Sue Draws Dogs

The Professional Dog book on Storyberries, Thanksgiving and holiday box details

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, children's book, creative thinking, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, pet portraits, printed books, sketchbook, Sue Draws Dogs, The Professional Dog, visual thinking, whimsical art, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Lots to share: The Professional Dog is out in print and as an ebook on Storyberries! In a bit I’m sharing my creative process for my holiday box project. But first, because people tell me they’re enjoying it, I am continuing to feature 3 dogs from The Professional Dog per week so here’s this weeks…

The text in the book, which is also the title of the original artwork, is below each of this weeks featured dogs.

The Librarian’s dog is a learned dog.
The Mayor’s dog is a magnificent dog.
The Nurse’s dog is a nice dog.

Here’s the ebook on Storyberries.com

https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-the-professional-dog-abc-alphabet-books-for-kids/

I wanted to share somehow that my original artwork for The Professional Dog is smaller than the finished book. So I did a video look at all of the original artwork for The Professional Dog. Each original dog portrait is 2.5 x 3.5 inches and was made by hand using ink and gouache on board. The finished print book is 6 x 9 inches and as faithfully as possible reproduces the colors and details in the original artwork. I did this because the reproductions do enlarge the details in the artwork. Below is a photo showing a bit of what I’m saying … perhaps you can see both the small original art and the book reproductions?

I’m still learning how to put video in these posts but here’s the link to the video https://youtu.be/3hAOKBosDDU

You could say that Thanksgiving was a nicely quiet event considering it was just my spouse and I and a giant veggie lasagna. But it really felt like we’d hosted a come-and-go party all day as we were in contact with friends and family via text, social media and the voice phone! It was such a fun day and we both went to bed tired-happy feeling like we’d been talking and partying nonstop! We joked that we could get used to partying like this – there was a lot less to clean up afterwards! Lol!

After the holiday I delivered all of the original art for The Professional Dog to the Aurora Gallery. This project was a big one that encompassed multiple months of intense work and it all – all 40 dog portraits – fit into a 5 x 7 x 4 inch box! (Another benefit of making the original art small in size)

Here’s the box of original artwork sitting atop the signed books wrapped in paper for protection during transfer to the Aurora Gallery.

Even though everything is done now including the portfolio page for The Professional Dog I will still be posting the dog portraits in sequence over the next weeks. People have told me that they’re enjoying them.

The Thanksgiving event held by the Caplan Art Designs Gallery also began the day after Thanksgiving. Below is another attempt to include a video in this blog. This video was made by the Gallery and is shared by permission. In case I’ve not gotten the video embedded in this post like I think I do – the video camera pans around a nice large room filled with art by the Caplan Art Designs Gallery artists. You see some of my larger works right at the start. Many of my works are small and not captured in the video. My last post included images of my artworks in this event. Over the weekend the Gallery posted more videos on the Gallery’s Instagram and Facebook pages that showed more of the event! There were many sales of my artwork and of the other Gallery artists work!

And now for the full details about the holiday box project! Back in very early September the Caplan Art Gallery gave certain artists an 8 inch cube to paint in our style. These boxes are to be in a special holiday exhibit opening the first Thursday in December.

Immediately when I got my box and over the next 4 days, I began the process of putting 3 coats of gesso on it even though I didn’t know what I would create.

While the gesso dried over that first week I brainstormed in both my sketchbook and on my legal pad. First I listed over 20 things that I could think of that are square or cube shaped. Then in my sketchbook I played visually with the various items listed to see what might be fun, how I might approach it. During this time my spouse and I had a dear friend come over to our outdoor patio to visit and have dinner. I told her what I was brainstorming and she liked the idea of dice.

At that time I was still in the middle of creating the dog portraits for The Professional Dog so it felt natural to think of dog shelters and dice, the chances for pet adoption, the many names for dogs … so in my brainstorming with my friend and my spouse we thought “what are the odds you’d find 21 dogs named Chance”?

My sketchbook became focused on dice-dot portraits of dogs.

I also rummaged about the house and found some game dice I could use as a model.

Using a ruler I calculated the size of the dots in relation to the size of the cube and I made measurement marks on the gesso using a watercolor pencil. The watercolor pencil marks will blend in and dissolve when I paint over the marks with acrylic paints.

Since the cube is a sculpture and will likely be handled by humans or sat upon by cats I decided from the start to work in acrylic as that’s a permanent waterproof media. I also planned to (and did) varnish it so the dice could be protected and easily cleaned.

I painted a different dog portrait on each dot on my dice using black and white acrylics mixed to form a range of greys. And yes, some of the dog breed research and practice I was already doing for The Professional Dog was applied to this project too.

After painting each dice-dot with a dog using black and white acrylics I painted the body of the dice with white acrylic. Every bit of the gesso got covered! Below you can see the entire dice in 3d plus each dice face separately so you can enlarge it and see the portraits.

