Abecedarian

Professional Dogs, a book review by a dog, some cats and Jolabokaflod

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, author illustrator, books, Cats in art, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, humor in art, mental health, pet portraits, publications - publishing, published art, The Professional Dog, words and pictures

Here’s the dogs this week from my book The Professional Dog. A famous dog reviews my book. Some people asked if I have cat artwork… but first the three dogs…

Below each enlarged portrait there’s the text from the book.

The Poet’s dog is a playful dog.
The Quilter’s dog is a quiet dog.
The Reader’s dog is a reasonable dog.

My friend Liz Gauffreau typed up and shared her dog, Mr. Johnson’s, review of The Professional Dog!! https://lizgauffreau.com/2021/12/08/who-is-that-famous-dog/

I just love these photos below…!!

https://lizgauffreau.com/2021/12/08/who-is-that-famous-dog/

Here’s a closer look at the specific pages being reviewed above by Mr. Johnson. So glad he approved!

https://www.blurb.com/b/10926040-the-professional-dog

All of my recent online talk about dogs prompted several people to ask me if I did artwork with cats. Yes!! Of course!! Here are just a few of my cat themed things on my Zazzle shop sueclancy

https://www.zazzle.com/store/sueclancy/products

This last Thursday was the exhibit opening at the Joseph Gierek Fine Art Gallery. I supported this exhibit from my house too in much the same way as I described last post.

https://gierek.com/

Here’s some of the art I have in the exhibit at Joseph Gierek Fine Art. Look, cats!!

As per the Aurora Gallery request (last post) I have signed some more copies of The Professional Dog and by the time you read this post I will have delivered them to the Gallery. (I’ll update my social media re…)

And now since all of my major art exhibits are done and the requested books delivered I and my family will get ready for Jolabokaflod!! https://jolabokaflod.org/about/founding-story/

We customize the Jolabokaflod tradition for ourselves in that we don’t limit the book gifting to just the evening of the 24th. Also we modify the tradition from gifting “new books published this year” and expanding it to include “used books that are new to us”.

We do adhere strictly to the “read new books immediately upon receiving them accompanied by hot chocolate” aspect of Jolabokaflod.

How is this different from the normal Clancy evening read and have hot chocolate habit? Whenever the new books are delivered by mail we open them and start reading! In other words we don’t wait till evening to begin. It’s decadently fun to stop everything in the middle of the day and flop onto the couch with a new book!

So I’ll see you next Monday with more Professional Dog artwork, probably some of my sketchbook pages and some books I’m reading for Jolabokaflod!

Happy Jolabokaflod or whatever holiday you celebrate! May your celebrations be exactly what’s most comfortable for you and yours.

Professional dogs, books, Thanksgiving art and some about the holiday box!

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, author illustrator, book design and layout, children's book, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, drinks in art, fine art, graphic design, greeting cards, handmade papers, illustrated gifts, illustrated recipe, pet portraits, printed books, publications - publishing, published art, small things, Sue Draws Dogs, The Professional Dog, whimsical art, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Here’s news about The Professional Dog and all of my projects that I couldn’t talk about in my last posts! First, this weeks sequence of dogs.

Below is a closer look at the artwork of each of those dogs with the book text beneath.

The Kayaker’s dog is a kind dog.
The Lawyer’s dog is a laudable dog.
The Lender’s dog is a lucky dog.

As I mentioned in another post I tend to work first and talk about the work later. This means all of the artwork is finished for The Professional Dog and I could work hard this past week on the book layout. Here’s a photo of me at my laptop doing the book layout.

I wanted this book to be able to be shipped by Christmas so I focused on getting the book design done – and uploaded – which altered my posting about the artwork itself or about my creative process surrounding the book but I think that’s okay. If you have questions just ask.

