Books, games, art supplies and more dogs

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art prints, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, creative thinking, dog portrait, fine art, games in art, gift books, Gifts, Patchwork Poems, pet portraits, Sustainable creativity

I’m borrowing a concept: I create an original one-of-a-kind artist book and then make limited edition reproductions of that book. Just like a fine art painter might make art prints from a painting. Only my art reproductions are books! Anyway my artist books, both the original handmade books and the limited edition reproductions of the originals are currently at the Aurora Gallery  www.auroragalleryonline.com

Patchwork Poems is also available by mail via this link https://www.blurb.com/b/11318282-patchwork-poems

Here below is a video look… https://youtube.com/shorts/-7MjaMkkj5A?feature=share

The Aurora Gallery has Patchwork Poems and 14 of my other artist books on a shelf!

Below is a fun video by Caplan Art Designs about my 3d sculpture “Dogs On The Block”!! On Dec 1 from 6 to 8 there was a reception at the Caplan Art Designs Portland gallery – and my work found a new home! The Gallery specializes in shipping and delivery of artwork and will handle delivery of my sculpture to it’s new place! www.caplanartdesigns.com

Below are some recent books that have come via mail! I’ve had time to peek at them but not to do any serious reading. It’s a fun to tease myself with them. Thanks again to Liz Gauffreau who suggested “Rescuing Socrates”!

Games have come via mail too! Our cat loves the practice golf balls more than any other toy. We joke that he must have been a golf pro in a former life. So we got him a new package of balls. Which meant that, to be fair, we needed to get the dog a new toy too. Of course then we decided that the humans needed some new toys too…

Rusty loves his new toy! First he checked to make sure it didn’t have much stuffing. Here’s my wife demonstrating that the new toy is flat and floppy as per his preference. Once that prerequisite was shown Rusty loved it!

On my email newsletter I shared my sources for sketchbooks, pens and other art supplies in case another creative person like me is looking for a gift for themselves. BTW: My paid subscribers will get an 84 page ebook from me this week!! (Hee hee hee 😁 and yes, let Jolabokaflod begin!!!)

Just in case another creative person wants a source of inspiration for creative thinking I also shared one of my favorite books that stimulates my own creativity. “How to be an explorer of the world” by Keri Smith

How to be an explorer of the world – by Keri Smith

As you know many of my art projects this time of year are someone’s holiday gift so I can’t talk about them online. But recently I was asked to do two different pet portraits for two different people who were getting art prints of the portrait as a gift for themselves so they generously allowed me to share…

Here was one of the photos of the dog for the portrait to be. Trusty lived to be quite an elder dog and he’s passed now so for the portrait painting I compiled the various photos his human sent of Trusty throughout the years. This photo below is of him as a younger fellow. Trusty was a mutt with Terrier in the mix. His hair had to be groomed and he greyed over the years. So creating this portrait was a challenge. This photo below showed the nose and eyes best though this hair style wasn’t quite the normal. Like I say… a challenge

Here’s what I came up with. The human, thankfully, was pleased!

And here’s the other portrait… it was of a West Highland Terrier. The photos I was sent were taken of the dog that very day and more photos were possible.

I created the original artwork using watercolor pencils and brush and sumi ink.

Then I made an art print of the original artwork. This human too was very pleased!

I’m primarily doing my portraits through the galleries I work with yet I’ve found that some people prefer art prints as they can fit a budget better. There are several size options and frame style choices for all of the prints I create. Here’s a link so you can see what I mean. https://society6.com/product/jozy_framed-print

Am I tired from all of the commissions and recent art exhibits? Yes. But I suspect all of Santa’s helpers are tired this time of year. So I’m content to restore myself each evening with time to read or play a game with my spouse.

Since I can’t show or talk about the main pet portrait work I’m doing I’m especially grateful that a dear friend gave both of us an advent calendar of Arteza art supplies !! I’m posting pictures on my Instagram and Facebook of each days unboxing and showing what was inside. We will also share whatever we make with the supplies too.

I hope your week contains many moments of restorative fun! See you next Monday.

9 thoughts on “Books, games, art supplies and more dogs”

  1. You are always so busy with your creative endeavours so I do wonder how you will manage to cram even more art into your day as one of Santa’s helpers. I really am quite taken with the idea of an art supply advent calendar, I think because I miss the surprise of the Art Snacks subscription box. Thanks for the book recommendation. Just the phrase “portable life museum” intrigues and inspires me – not just as an artist but as a family historian – so I will need to look into that book.

    1. It is a challenge to manage my time during Santa’s helper season. And frankly I often don’t get everything on my to-do list done. But I get the most important stuff done. I think I hope. My house isn’t decorated for the holidays. I probably won’t do holiday cards this year. And it’s okay. I do what’s fun and then stop.

      I’m enjoying the art supplies advent calendar too! The box promises everything we need to do projects but I confess that it’s hard not to rush ahead! 🤣 I remind myself that the daily surprises are part of the fun!! 🤣 So I totally hear what you say about your Art Snacks box!!

      As for the book: it is one of the most fun books I have…even on the days I’m most tired I can just look at this book and feel excited again about creativity. I’ve mined this book for ideas to merge my family life experiences into art projects… anyway I can especially imagine that you’ll love it too.

    1. Yes! Rusty will only play with the flat stuffed toys. Occasionally he’ll play with a small ping pong sized tennis ball. When we give him a fully stuffed toy he looks at us very disdainfully. Now about the game… it’s called “Cards Against Humanity” and it’s the funniest game I’ve played in a long time!! Each player has 10 cards with various phrases on each card. Another card is drawn from a deck that contains questions. Each player chooses a card from their hand that answers the question. The player with the wittiest, funniest, reply wins the hand. It’s an absolutely wonderful game for us creative writer, editor kinds of folks. Many of the questions and answers are absurd, have literary or poetic allusions. There are cultural irreverences. I loved the Dadaist construction of haiku poems! Not a game for the uptight uneducated uncultured person who is unfamiliar with irony, satire…etc literary devices. My wife and I both have sore ribs from laughing so hard! You’ve been warned 😘

Thank you for reading and sharing encouragements!