I hope you had a yummy and fun Thanksgiving too. I look forward to catching up with some of my fellow bloggers and hearing about your creative projects but some of my days this week might resemble this…

… even if it does I hope you have a delightful week! See you next Monday.

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: I J K and L

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, Cats in art, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, illustrated poem, magic realism, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, Sue Draws Dogs, visual thinking, words and pictures

The Alphapets 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 :

Ivan refrains from eating the shoe

Joe remembers the things that he knew

Kameron eats eggs from the carton

Liam looks nice in his tartan

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

I did portraits of a Rottweiler puppy, a Labradoodle, an English Setter and a Scottie dog or Skye Terrier (still practicing drawing specific breeds). While working I thought of a friends new puppy, dog training in general and memories of training my various dogs and seeing them beginning to learn what I was teaching. I imagined a puppy in the process of learning what is and isn’t okay to chew on.

Other dear friends have a Labradoodle that, pre-quarantine, I used to see and visit fairly often. So I thought of the breed, and how smart they can be, how quick to learn and remember.

The only English Setter I’ve known personally was one I’d see when on walks in a public park (also pre-quarantine). Seemed a loveable sort of dog and I loved the spotted pattern of the fur. So I combined my fur pattern thoughts with my past experiences with dogs of different breeds who were loveable but not the brightest. I still had “mental attributes” in my mind from having done the letters I and J. My apologies to the English Setter breed for the association here in my art with loveable but clumsy egg-stealing oafs.

Ah Scottie dogs and Skye Terriers – how I love you. Especially when, as I saw during pre-quarantine days, when you were with your bagpipe playing Scottish humans, practicing the bagpipes in the park. I also loved seeing you in parades, watching a band of bagpipers go by! Lots of Scottie, Skye terrier dogs walking in formation with your bagpipers! Makes my heart sing – even now at the memory!! And all the various tartans…Wow!!

I just realized I didn’t do a portrait of a cat this week. That can possibly be explained by the fact that I was thinking of mental thinking abilities. Dogs of all breeds can have a wide range of ability to learn and remember. Cats are all, of course, on the brilliant-mind end of any scale worth having.

As is my typical these days all of this artwork was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I’m having such fun with this Alphapets project! Hope you are too! Soon I am going to have to order more art supplies somehow – my favorite local art supply store is closed due to quarantine – not even shipping supplies. I’ve called several times in hope. Sigh.


If you’re just joining the fun the previous post is here. My Alphapets project is aiming to be both an art exhibit and an artist book. With framing eventually done by Aurora Gallery and Frameshop. https://auroragalleryonline.com/ as part of the Ambassador for Small Frames program. I want to eventually bring them all together in a book – with my abecedarian poem. More of poem will be revealed on each Monday’s post as I get more of the artwork done. More of my artist books are here.

Anyway, see you next Monday with more letters…

specially commissioned portrait

A Creative Life, animals in art, art commission, art commissions, artistic inspirations, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, Fine Art Commission, handmade papers, Sue Draws Dogs, visual story

Most of my artwork is me telling visual stories inspired by data from my real-life. A kind of “creative nonfiction”. When I do art commissions the client provides the life-data and I tell their story. A kind of “biography”. Elements from a persons real-life are woven into the portrait of their dog or cat. I love helping people tell their stories!

Like this commission I recently finished… pictured below… the coffee cup is special to the owner, the tee-shirt logo is important… and of course the dog looks like their very special dog, Potter.

I had such fun drawing this dog – (those ears!!!) – and working with the client who commissioned this portrait. They gave me such good data to work with!

PotterByClancy72

“Potter” by Clancy (ink and gouache on handmade paper)

If you’re curious about some of my other commission work you can see them here.

Happy Holidays assorted chocolate labs

A Creative Life, animals in art, Dogs in Art, Sue Draws Dogs

Here’s hoping you have a Happy Holiday!  For your amusement (or if you find yourself in need of dog therapy) here are some assorted chocolate labs – and one yellow lab. Cheers!

For more dogs look for the book “Dogs By Sue Clancy” on Amazon.

How to draw dogs guide published!

A Creative Life, animals in art, Art Licensing, art techniques, Dogs in Art, drawing as thinking, illustration, Sue Draws Dogs, The Sketchbook Project, visual thinking
My mini guide has been published!!!! It’s called “How To Draw Dogs” by Sue Clancy. I’m so excited about this – and can’t wait to see my printed copies!  Below is a photo I took back when I was creating the guide – before it got published. Then I forgot to post the work-in-progress photo… Anyway…
You can access the finished guide here: https://www.brooklynartlibrary.com/mini-guides/
DrawDogsMiniGuide

demo dogs done

A Creative Life, art exhibit, artistic inspirations, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, Sue Draws Dogs

Here are the 6 pieces I created last night during my 3 hour demo at Burnt Bridge Cellars. I worked on these dog portraits while people talked, drank wine, watched me work and asked me questions. One of the staff at the winery took a brief moment to watch and said “Oh! Each of your pieces have either a glass of wine or a wine bottle in them!”  I grinned and said “Yes, I’m aware of where I am!” And everyone laughed. It was a fun evening! Thanks again everyone!

