often get asked about my techniques by other artists, and I actually managed to take some progress photos of two of the Christmas portraits that I did (the Rottweiler and the Chihuahua) and will put them togther as a work in progress type thread.

During my short break over Christmas and New year (I certainly needed it after the last minute commissions I had to finish), I had the opportunity to do several dog and cat photography sessions in the Perth area and have added a few to the photography gallery and have included a few of my favourites below.

Close-up images of animal faces, especially the eyes is a re-curring theme in both my artwork and photography.  I truly believe the eyes are the windows to the soul, and by focusing (no pun intended!) on the eyes, I think it allows the spirit and soul of the animal to shine through.

Buffy having a rest

Meesha - grey, cream and white Domestic Shorthair

Jess - Australian cattle Dog (Blue Heeler)

Tia - Up close and personal with my own dog

The one below is obviously not an animal, but I also enjoy nautre and landscape photography.  I took this one late in the evening at Roley Pools, the timing was great in as far as the golden evening light was concerned and I am quite happy with photos from that shoot.

Additional photos from these sessions can be viewed in my Photograph Gallery.

Technorati Tags: photography, pet photographer, Perth pet photographer, Photo Gallery, artist, artwork, photography shoot, puppy, pet portrait, pet photography, dog, Shih Tzu, Shar Pei, Australian Cattle Dog, landscape photography, nature photography dog photography, cat photography

Taking photographs of animals is not always as easy as it may seem, particularly capturing images that suitable to use as reference material for a Pet Portrait, so, knowing what I need in a good reference photo, I have offered a photography session for local (Perth) clients for a while. 

I enjoy photography so much that I am planning on expanding my business in 2007 to include Pet Photography as well as Pet Portraiture.  Definitely the best of both world’s (art and photography) and the best part is I get to play with lots of animals!

I have now added a Photography Gallery on my website with some more of my animal and wildlife photos.

The two below are of my Cat Tara (our rather unsociable cat who thinks that all humans except our eldest daughter have germs) and Gus, a gorgeous Rottweiler that I had the privelege of photographing last week.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Technorati Tags: photography, pet photographer, Photo Gallery, artist, artwork, wildlife photography, dog, pet portrait, pet photography, cat, Rottweiler

The combination of soft pastels and velour paper is quickly becoming my preferred medium and support for animal artwork, and I thought it would be good to provide some information about pastels as a Fine Art medium.

Pastels are pure finely ground pigments that are rolled or shaped into sticks using a soft binder to hold the particles together.  The pigments used to create pastel sticks are the same pigments used to create all coloured art mediums including oil and acrylic paints.  Pastels as a Fine Art medium have been used for hundreds of years by many of the Masters, including Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, Cassatt and Matisse among many others. 

Although some people refer to them as ‘chalk’ pastels, this really is a misnomer as pastels are not anything like the chalk sticks you will find in a classroom - nor do they only come in soft light ‘pastel’ colours, they do in fact come in many vibrant colours 

According to Answers ”pigment applied with pastel does not change in colour value, the final effect can be seen immediately. Pastel remains on the surface of the paper and thus can be easily obliterated unless protected by glass or a fixative spray of glue size or gum solution. When pastel is applied in short strokes or linearly, it is usually classed as drawing; when it is rubbed, smeared, and blended to achieve painterly effects, it is often regarded as a painting medium.”

There are several types of pastels available to artists as defined by Answers:

Soft pastels — This is the most widely used form of pastel. The sticks have a higher portion of pigment and less binder, resulting in brighter colors.

Hard pastels — These have a higher portion of binder and less pigment, producing a sharp drawing material that is useful for fine details. These can be used with other pastels for drawing outlines and adding accents.

Pastel pencils — These are pencils with a pastel lead. They are useful for adding fine details.

Oil Pastels - These have a soft, buttery consistency and intense colors. They are slightly more difficult to blend than soft pastels, but do not require a fixative.

Water-soluble pastels — These are similar to soft pastels, but contain a water-soluble component, such as glycol. This allows the colors to be thinned out using a water wash.

Personally I work mostly with soft pastels, with a few hard pastels and pencils for final line work, as the softness is very suitable for creating believeable, almost touchable animal fur.

Finally, pastel artwork (with the exception of art that is mostly line work) is generally referred to as paintings rather than drawings, and due to the delicate nature of pastel paintings, it is very important that they are cared for properly and framed in the correct manner, with an acid free mat and behind glass so that they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

Hahnemuhle Pastel Paper is produced in Germany using inert synthetic fibres on an acid free backing sheet.  This beautiful paper actually feels like velour fabric, and because of the nap (long fibres) it holds most pastels very well.  Of the soft pastels that I use, I choose the harder ones (if that makes sense) as some of the more softer brands are more delicate when used on velour paper. This velour paper comes in a range of colours that are all lightfast (so they are resistant to fading) and they all have acid free backing which prevents yellowing over time.

So there you have it, pastels and velour paper, my new favourite medium and support for animal artwork!

