In Process Christmas Card

This is my Christmas card so far, it's not finished yet but I thought a few in process posts might be nice to see. I was gone for part of last week with my girl friend and I tried as hard as I could to finish before I left. But it was just too much. So now it's back at it.

Christmas Card 2008 Work in Progress

This is the initial sketch for my Corgi Christmas card this year. Everyone loves Corgi puppies, even Santa. The darker images of the two puppies running with socks are actually sketches on tracing paper that have been taped in place. Alot of times when I am laying something out I will sketch out some of my objects and use this method to find the best placement.

After I finish the sketch, it is traced and tranfered to a gessoed board. I like the flat surface, especially when it comes to illustrations like this where it will be scanned and printed. I've tried canvas images and was just not happy with the results.

The original is painted in oils and I am more than half way complete.

Who Loves Ya

This is an oil painting done on board that I have made into a card for Etsy. The next piece I have ready to post is a still life. I work back and forth, I love to do this type of work, illustration or folk art, what ever you want to call it. I find it relaxing, allowing your mind to wander and come up with what ever scenario it can.

Archival Prints

I am adding archival prints to my Etsy shop. They will be printed on Velvet fine art paper which is producing a rich colorful print. I love the texture of this paper. For now there will be two sizes, first the larger, on a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet with an image of 7 1/2" x 10"and the smaller mini print 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" with an image of 4 1/2" x 3 1/4". As I add the images to my Etsy store I will post them to my blog.

Day Dreamer

Day dreamer is an 8" x 10" oil painting on board of my Cogi Lily taking a mid-afternoon nap maybe dreaming of squirrels (yes squirrels!). I painted the blanket in a much looser style, trying to find a balance that works for me. I tend to paint tightly which can sometimes translate into a stiff painting. When I try to loosen up it feels like I am being too lazy to finish a section or too sloppy, but I like the way this turned out. I hope you enjoy this piece. Here's how we use Day Dreamer as a greeting card.

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.

My Etsy Store has more samples on my 3rd new website.

Tumbling Snowmen

Tumbling Snowmen - new Corgi Christmas card for 2007. I had such a good time with these snowmen drawing them tumbling end over end. May your Christmas stocking be brimming full of good cheer this holiday season and may your Corgi’s be full of dog treats and rawhides.

Tumbling Snowmen is an original oil painting on board inspired by many illustrated childrens books. Here's Tumbling Snowmen as a Christmas Card.

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.
My Etsy Store has more samples on my 3rd new website.

A Christmas Gift Of Peace & 'Thank You'

A big ‘Thank You’ to our eBay and Cafepress customers. We have had a wonderful Christmas season and hope our greeting cards and gift items add to your holidays too! Merry Christmas and looking forward to 2007.

'A Christmas Gift of Peace' was as usual, a collaborative effort between my husband Frank and myself. For my models, I had photographed he and our Corgi together, with him offering 'Maggie' a treat, because I had planned to have Santa offering the Corgi in the painting a wrapped gift. However as an image it just didn't work. Somewhere in my sketches I had done a snowman offering the Corgi that same gift, and I love to paint snowmen. Frank suggested the bone instead, a cat to give it a story-line and the name 'A Christmas Gift of Peace' & the rest as they say 'is history'.

The little cat ‘Twinks’ loves our yard because we feed the birds. She is very furry and friendly with no fear of Lily our Corgi. She has a tendency to nip playfully when she gets excited, so we’ve learned not to pet her too much, but she’s really just a big lovable ball of fur. Here's how we use A Christmas Gift Of Peace as a Christmas Card.

Most pet lovers (the lucky ones) at one time or other have a pet that you just connect with, & Maggie was mine. I think our personalities were similar and she always made me feel special. This card is dedicated to her and that rare bond only a very special companion can bring.

Merry Christmas Maggie.

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.

Friendship Going Downhill Fast

There is a cute little Basset Hound that lives two houses down the street from me. He lives with about fifteen cats. I really don’t know anything about him, I just see him sitting outside enjoying the day surrounded by all his furry friends.

Taking a little 'artistic license' - he now has a Corgi friend to share a Winter's ride with, and I confess I still enjoy Tobogganing myself. The original painting is in oil on hardboard & I think my husband came up with a great title for this one.

Here's how we used Friendship Going Downhill Fast as a Christmas Card.

Let It Snow !!!

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.

Trim'n The Tree

This is the finished painting

This is my initial sketch

I love painting snowmen, the rounder the better, with big wide grins and twinkling eyes, wearing colorful hats and scarves. You just have to have some bright colors to jazz things up a bit. After all it’s the holidays!

This is the sketch I worked off of for this year’s Corgi Christmas card - I do a new card every year. A very 'Rubenesque' snowman is helping to decorate a “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree” (I think I have had a few of these). Shiny beads, some glass balls and a star for the top just overwhelm the flimsy little sapling. I really don’t think that these two Corgis will actually be able to get all of the decorations that they plan to on this poor little guy.

My first Corgi was a 'Fluffy' and I drew the Corgi in the foreground much like him. He was built like a tank, solid as a rock. If you look at the sketch you will notice that I moved this dog several times and you may be able to see the erasure marks.

I started out with the snowman since he is the biggest object and central in the design. Next I placed the two Corgis around the tree and tied the elements together with the string of beads that run thru the tree.

My husband & I work together on these cards. I may start a sketch or an idea and then we bounce it back and forth. He adds elements or has a critical eye that notices things that I may not because I'm too close to a painting.

Here's Trim'n The Tree as our new Christmas card for 2006 in our eBay store.

Happy Holidays!!!

My eBay store has prints & greeting cards of this image & others.
My Cafepress store has more samples on my 2nd new website.