BBCDemo72

Dog portrait’s Clancy did during a demo at the Burnt Bridge Cellars winery

5 dog drawing demo directions by Clancy

A Creative Life, art exhibit, business of art, Dogs in Art, public art, Sue Draws Dogs

Tomorrow at Burnt Bridge Cellars I’ll be signing copies of my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy” and doing a dog drawing demonstration.  This means you can drink wine while watching me work.  Here are 5 things I think about when getting ready for a dog drawing demo:

  1. What dogs shall I draw? I plan in advance, sketching lightly in pencil, what dog breeds I’ll draw during the live-action demo. In other words before I even go to the demo I’ve already done the largest part of the “creativity” and double checked my dog-breed drawing accuracy.  This way people can talk to me while I’m doing the demo and I don’t need to be concentrating on getting a dog breed drawn correctly.
  2. Locate my demo apron. Ink is messy. ‘nuf said.
  3. Pack all necessary materials in one portable container in a “push-here-dummy” fashion. People will often start talking to me while I’m setting up to work. So I make sure to have all of my necessary materials packed – but I also take care to pack in such a way that I can unpack in a distracted manner and still be set up correctly to work. Keep it simple!
  4. Remember to smile and talk to people. A demo is about sharing – not about zoning out into creative never-land.  So if a drawing isn’t “perfect” because I was answering someone’s question and not paying attention to where my ink was dripping – I don’t sweat it – in fact I’ll freely tell people that 90 percent of being an artist is knowing how to fix mistakes.
  5. When the demo is done I make sure to thank everyone for coming, for hosting the demo – for doing anything anyone did that helped me out.  The world doesn’t owe me a thing. In fact I’m grateful I get to do what I love for a living – and people around me help make that possible.  So in advance: THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Here’s me in my demo apron

WIN_20170714_13_48_39_Pro

And if you’ve just arrived at this party you can find copies of (or info about) my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy” on Amazon or here: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Dogs-By-Sue-Clancy

Other relevant links:

Burnt Bridge Cellars http://www.burntbridgecellars.com/

Caplan Art Designs http://www.caplanartdesigns.com/

 

drawing more dogs in the winery

A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, books, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, Sue Draws Dogs

Next week at Burnt Bridge Cellars the evening of the 27th I’ll be doing another art demo and signing copies of my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy”.  This means that you can drink wine while watching me draw dogs in permanent ink.

I’ve a whole exhibit’s worth of artwork hanging in Burnt Bridge Cellars. My exhibit is titled “Dogs In The Winery” and in this post are a few examples of what you’ll see at the exhibit.  The new artworks I’ll make on the 27th while you watch will be like the black and white ones you see in this post – and in my book “Dogs By Sue Clancy” https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Dogs-By-Sue-Clancy

Larry by Sue Clancy (brush and ink on handmade paper)
Pierre by Clancy (ink on handmade paper)
“Café Paix” by Clancy – 14 x 11 inches – hand dyed paper, handmade paste paper and acrylic on cradled board
“Maestro Houndsinger” by Clancy – 24 x 12 inches – hand dyed paper, handmade paste paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board
Surround Sound By Clancy 10 x 8 x 2 inches Hand dyed paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board
“Paws for Coffee” – by Clancy – 16 x12 x 2 inchesHand dyed paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board
Pup Fiction By Clancy 24 x 24 x 2 inches Hand dyed paper, handmade paste paper, found paper and acrylic on cradled board.
Lad by Clancy – 30 x 22 inches – sumi ink on handmade paper
Page spread from “Dogs by Sue Clancy” https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Dogs-By-Sue-Clancy

More relevant links:  www.burntbridgecellars.com  www.caplanartdesigns.com

dog drawing demo done!

A Creative Life, artist book, books, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, public art, Sue Draws Dogs, words and pictures

I spent most of the day at the “Words and Pictures Festival” at a branch of my local library – doing a drawing demo and promoting my artist book “Dogs by Sue Clancy”. It was a good day – only came home with 3 copies of my book all the rest have happy new homes! People were talking and asking me questions before I could even get set up and they continued to come and talk with me constantly even when I was packing up to go home! What fun!

Needless to say I didn’t have time to take photos of the crowd I was so busy! I did manage to do these drawings while talking to people.  Yes, that’s a bit like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time.  Going to go have some wine after I post this.