Technorati Tags: art, artist, artwork, velour, pastel, old masters, soft pastel, art medium, dog art, Fine Art schminke Hahnemuhle

I posted a couple of cat ACEO’s (original Art Cards) on Ebay yesterday. I decided to try the Aussie ebay site for a change, I usually list ACEO’s on the US ebay site as ACEO’s are much more well known there (A search on Ebay.com.au for the term ACEO reveals all of 92 items today compared to several thousand on the US site). ACEO’s are not very well known over here in Australia though, so it is a bit of a gamble at best. More and more Aussie artists are now creating them though, so hopefully they will become well collected in the future.

I have also removed my Ebay Art Store as it is not proving to be worth the cost or effort, largely due to all the messing around Ebay has been doing recently. I might consider re-opening it in the future, but until I can have a really good number of items in the store it seems pointless to keep paying Ebay for low views!

Marmelade and White Kitten
Click to view on Ebay

Marmelade and White Kitten

White Persian ACEO

White Persian (Closeup view)

Click to view on Ebay

Technorati Tags: art, artist, artwork, ebay, aceo, art card, color pencil, persian cat,
cat art, kitten , australian artist

I’ve managed to do the next two of the “In The Night” ACEO series, #2 is a chestnut stallion “Trojan In The Night” and #3 is another cat (yes I have a real big thing for cats at the moment:) “Boo In The Night”.

Here are a couple more, “Kaiser” A German Shepherd Dog. I’m really pleased how this turned out, especially as the eyes are only about 3mm in size!

A Pink and Grey Galah (a common Australian native bird). I tried a looser more painterly approach with this one, which was created as part of an International Artists swap.

And a Gibbon (a primate) - when I saw the reference photo for this one I couldn’t resist the priceless look on his face. I havn’t quite decided what to do with this one, but need to come up with a suitable title first.

As well as getting these ACEO’s done, I’ve also been able to get everything uploaded to the new gallery on my website, it looks much better now, and should be fairly easy for people to navigate.

And now its back to work:)

I am so glad that I found the world of miniatures, the last couple of weeks have been so busy that ACEO size art is the only art work that I can get finished (LOL not that ACEO’s are really that quick, most of them are taking me two hours or so, but compared to larger works they are quick).

I’m sure that things will settle down (time wise at least) when the kids go back to school next week and I will have some decent ‘art time’ and get back to my commission work (and go back to providing some informative blog entries about the animals in my art).

I’m also in the process of changing the gallery on my website, the new one is easier to maintain and looks a lot nicer as well. Hopefully that will be made live sometime next week.

In the meantime, here are my newest ACEO’s:

‘Cob’, Rottweiler dog

Jedi In The Night, torti cat. This is probably my favourite ACEO that I have done so far, and is the first of my “In the Night” series. I like this one so much that I’m not sure if I actually want to list it on Ebay!

“Shakespeare’s Whiskers”, Tuxedo cat

“A Giraffe Called Azizi”. This one was created as part of a group swap with other artists around the world and is now on its way to its new home in the USA. “Azizi” is a Swahili name and Kiswahili word that means “a treasure, excellent; precious one.” LOL - I hope the artist who get’s this one thinks so:)

And last but not least is “Surprised Miss Marmalade”, a cute maralade and white kitten with a very surprised look on her face.

Bye for now and Happy Australia Day for any aussies who read this blog!

Michelle

Well, I didn’t get a chance to list the last challenge (SNOW) before the deadline, but I managed to create a new challenge piece and list it during the specified time this week as part of a ‘theme week’ for a group of ACEO artists that I belong to on Ebay.

Its great to see all the different ideas other artists come up with relating to the same theme - if you would like to have a look, just search Ebay for “ACEO Theme Week” or the theme title which is ‘Baby its cold Outside’. LOL this was a bit of a stretch for me as its the middle of summer over here in Western Australia:)

Nevertheless, this polar bear is the piece I came up with, I’m quite happy with this guy, although it has scanned with more yellow than there really is in the original.

Click here to view on Ebay

And this one is ‘Prudence’ the Persian cat.

I think I will hold off on starting my personal ACEO challenge until the kids start back at school in a couple of weeks, there just dosn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything that needs doing!

Cheers

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au

It really is no wonder that these ACEO’s are taking the art world by storm, they are so much fun to do and I am finding them quite addictive:)

I will admit that it is really difficult to get a lot of detail into a painting that is a maximum size of 2.5 by 3.5 inches (the same size as normal trading cards), I’m finding that they are a really good oportunity for me to experiment with a looser, less photorealistic style.

Here are a few that I have done this week, I might try listing some of them on ebay.com.au and the new art auction at the Art-Cards.Org site (I’ll post an update when they are listed for auction).

The first one is a lovely golden retriever ACEO portrait:

A sweet little Siamese Kitten:

A bird this time, a Pink Flamingo:

and something different for me, a landscape - impressionistic in style?

I do have a few more but I will post them on the new ACEO gallery that I am setting up on my website Pencil Portraits as soon as I sort out an image size problem that I seem to be having.

I’m contemplating opening an Ebay store for my ACEO’s, small format art and art jewellery…if I can find enough hours in the day! I’d love to hear if you think this is a good idea or not (what can I say, I’m a Libran and making a decision takes forever!)

Ciao for now!

Michelle