Well... once again - a pet portrait! Actually even two of them. This is Sveske and Vanilla, my first two cairn terriers. And mother and daughter as well.

Their owner gave me some ideas as to what she'd like, and this is the result. I always really enjoy the part of talking to the owner and gather all the information about the pet - all the little goofy anecdotes. Those are what make me able to paint a personal portrait, which (hopefully) fit both the owner and the animal.

In these paintings, I particularly like the fact that one is a head shot, and the other full figure.

I used rawhide in the background of Sveske’s portrait ( a big hit with her!) and on Vanillas portrait, I used images of the actual sandal that she loves to chew.

I was very excited to send them of to the owner, who was very pleased with the result:)

Student Art Exhibition

We all felt it would be great to if the student’s pet portrait could be on display somewhere for a while, to get them out in the world! I was thinking that perhaps the local veterinary clinic may be interested - that would be a great and obvious choice. I gave them a call, and luckily they really liked the idea. So, we went there today, a couple of students, teachers and I, and hung the 12 paintings around the waiting room. Since I saw the paintings last, they had even framed them very nicely, and they looked great and colorful on the white walls.

So, this fine work will be on view at Dyrlægegruppen Vestjylland until the beginning of October.

Gorm's Portrait

My newest pet portrait - a very cute little Gorm in a Royal Copenhagen cup.

A little while back, I got an email with a request for a pet portrait, in time as a Christmas present. At the time I was still on Guam, but I knew I would be in Denmark early enough to get the painting done, and it worked out quite well. I was exited to get started, and throughout

the process, I kept in contact with the customer, via photos and sketches through emails.

I actually met the customer a few years ago, when I visited the Danish magazine "Vi Med Hund". Back then she saw a portrait I had made of Playdoh, in a similar style. She said she at some point may be interested in a pet portrait as a gift for her husband) and this fall she contacted me, and the timing couldn't be better. I would be in Denmark, so the postage ( which can be very expensive) wasn’t an issue. She wanted Gorm in a Royal

Copenhagen cup, and I asked her to do a “photo session” with Gorm, posing in ways, so I could create the illusion of him coming out of a cup. She took a ton of cute pictures, I picked one, and surrounded the figure with his pet names - a specific wish from the customer. As always I enjoyed making the portrait - and I like to stay in touch during the process. Now I just need to carefully pack it up, and get it sent off, so it can be ready to shine, under the tree on Dec. 24th.

I am very excited to hear what her husband will think of his gift...

The picture of Gorm I picked for the portrait.

A Customized Pet Portrait for Christmas?

This is the painting - or, rather the back of it. I promise to turn the canvas when the painting is done. For now, although I have started, I am still half way in the consideration stage, where I keep changing my mind, and changing it back...

As mentioned recently - I am back in my old room on the Danish West coast, settled in and ready to get started on some new work. I don’t know why it always takes me quite a while to start painting in new surroundings. Possibly because everything else has to be in place, before I have the focus and inner peace to get going. I must have found it, the peace and focus, because I have started my first little painting. A personal pet portrait, commissioned as a Christmas present. A few key words are: VERY cute little dachshund, silver, blue, lots of nick names and Royal Copenhagen...

A deadline can a very good and helpful thing, and in this case I think it helped me getting started right NOW, and not in a week. I love the process of making a painting, building it up in my mind, considering and debating... but sometimes actually getting to it can be a bit intimidating. But when I do, I love it! Why is that?

Well... the holidays are coming up - and so I wanted to give an idea for a present for the pet lover who already has EVERYTHING: a personal Customized Pet Portrait! With December just around the corner, I can’t make it in time, but I can indeed offer a gift certificate, and that way the pet owner can have a say in the finished piece...

On the right ☛ a few examples of Customized Pet Portraits I have made over the years. Various sizes are available. Please contact me for more information: petmepaintme@mac.com

G.A.I.N (Guam Animals In Need)

Tomorrow GAIN (Guam Animals in Need) have an adoption event. In the past I have been involved with various pet rescue organizations in the United States, mainly by donating work for fundraisers. By coincidence I got in contact with the good people of GAIN. It is a shelter, caring for homeless and abused cats, rabbits and dogs. They are doing an amazing job, managing to get a lot of pets new homes, as well as educating youth about responsible pet care.

I have agreed to paint a mural for them at a later date, but for now, they have borrowed a few of my portraits of Playdoh (which were newly fix after a damaging move) to decorate the walls for theirAdoption Day this Saturday.

Hopefully the event will be a big success, and a lot of cats and dogs get to move in with a new family. For more information about GAIN, please visit their website:

http://guamanimalsinneed.blogspot.com/

Done!

Done! Well, almost. At this point I just needed to add the final layer of varnish on the surfaces.

FINALLY. Done. It is such a relief to put this project behind me, mostly because I (ever since noticing the damages) was worried about how they would turn out. If it was even possible for me to really fix the paintings. I didn’t truly know the extend of the damages, until I started working into the surfaces. It did take a few full days work, but luckily the result is quite good. To avoid this happening again, in our next move, I changed my varnish recipe for the surface. It is a lot matter, and not sticky at all, which is very important. I like it, I think it works. So, the portraits are done!

