A New Beginning

Hi everyone, I wanted to post a quick update here to let everyone know that I will be continuing my blog at another site.  You can now find me here:

http://spiralforeststudio.blogspot.com/

 

 

Enter the Crows

Over the past month or so crows have begun to once again make themselves known in my paintings.  Usually it can be months or even years before I make a connection between the types of animals or other symbols that are appearing in my art and what is going on in my life at the time these symbols show up.  I guess I will have to wait and see what the crows mean.  I completed the piece below a couple of weeks ago.  Lately I have been using oil pastel along with acrylic more and more in my paintings and that is no exception with this piece.  This work measures 11 x 14 inches and is on masonite panel.  It is currently available for purchase in my etsy shop.

 

Winter Hedgehog

Winter Hedgehog

The past few days have seen some super cold temperatures here so I needed to paint something that reflected the wintery weather.  Now I don’t know if hedgehogs get cold but I couldn’t get the idea of a scarf-wearing hedgehog out of my mind.  So here is the Winter Hedgehog.  It is acrylic on wood and is sold.

 

Winter Has Arrived

Okay, so I haven’t felt like blogging lately and if you follow this blog at all you will know that is pretty typical of me.  The past two months have been difficult with Ferdinand being ill and then passing away.  The arrival of fall/winter isn’t helping either.  The last few days have seen it get really cold here and the snow has arrived.  I did however take a cute photo of my very sweet dog Avery which is sure to help cheer up anyone.  Even with his big Collie fur coat Avery doesn’t seem too keen on  the early arrival of winter.  If he could have spoken he would have told me to stop the photo taking and let him in!!

 

Ferdinand (1994 – October, 2008)

 

My Beloved Orange Cat

About four weeks ago disaster struck my beloved orange kitty, Ferdinand. One minute he was well and happy and the next he had a large open wound the size of the circumference of a coffee cup on his side. At the time I had no idea what happened but I immediately flew into panic-hysteria mode at the horror of what I was seeing. Fortunately I had the prescence of mind to pack him into his carrier and head to the emergency vet clinic straight away. I was told by the vet that he needed to have emergecy surgery to get the wound stitched up. I was very worried about this prospect since Ferdinand is at least 14 years old and you never know how well an elderly cat will handle surgery. There really was no choice in the matter though since he needed to be sewn up! I nervously waited in the waiting area while the surgery was performed, going out of my mind with worry. After a couple of hours the vet told me the surgery went well and my baby was waking up. That was a relief to hear! After a while the staff brought him out to me, completely bandaged up with instructions for medications and the bandage change schedule. The vet warned me that the wound was very grotesque so he gave a good bandage so I wouldn’t have to look at it – I was so thankful for that since I am seriously very squeamish about these sorts of things. I finally arrived home at midnight and took Ferdinand up to bed with me. I only slept an hour that night – I was so consumed with worry not knowing how well he was handling the surgery and if his stitches were going to hold (the vet warned me they could pop due to the nature of the wound). Gradually over the next week Ferdinand came back to his normal self. I knew the tide had turned when I caught him grooming the dog’s snout (one of his favourite activities).

It has been about four weeks since this all happened and I can now report that he is almost totally recovered. His stitches are out and the only thing left is for the wound to completely heal over and the fur to grow back. The poor guy has been driven nearly crazy by the itchiness and irritation of the wound after about week one when the really big bandage came off. He was so naughty about trying to lick the wound and scratch it with his hind legs! I was going nuts trying to keep him from doing any damage to himself so I ended up making him a special outfit that would keep him from having access to the wound area. The outfit is pretty rudimentary but I did end up embroidering a little fish on the back area since “Seafood Medley” is one of his favourite food flavours. Here are a couple of photos of him in his outfit. Don’t worry I normally don’t put him on the kitchen counter, it was only so I could photo him without him wandering off!

 

A Dog and a Cat

 

Here are the two latest paintings I have completed.  The first one titled Dog Knows Best is acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches.  I absolutely love painting these type of “head shot” portraits of animals.  This dog is a fictitious one that I invented for fun.  The second painting, Dark Darling, is also 8 x 10, acrylic on canvas.  Both of these paintings have been sold.

 

Sneaking Around

Here is another cat painting inspired by my own dear kitty.  It is acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches and has been sold. 

 

A bird and a cat and an even bigger cat

This dear magenta birdy is soaring high in the sky.  I find birds to be very calm and soothing which may be part of the reason why I paint so many.  Now that Spring is finally here it is so nice to hear the birds happily chirping away.  Magenta Bird Soaring is an ACEO, acrylic on illustration board and has been sold.

As I have mentioned in previous entries I really adore painting plump animals.  My cat is slightly plump and he is often the inspiration for the fat cat paintings.  This painting is titled Big Billy at Rest.  The painting is acrylic on watercolour paper, measures 4 x 6 inches and has been sold.

Speaking of fat cats I ran into this article at Ananova on a huge 35 pound orange cat named Orazio.  He is absolutely massive and I honestly thought at first that he was some sort of stuffed animal.  Poor guy!

 

Twilight Rabbit

Cats, birds, dogs and of course bunnies!  This is my list of absolute favourite animals to paint.  It had been a while since I last painted a bunny but earlier this week I was struck with the need to paint one sitting under the stars.  So here he is hanging out and enjoying the twilight.  The painting is acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches and is available for purchase – please feel free to contact me if you are interested in this piece.