But here’s the cover for The Professional Dog and a link where you can preview the entire book and order a copy if you wish.

https://www.blurb.com/b/10926040-the-professional-dog

There’s a lot still to do for this project but the publication on the 16th of Nov was a big deal. There are 40 portraits in the book and this is the most pages I’ve created for any of my books so far! So I’m celebrating! Wahoo!

Because I made portraits of my friends dogs I plan to keep posting each dog in alphabetical sequence so that each dog gets to be featured and each friend has a chance to share the portrait of their dog if they want to. Mainly it’s just a bit of cheerfulness from me over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Speaking of small cheerful things: I took some more of my books, mug mats and postcards to the Aurora Gallery at their request.

The Caplan Art Designs Gallery did a studio visit and selected some artwork from my studio stash for the special Thanksgiving event the Gallery is doing Nov 26, 27 and 28th. Each of the artworks Caplan selected are autobiographical. I’ve been sharing details on my Instagram page for each of these pieces but generally speaking each painting is about some aspect of my life here in the Pacific Northwest. Like the time we went hiking in Forest Park and my bootlace broke and we discovered a wonderful coffee shop that also sold bootlaces! Or the Rainier cherries we enjoy eating by the sea. Or the fine dining we’ve enjoyed…my feeling is reflected in my choice of dog breed depicted. And the bookstores… There are many more artworks selected by the Gallery than I’ve included below but perhaps this gives you the idea? The Gallery event happens the 26th, 27th and 28th in Portland Oregon.

Why were the above artworks languishing in my studio? They didn’t fit neatly into a theme or a unified whole for any of my exhibits. And also they were still there because I forgot about them. This is an example of when it’s helpful to have someone outside my head – in this case a gallery owner – look at things with fresh eyes.

Another example of the value of “fresh eyes” is that my spouse looked at my digital book layout of The Professional Dog and caught a major mistake I had made before it went to print!! (I had one out of alphabetical order 😱) I thank her on the book info page seen below.

The Professional Dog by Clancy

And now for what we’ve all been waiting for (drumroll please) the Holiday Box Project! The Box Project exhibit opens at Caplan Art Designs the first Thursday in December. That’s why we artists were asked to wait to post and to only do a “teaser” post now because the Thanksgiving gallery event happens first. We artists were each given by the Gallery a solid brown wooden box, 8 inches cubed, some time ago so we’d all have time to create art on them. Below are before and after photos of my box.

I’ve titled my holiday box “All The Chances” – what are the odds you’d find 21 dogs named Chance? Anyway, are you teased? Lol! I will tell more details about “All The Chances” including about my working process after Thanksgiving.

It’s been a super busy week (no time for Creativity Chats or for much cooking creativity either) and frankly I am very tired from all of the activities. But at the same time I’m very happy! So I’ll rest up and share more this week on social media and on next Monday’s blog post.

I hope your week is a good one. Thank you for your many kind comments and your support! I am grateful for you and for the blogging community! Happy Thanksgiving!

Alphapets Too: Y, Z, the book cover and Storyberries

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, animals in art, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, illustrated poem, poetry, published art, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

This week I finished Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy! It began at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for prior letters)

The Alphapets Too portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Y and Z. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Yaka yawns under the flap

Zorro zealously says “Zip it! Let’s nap!”

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a mouse and a hermit crab.

The theme, loosely, in this book is creature comforts. One of my personal favourite comforts is to read before bedtime until I get sleepy. So I did a portrait of a mouse, named Yaka, yawning while reading.

Earlier in this project a friend suggested that I do a hermit crab named Zorro. Naturally the crabby crab would like us all to be quiet and have a nap.

As I completed the original artwork for my abecedarian poem I also worked on the graphic design of Alphapets by Clancy. That’s part of what makes this an “artist book” – it was conceived and constructed like an art object – by me. My spouse did proofread the text, make some book design suggestions. That, in my mind, is akin to submitting a bunch of artwork to a gallery for exhibit. Here’s a photo of me doing the graphic design hocus pocus.

You can see a bit of my book cover design in the above photo but here, below, is a better view of the front cover of the printed book.

