I was tagged by my dear friend Linda to interview Fergie for a dog meme.

(Linda I am thinking of you and Maisie every day and wishing you both the best on her road to recovery!)

Fergie was happy to take part in this post and has provided her answers below, to the best of her abilities.

This is Fergie in front of an oil painting done by my mom in 1969 (love it!!):



And here are her answers:

What are your 5 favorite songs?

1. The sweater song by that Ingrid Michaels girl. You know, the one on the Old Navy commercial? My mom says that is 'our' song and every time it comes on the radio she stops whatever she is doing and cuddles with me and sings it to me. I really like that a lot.
2. The Rolling Stones 'Midnight Rambler'. I love dancing to this song. I am a very good dancer. I like to dance on my hind legs.
3. 'Is This Love' by Bob Marley.
4. 'Waiting for my Ruca' by Sublime because I always cock my head to the dog barking at the beginning
5. Anything fun with a good beat that's easy to dance to.

What are your 5 favorite toys?

1. Green rubber everlasting fun ball. I DO have everlasting fun with this ball.
2. Purple rubber squirrel
3. Black Kong, because that is what I eat my breakfast out of.
4. Any tennis ball.
5. Any stuffed animal that my mom or grandpa or grandma gets me from Goodwill because I get to give it the death shake and tear it to bits.

What are your 5 favorite things to eat?

1. Fishy food by Wellness. My mom hates it because she says it's stinky.
2. Ziwi Peak Venison and Mussels treats. stinky, stinky, yummy, yummy.
3. Bananas
4. Goldfish crackers
5. Plato salmon strips doggie treats. My new fave!

What are your 5 favorite activities?

1. Fetching ball
2. Swimming
3. Dock jumping
4. Dancing with my mom
5. Cuddling under the covers

What are your 5 bad habits?

1. Getting nasty with other dogs over my ball (I'm not a good sharer)
2. Pulling on the leash (sorry mom)
3. I take forever to pee and poo, don't know why
4. I don't bark but sometimes when I growl at dogs outside I get right next to my mom's head and do it when she is laying on the couch. I think that bugs her.
5. Hmm, I'm really pretty good, I can't think of anything else.

And my friends who get tagged to interview their own dogs for their doggie memes are:
Manon and Otis, Leigh and Hugo, and Angie and Merry.

Labels: 5 favorites, dog meme, fergie, fergie chronicles

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Remember Coco?

Well, her parents have a new 'puppy'; a labradoodle named Milo, and they are moving to Memphis (driving there as we speak!) and wanted to get some shots of Milo and their kitties before they left that we could use for decopaw art of them.

They already have 2 big framed prints of their girls, Coco and Maggie, so now we just need to do Milo and the kitties.

I drove up to their home in Mill Creek last weekend on a pretty gloomy looking day, but Milo was such an awesome subject that he was easy to get shots of. As you can see, we had a blast.

I am calling his flying through the air shot 'four off the floor' and will try and tag all of my flying doggie shots as such from now on.

I also had to get some more pics of Coco while I was there, including this shot below. Sadly Maggie was at the groomers when I was there, hence the reason why she isn't pictured here. I hear she is doing ok though, and I think will do much better in the Memphis weather!












'Four Off the Floor'





In this last shot Coco's dad had given her cheese, which they told me makes her smack her lips. I wish I had video of her eating it, it was hilarious and I was laughing so hard I could barely stand up straight. You can see the cheese at the back of her tongue in this shot.

As I mentioned above, the whole family is currently driving to Memphis. I received an email from Ben last night saying they were in Kansas and very tired. Can you imagine driving cross-country with 3 dogs and 2 cats in your car? Send some positive energy their way that all of the doggies and kitties and humans get there safely!

I'll keep y'all posted with the art we design for Milo and the cats.

Labels: coco, four off the floor, milo, pet photography near mill creek, seattle dog photography

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...you decide...





The first time I saw this I laughed, but now I just find it pretty frightening. What do you think?

BTW, this is Lulu, a really adorable 8-month old adopted mutt. She really is very cute normally, as evidenced in the shots below.

We will be designing Decopaw art for her, which I will try to remember to post when the proofs are done.

Labels: Lulu, mutt, scary dogs, smiling dogs

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Last week I had major artist's block. It happens every so often for reasons that are beyond me. I find that my creative juices slow to a crawl, and I stare at my computer, not even knowing where to start.

Most art pieces I design are a process, and the best proofs come through experimenting and sometimes even happy accidents. So it's not always a bad thing when I don't already have a design in mind.

The following proofs are an example of this.

I designed the black, white and red proof first, then the colorful proof was the 4th that I designed.

The black, white and red came from wanting to do an avante-garde design, which is something that Puccini's mom likes. She then asked to see it with teal accents, which I did (not shown here) and then for the final proof I wanted to show her something a bit more colorful, hence the 2nd proof below.

The 3 panels represent the 3 sides of Puccini- the nature-loving side (left panel), the city street savvy side (middle) and home-loving side (right).

I'm anxious to hear what Puccini's mom thinks of these new proofs!

(click on the images to make them larger- note the silhouette detail of Puccini on the bottom left of the 2nd proof- something I think I'll do with all of my triptychs!)

Labels: decopaw dog art, dog silhouette art, puccini, triptych

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Sydney's shoot took place on Sunday January 13th, and is proof that Seattle can be an incredibly beautiful place in the winter. I have never seen so many people outside on a winter day, ever. And that blue sky really was as blue as it looks here.