I have promised G.A.I.N (Guam Animals In Need) that they can borrow some of these “reborn” Playdoh Portraits for their opening house event later this month. More on that later...

Restoring My Work After The Move

One of my Playdoh portraits before and after. Hopefully after some “surface work” it will soon look more like it did before.

Over a year ago, when we left NJ, we had a moving company pack up our house. For the most part it all went well, except for the packing of my art. The surface of my work is very delicate, and must be wrapped in fabric and not paper. Especially when moving all the way around the world, and therefore will be wrapped for a long time. And on top of that, moving to Guam would mean a dramatic change in temperature as well, which could also be an issue. So, I specifically instructed the movers to please use the provided fabric to cover the art, they all said “all right”, and I thought all was golden. Wrong! When we then in August unpacked all our house goods here on Guam, I realize that 98% of the work was wrapped in paper. I was so angry, frustrated, and really didn’t know if I would be able to save my work. It was mostly my portraits of our Boston Terrier Playdoh that were damaged. We then filed for the damages - and as you can imagine, working with the company, filling in forms, them getting back with us, them needing more proof, back and forth... It took most of a year, but it is now sorted and we accepted their offer. So, this week I have spent getting my old paintings back to normal. Something I have been both excited about and dreaded at the same time.

The surface of all my work is a layer of a varnish-like glue, and if not careful - and with the change in temperature - paper will stick to it. All the paintings had been covered in this thin mover’s paper, and I have tried to take it off, to the best of my abilities. I have spent a whole day going through each piece with a rag and very hot water to dissolve all the traces of paper. Some pieces, turned out not too bad, but others were severely destroyed deeply into the surface layer.

I am a little nervous to get started, but also excited; FINALLY I get to get the work back to normal. It has been frustrating to look at the destroyed pieces for so long, but we needed the settlement from the moving company before I could begin. I cross my fingers, and I will make an update about the final result...

The paintings are now all paper free, patched up here and there, and I am ready to start restoring the work. My biggest concern is being able to mix the exact, right colors. And whether I am able to get the nice, smooth surfaces back.

Playdoh on Go-Cards

The Danish postcard company Go-Card is currently publishing a series of my images, entitled Playdoh Greetings and they all feature my Boston terrier Playdoh.

Three of them are already out; Get well Soon, Happy Valentines Day and Bon Voyage. And I have just received a message that the forth one (Happy Halloween) now is out as well.

That means it can be picked up for free (between Oct. 9-16) in 400 cafes around Denmark, as well as in all McDonalds throughout the country (except for Herning).

This is the second Playdoh series published by Go-card, the first one Playdoh the Muse, came out last year. Back in 2002 I had my very first series published on Go-card, it was five images and text pieces, taken from Life of Young Ursula Winther.

For more information, or to send an e-card, please visit there their website www.Go-Card.dk

Amalie and her portrait

Usually I don’t paint portraits of people! I have done a lot of pet portraits, cats and especially a load of dogs, and often I am asked if I can do a portrait of a person - sometimes even combined with a pet portrait. I always say no; personally I find it really difficult and very time consuming. Also often, after spending hours, perhaps days on the project, I have to start over, as it has taken a wrong turn, I just can’t come back from.

But no rule without exception! My artist friend Karen asked me if I would paint a portrait of her daughter Amalie. I was debating, wasn’t sure, thought about it, then I said to Karen that I would give it a try, but if it ended in disaster I would just stop... Being a painter too, she knew exactly where I was coming from, and that’s what we decided on. I went back to the US, Karen emailed me the photo of Amalie that she wanted me to work from, and filled in the actual pet portrait form (she described Amalie’s “breed” as “human with a touch of angel” : )

The photo was of a very young Amalie, and there was a special story to it; she had been upset and wanted to leave home, wearing her little tiger costume. She sits in the garden on a stack of her small suitcases, she was clearly ready to leave! The portrait took some time, but was fun to do, and I knew Amalie enough to decide whether it looked like her or not. I brought back the painting to Denmark this summer, an luckily she liked it. It had been a surprise, she had no idea...

I asked them to take a photo of Amalie with her portrait, and I just received it a few days ago, and she is - once again - sitting on the grass on a stack of suitcases - and this time with the portrait, and luckily, not upset!

Another exception I did was a portrait of my good friend Poul. I wanted to give him something for his 70th birthday. I know Poul well enough to immediately know, wether the portrait worked or not. And for some reason the portrait was quick and easy, I saw Poul in it right away.

Zorro's Portrait

By the beginning of the year, I talked to the Danish Dog Magazine “Vi Med Hund” about doing a competition online where the winner would get a personal portrait of their dog. The questions you had to answer correctly was what breed my dog, Playdoh is. (he is a boston terrier with attitude!)

Well, The woman who won, asked me to do a portrait of her sweet and beautiful labrador Zorro, and this is how the portrait turned out. I used old ads in the background, ads for dog food, treats & shampoo from american magazines from the 1950’s. The background color is supposed to give a sense of old, disintegrating newspaper, and I like the way the color complemented the black dog.

Back in December (long before I started this blog) I wrote a column for the same magazine (Vi Med Hund) a short story about our Playdoh’s experiences at his doggy daycare around Christmas time... Shenanigans....