Alphapets Too by Clancy is now available as both hardback or soft cover printed books or as an ebook. All versions can be accessed here: https://www.blurb.com/b/10195818-alphapets-too

And – drumroll please – Alphapets Too is now available for free on Storyberries.com here: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-alphapets-too-by-sue-clancy-free-alphabet-books-for-kids/

Since AlphapetsToo is the sequel to Alphapets you can see that book on Storyberries here: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-alphapets-free-books-online/

Thank you for riding this ride with me! I hope you had as much fun as I did! On to the next ride…

Alphapets Too: U, V, W and X

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, published art, visual story, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

My work this week on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy is in this post. It began at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for prior letters)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Q, R, S and T. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Ugo upsets the cart at a run

Vava vigorously twisted and spun

Waldo went outside for a bit

Xena excitedly moves flit flit flit

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a miniature donkey, a Guinea pig, a bullfrog and an Axolotl.

Some of my extended family have full size donkeys and they were on my mind as I chose a character for the letter U. I decided on a miniature donkey named Ugo as miniatures have smaller heads that I thought I could more easily fit on my art board.

As part of my work on this project I’ve been learning the visual distinctions between gerbils, hamsters and Guinea pigs. In my researches the Guinea pigs seemed inclined to turn about in circles more than hamsters. So Vava twisted and spun.

On past walks in local natural areas I’ve seen and heard bullfrogs speak. To my ear it sounds as if they’re saying in a deep voice “Wall-doe! Wall-doe!” I couldn’t resist naming my bullfrog portrait Waldo.

When talking with Jade at Storyberries about doing this book, Alphapets Too, she joked about me doing a portrait of an Axolotl. I’d never heard of such a being and was instantly off to do fun research! A fish that walks! Wow! Xena was my result!

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, is created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks for your encouragement and support as I’ve worked on this project! You’ve helped!

Alphapets Too: Q, R, S and T

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, publications - publishing, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

This weeks work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Q, R, S and T. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Quinn qualifies for the fun race

Rico really likes outer space

Sailor stares right at the thumb

Toodles tries bites of the plum

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a turtle, butterfly, goldfish and an iguana.

While I was rereading Aesop I was also thinking about possible characters for the letter Q. So Quinn is a turtle who is a foot race enthusiast.

My portrait of Rico was inspired by the expression “the butterfly effect” which, roughly, is about how we are not alone in this world and our actions, however small, affects others. Also in my mind as I painted was the idea that we are literally made of stardust, that chemically humans are no different than the rest of the natural world. We are all interrelated.

While I was reading inspirational quotes and etc spirit-lifters I read, again, this quote from Albert Einstein “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing itself to be stupid”. So here’s Sailor whose name reflects his true abilities.

Long ago on a planet far far away (or so it seems now) I worked as a biological illustrator. One of the many animals I shared an office with was an iguana. Often I would bring food scraps from home to share with my animal office mates. The iguana seemed particularly happy when I brought fruit. So Toodles is portrayed as enjoying a plum and possibly plotting to get more.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, is created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: M, N, O and P

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, story, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Here’s the latest work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters M, N, O and P. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Major makes do with a rock

Nala nibbles the clock

Opie oogles the big blue sky

Paco pokes the large pink tie

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a green lizard (basilicus plumifrons), a pygmy goat, a squirrel monkey and a parrot.

The thing about this green lizard that makes me smile is its ability to run on water for short distances which has given it the “jesus lizard” nickname. This lizard lives in trees, around water and will, as I depict Major doing, bask on a sunny rock.

Pygmy goats are just cute. But like all goats they’d eat almost anything. This week my time dissapeared all too quickly. So I imagined my clock-time was eaten by a pygmy goat named Nala.

As I thought about what character to portray for the letter O, I remembered climbing trees a lot when I was a kid. Grandma even called me her “monkey”. I loved to climb to the top of the pear tree in Grandma’s yard and look at the sky. Squirrel monkeys eat fruit…so, here’s Opie!