Sydney was a joy to photograph, and so, so easy. Great dog, very obedient, great parents, wonderful personality, beautiful coloring; a pet photographer's dream.

Labels: olympic mountains, puget sound, queen anne dog photography, seattle pet photographer, sky shots, sydney

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Sometimes at this time of year it's easy to get discouraged when you work outside and the weather is crummy. On Sunday I had a glorious shoot (yes it's actually sunny in Seattle in the winter sometimes) but that's not always the case.

As a location photographer it's important to make the weather work for you, not against you, and to look for opportunities that exist in unlikely places.

Like this shoot of Hanalei. In the past I have been lucky if I get one or two ears-flying shots during a shoot, but in this one I captured no less than 23 photos of Hana's ears flying, a stroke of luck only possible on a windy winter day.

In the 3rd to the last shot it looks like she is saying: "errrr......What?"

Hee hee hee, Hana makes me giggle... hopefully she'll make you giggle too...

Labels: dog photography on queen anne, flying nun ears, hanalei, seattle dog photography

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These cute little chihuahuas were photographed in December at the Olympic Sculpture Park on the Seattle waterfront on a very chilly day. The boys were troopers considering they are teensy and have very little fur. Ironically Mickey is the smaller of the two, and Smurf the larger, which had me calling them by the wrong names throughout the shoot. Sorry guys!

This shoot demonstrates why it isn't necessary to wait until summer to get great outdoor dog shots. I am loving these blue sky shots.

Enjoy these little ones!

Labels: chihuahuas, olympic sculpture park photography, seattle dog photography, sky shots, smurf and mickey, winter dog shoots

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I should have posted this on Monday when the article was published by I have been busy starting some art commissions for clients, including Darling Dozer and Puccini, and getting my sick Subaru Outback issues sorted out (bad head gaskets- bad, bad, very bad).

Anyhoo, the talented Lisa Wogan just wrote an article for the Seattle Times NWSource titled "Is Whiskers ready for her close-up? Take your pick of the pet-portrait litter with images in film, pixels and paint."

It features some of the best Seattle-area professional pet photographers and dog artists, and yours-truly is included in the article. Yay. :-)

go here to read Lisa's article.

Be sure to scroll through the images with the right arrow next to 'more images'.

Oh and, by the way...

The same roster of talented gals will be participating in the first ever CityDog Magazine art gallery show, during the first Thursday artwalk in Pioneer Square in either February or March. I don't know if Nancy Schutt has committed and I also don't know if Susan McAliley will be there, but I do know that Bev, Emily, Nichole and myself will be. I am beyond excited as it is a dream come true to have my work in a serious gallery in Pioneer Square. Plus all of the gals I consider friends, so I know we are going to have fuu-uun. Can you say "after-party"?

Brandie is working on securing a space, which hopefully will be right on Occidental Square, and all of the details still need to be ironed out, including the date, but I promise to post more information here as soon as I know. I promise!

Also, look for an ad for the gallery show in the upcoming CityDog winter issue.

Good stuff!

Labels: citydog art show in pioneer square, citydog magazine gallery show, seattle dog art show, seattle pet photography art show

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Edgar's shoot was done in December at Gasworks Park. It was a Christmas gift for his dad from his dad's dad (Edgar's grandaddy).

Edgar has a tennis ball obsession that rival's Fergie's, so we got a lot of shots of him with his 'ball face' on. In fact, nearly every shot was a 'ball face' shot, as you can see below.

At one point we took the tennis ball away and hid it in a pocket in an attempt to get some different shots. This was a very bad idea and nearly drove poor Edgar to madness. So we gave him back his ball, everyone was happy, and we proceeded with the shoot.

Happy, happy boy.








he lost his ball in the leaves.



is is there?



found it!











That's me you can see there below in Edgar's eye.

Labels: edgar, gasworks part pet photography, seattle dog photographer, seattle dog photographer of happy dogs, tennis ball obsession

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I received this email from Coco's dad last week when I was on vacation. It is so cute I just had to share. That's her sister Maggie behind her. Both Brussels Griffon girls. Maggie is Ms. December in the 2008 Decopaw wall calendar (which, by the way, is still available to purchase for those who are late). Ms. Maggie isn't doing well and is going in for surgery this month so please send her your well-wishes. She could use some loving energy.

Anyhoo, here is Coco's dad's email to me:
Coco was just checking her email and was very disappointed to see nothing new in her inbox from you...

xoxo

Awwwww.....

Labels: brussels griffon, coco, decopaw design calendar, maggie, ms. december

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To start this year off on a fun note I have decided to hold a (rare) sale on both predesigned Decopaw art pieces and custom Decopaw art commissions.

Custom commissions are 15% off through January 31st 2008 and predesigned 'off-the-shelf' proofs (those seen in the galleries on both decopaw.com and cowbelly.com) are all 50% off the commissioned prices. Discount applies to both prints and stretched canvases. (Note: cannot be combined with any other discount. 50% deposit and art contract must be received no later than January 31st to receive discount).

This will be a new semiannual sale on the art, with the 2nd sale occurring in the month of August.

This is a great time to get that piece you have been eyeing or to have me design a fun custom piece of your own pet.

No need to be in Seattle, I design art for clients all over the US. Just email me your photos and we'll go from there!

See the art website for more information and pricing.

Happy 2008!

Labels: cowbelly sales, decopaw art sale, january 2008 decopaw art sale, modern dog art

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