I have just opened a Gallery on Imagekind, a US based print on demand service that allows you to purchase fine art prints from as little as $12.74US for prints which can be customized and ordered with millions of combinations of frames, museum quality papers, canvas types, and sizes.

Giclee Technology

Giclee is a form of fine art printing which is superior to any previous form of inkjet printing. Giclee is a French word that means a spray of liquid, which possibly derived from the word “gicleur” meaning “nozzle” or “to squirt.”

The giclee printing system allows a precise level of color representation and ImageKind offers eight different paper types and two different canvas types that are widely used in the visual art world for prints and paintings, look tremendous, and will last for years.

Examples of framed ImageKind prints:

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This is a small selection of the merchandise printed with my artwork and photography available in my giftshop at CafePress.

If you are commissioning a portrait of your favourite pet, the completed portrait can also be made available for purchase on the items in my GiftShop at CafePress at no extra charge.

Coffee Mugs and Tile Boxes

Mouse Mats and Throw Pillows

Framed Prints and Badges

Calenders and Wall Clocks

Journals and a variety of clothing styles

Click to return to my Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Home

A variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, is also available in my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

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animal lover,

RedBubble now offers worldwide shipping and can handle different currencies - USD, Euro, GBP, AUD!

Currently RedBubble offers giftcards, wall art including laminated prints, mounted, canvas and framed to order prints, as well as high quality t-shirts. Here are a few examples of the items that can be purchased with my artwork and photography.

Gift Cards

Laminated Prints

Framed Prints in choice of colours and styles

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Click to return to my Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Home

To purchase a variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, Please visit my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

A variety of wall art, gift ware and apparel featuring my artwork is available in my
GiftShop at CafePress.

RedBubble.com is a new Australian online Art Gallery and Creative Community where you can purchase high quality prints and t-shirts with artwork, photography and digital imagery submitted by a gallery full of Australian artists.

I have recently set up my own gallery at RedBubble so that I can offer prints of some of my artwork and photography for sale. I will also be able to offer prints and t-shirts (and other products as they become available) of commissioned art to my clients.

Please click here to visit my RedBubble Gallery.

I only have a couple of images available for sale right now, but will be adding more as soon as I have a chance to re-scan images at a higher resolution than I use for display on my website gallery.

At the moment it is only for deliveries within Australia, but I am sure that in time, Red Bubble will expand to include many more items that will be available for purchase worldwide.

I have contemplated opening a store at Cafepress for a long time, and once I have my RedBubble gallery up and running I will probably look into Cafepress again.

Michelle

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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:)

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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.

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I was lucky enough to fit in a photo shoot today, this time of a gorgeous Shih Tzu puppy called Sophia.  She is just the sweetest little thing and spent more time trying to climb into my lap for a cuddle than posing for the camera.

Ain’t she cute?

It’s a hard life for a playful puppy!

More photos of Sophia can be viewed in my Photo Gallery.

Shih Tzu Breed Profile:

The Shih Tzu is a happy natured breed that loves children and other animals. They are alert and are usually good watch dogs. They are a low maintenance breed in regards to excercise and feeding requirements, however they do require thorough daily grooming to prevent matting of their long double coat, although pets can be clipped regularly for easier maintenance. Shih Tzu’s are a suitable breed for living in small apartments.

Shih Tzu’s are very intelligent and although they can be stubborn, gentle and persistant training make these dogs a pleasure to own.

They are generally a healthy breed, although renal dysplasia and slipped stifles or kneecaps is not uncommon (and the reason for purchasing a puppy through a reputable breeder or Rescue organisation).

As they also have slightly protuding eyes, they can be prone to injury.  The biggest health problem with this breed is caused by neglecting the coat which can lead to tangles, hot spots, painful mats and skin infections - daily grooming or frequent clipping are essential for this breed. 

More information on this lovely breed can be found on the American Shih Tzu Club website.

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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

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They are all pets that I was lucky enough to photograph today:)

Darth Maul and Padme are both Merino Suffolk cross sheep, Bambi is a four day old orphaned Fallow Deer Fawn and Lucy is a gorgeous dog! I can’t decide which one to paint first so keep an eye out for the artwork to follow!

Here are some of my favourite photos from the shoot:

Michelle

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