Memories of my childhood reminded me that I strongly disliked the color pink and would “pick at” such clothing especially when it had bow ties or itchy lace. Why that memory merged with a large parrot named Paco I’m not sure – but it’s fun – so here it is.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the full details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: I, J, K and L

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, mental health, Narrative Art, poetry, printed books, publications - publishing, story, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

More work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters I, J, K and L. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Itsy is happy to sit on a twig

Jojo jumps when trying to jig

Kane keels over when putting on pants

Libby looks sideways while hoping to glance

I did portraits of a green tree frog, a Pacific jumping mouse (also known as a western/woodland jumping mouse), a jerboa and a chameleon.

Tiny green tree frogs look like little living jewels to me. So as I painted Itsy I hung the letter “I” like a pendant.

My inspiration for Jojo was having seen the Pacific jumping mouse on my past woodland hikes in the Pacific Northwest. If I’m quick enough, on hikes, to freeze when I see movement out of the corner of my eye I’ll get to see more of the mouse. The mice can jump about 9 feet so when encountering one during a walk they give the impression of a tiny bird trying to fly up from the ground. If the mouse is jumping forward to travel it almost seems like someone trying to do a hopping dance.

While researching the Pacific jumping mouse I came across the jerboa. The jerboa is similar to the Pacific mouse – but very different too: larger ears, longer skinnier back feet and are a desert rat rather than a woodland one. The skinny back feet of the jerboa had me imagining, for my portrait of Kane, how difficult pulling pants over such feet would be.

Eyes are one of my interests. How humans percieve the world is part optical data driven and part cultural training/interpretation. (And the ways our brains function, stories we tell ourselves, did a whole book about that… but that’s not today’s topic) Humans tend to see only what we expect to see. So in my work as a biological illustrator- and as a fine artist I enjoy reading about animal eyes and scientific studies about eyesight. When creating the portrait of Libby I read this article about the chameleons ability to see in 360 degrees! Wow! A whole different way to “sideways glance” or see out of the corner of ones eyes.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: E, F G and H

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, illustration, miniature art, printed books, publications - publishing, published art, visual story, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Continuing progress on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters E, F, G and H. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Eddie elects just when to pounce

Floyd finds words hard to pronounce

Gilda greets most days with joy

Hammy has one favorite toy

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a ferret, a galah cockatoo, a chinchilla and a hamster.

When I was in college, to make extra money, I did house and pet sitting for people going on vacation. One of my clients had 2 ferrets. They loved to romp and play with each other and with me. Plotting when to strategically pounce seemed a big part of the games. This experience was in my mind as I painted Eddie

Cockatoos can talk and can be trained to do it well. So as I painted Floyd I wondered if any of the birds found certain words or certain sounds more difficult than others. I’d imagine words beginning with the letter f would be hard to say with a beak.

After college I worked as a biological illustrator. I shared an office with a chinchilla and other animals. When I would insert my key to unlock the office door the chinchilla would make excited noises. We had a routine in which we would talk with each other as I made coffee then I would let the chinchilla out of her cage and would sit and comb her for a few minutes. Then I’d make her breakfast, put her back in her cage, feed the other animals and get to work. This joyful start to a day was on my mind while creating this portrait of Gilda.

I’ve not known a hamster so it was fun to research them. They’re much smaller than a chinchilla. And toys, chew blocks, are must have items for a happy hamster. So I imagined Hammy content with a favorite toy.

Like my original Alphapets this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the juicy details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: A,B,C and D

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, fine art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, illustration, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, visual story, words and pictures, writing

Here begins Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy as per the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters A, B, C and D. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Abby adores the window ledge

Bunny bounces into the hedge

Clark craves a wee bite of flower

Dash delights in a cool rain shower

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a parakeet, a rabbit, a tortoise and a cockatiel.

In researching these common house pets that are not dogs or cats I realized that I’d never drawn a parakeet before. So it was fun to practice drawing them, to see how many different shades of blue parakeets there are and to create Abby. I now have a new image in mind when I think of a “blue bird of happiness.”

For Bunny I had a lot of drawing rabbits experience to work with. On my Instagram pages I’ve been doing a “Home Hare Care” series of rabbits doing self-care comforting activities at home – some are complex art pieces. So it was relaxing for me this week to pull a simple rabbit out of my drawing hat. Lol!!

Some friends have kept a happy tortoise for years in their condo patio garden. Their tortoise has a different name but shares Clark’s enjoyment of eating flowers. We know about flowers as tortoise guilty pleasures because of holiday card exchanges we have with our friends.

I’ve drawn cockatiel birds before – usually having cocktail drinks – but I learned during my research for this book that some cockatiels like to accompany their human in the shower – if the human doesn’t have the water too hot. So I had fun making dash-shaped water drops and naming the bird in my portrait Dash.

Like my original Alphapets this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the nitty gritty details of my creative process in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for coming on this adventure with me!

Starting Alphapets Too

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, creative thinking, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, printed books, sketchbook, words and pictures, writing, writing and illustrating

As I mentioned in my last post my book Alphapets by Clancy has been such a hit at Storyberries.com that they want a sequel – and my fans do also! So this week I’ve begun Alphapets Too.

For several days I looked for popular house pets that are not cats or dogs. I made a list of over 26 kinds of pets: parakeets, hedgehogs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, turtles, lizards…and so forth. I didn’t realize there were so many house pet options! Here’s a photo of me doing some of this research work – with the help of my dachshund.

As I saw images of hedgehogs, turtles, newts, frogs, gerbils and such I practiced drawing the animals in my sketchbook. I just drew the animals and had fun with them in my sketchbook – merging the animal drawing practice with whatever thoughts I was having at the moment. I regularly post my sketchbook pages on my Instagram page (@artistclancy).

Also in short bursts over several days I wrote a new poem for Alphapets Too. I write in longhand on a legal pad with a fountain pen. Typically I sit in my dining room near a collection of books on writing and several dictionaries. I view this as play-time and since I’m just writing drafts I take nothing seriously. It’s all play. So I make sure to have a fun beverage at hand. Milk and cookies. Coffee or tea. Or as in one of the photos below a yummy steaming hot mug of “lemony lucious luck”.

To make “Lemony Lucious Luck” heat water in a tea kettle, cut 2 to 3 generous slices of a fresh lemon and remove the seeds. Put the lemon slices in a mug. Put a bit of honey onto the lemon. Pour hot water over all. Let it steep a bit and enjoy!

That’s my creative process in a 12 ounce mug-size description.

Also this week I varnished all of the original artwork for Alphapets and delivered the art to the Aurora Gallery for framing and exhibition. Since the coronavirus pandemic is what it is, the delivery-to-the-gallery process was very different. In addition to wearing a mask it was arranged that I would leave the art just inside the gallery door, holler that I was there and then go home. Details about the framing and exhibition were arranged via phone and text.

Since all of the Alphapets artwork is small – 3.5 x 2.5 inches – all 26 pieces fit into a box that fit into a gallon size zip bag. It was rainy the day I delivered the art so I put the box in the plastic. Having everything in one box made the art delivery easy.

Due to the novel coronavirus the exhibit will likely be online only and will be on the Aurora Gallery social media pages – https://auroragalleryonline.com – All of this is very different – but quite doable! Here’s some photos of me spray varnishing and then, days later after the varnish was dry, delivering the Alphapets…

Its been a busy week. As mentioned in my last post I hoped to start creating the new artwork for Alphapets Too. That didn’t get as far along as I’d hoped. Ah well. Something to look forward to posting about next Monday!

Hope to see you then!

Here’s the link to both print and ebook forms of “Alphapets by Clancy”

Thanks again for reading and riding this ride with me!