The Cutest Longhaired Dachshund you've ever seen

Puppies are cute. We all know this. Even so, meeting friendly, enthusiastic, small dog-beings who still have their puppy smell never disappoint. I always come away feeling light hearted and happy. I think puppies are designed to help us feel that way.

Monet – so named for his mottled coat colours which are reminiscent of a Monet painting – has some serious cuteness going on. Capturing that in a photo was the challenge. Puppies tend to be busy and unable to sit still long enough to compose a photo, much less click the shutter and hope the shot is in focus. 

So his photos are filled with the arms and body parts of Lorna, his human. Which is fine, because all I'm going to use for the portrait is Monet's body. Clients often ask me to not draw their arm or hand, or whatever has gotten in the way of the shot. I'm used to ignoring those bits and choosing a pic,despite the human parts which are in the shot.

Getting photos which are perfect to work from is always a win for me – it makes my job a million times easier. Sometimes though, I have to hope that what I have is good enough to create a portrait my client is going to be happy with. Because these pics were taken indoors and all the light was coming from one direction only, it created dark shadows on the right side of the dog's faces. 

Thankfully Photoshop can help lighten an area to a certain extent, to at least see the detail in the dark areas. But I still have to double check all the photo reference to make sure that the colours I'm using are accurate and that the subjects look like they do in real life!

The other bonus of taking reference photos myself is that I know the file sizes are big (about 15MB when viewed in Photoshop), which means I can zoom in to see the detail without the image pixellating and obscuring the detail which is needed to create realistic pet portraits.

Part of this commission was creating a portrait with both dogs together. Thankfully, they were quite happy to sit next to each other in one basket, long enough to get a picture.

This was framed because Lorna was giving it to her mom as a gift.

Monet and Emma – Coloured Pencil A4

You can see Emma's puppy portrait here and Lorna's previous dog-friend 

Bambi's portrait here.

Monet, longhaired Dachshund puppy, 41x30cm
Pastels

Gus

This is sweet Gus. 

Much loved Dachsie who lived with Megan from a young age after she found him in a shelter. 

  

I drew his portrait in graphite years ago.
There he is in the middle, with his distinctive nose swirl.

The reference photo for his portrait was taken on the beach by the amazing and talented photographer Emma O'Brien, who gave us permission to use her photo.

Take a look at her amazing pet photography here and find her on facebook here. She's awesomely inspiring – here's how I know.

I loved this photo the second I saw it on facebook and then it appeared in my inbox and I knew straight away that it was going to make a lovely portrait.


For me, Gus's portrait is one of reflection. If you look closely you can see Emma's reflection in his eyes as she was taking this shot.  

Megan rescued Gus from a shelter, Emma O'Brien is renowned for her charity work with C.L.A.W and the Sandton SPCA... It's like he drew us all full circle; which, in a sense reflects the cycle of life. He seems to be standing there, reflecting on his life. Reflecting his love back to Megan.

This is such a beautiful picture, it captures unspoken words, feelings and the presence of a small dog whose spirit is so much larger than his dog body.

yearning for spring

I have roses blooming outside my front door.
It's still really bone-achingly cold.
I'm hoping it'll be over soon...
The delicate fragrance of these flowers
suggest the promise of spring

Shadow Sunday

Hibernation

Whoever said global warming was a myth didn't know what they were talking about. Today's weather was distinctly odd, especially for this time of the year. We really haven't had a cold winter so far despite the Incoming Cold Front threat which is mentioned on a weekly basis. Except for one acutely cold spell a few weeks ago, it's been T-shirt weather during the day. I'm guessing that winter has finally arrived in my part of the southern hemisphere, with rain and snow forecast elsewhere for the rest of this week. The clouds and unseasonal rain cleared this morning revealing a bright, sunny day... but the cool wind turned and now you can feel the bone-aching cold creeping in. A necessity, I know, but not my favourite thing. If I were a bear, I'd be well-fed and hibernating with another three months of sleep ahead of me!

sunday solstice

My mom decided to participate in the Canadian Prayer Quest: 8000 Drums. Apparently there is an ancient prophecy which states that when 8000 drums beat, Mother Earth will be cleansed and rejuvenated. We added our own intentions and prayers to the day and walked the Animal Labyrinth of Remembrance too. The labyrinth was my mom's brainchild too.

This is the last pic I took before my camera's card was full... It's interesting for a couple of reasons: Apart from the huge Orb like blob on the left of the pic, my mom appears to be seated beneath an amethyst-coloured shower of light with that horizontal rainbow above her head.

Yes, I know i took it straight into the sun, and that those are 'flares' and blobs of 'dust' or suchlike. However, if you are into Orbs and odd photographic effects, then you tend to view such photos in a different light.

I did a similar ritual to this a year after I lost my mare Melody. When I took the first photos of the then new Labyrinth, some interesting things showed up in the pics. They were also taken from a similar angle to where these were taken from.

Amethyst is my mom's favourite colour, there she is dressed in purple, drumming away, something she loves doing. I'm guessing that when your actions match your intentions, the Universe will use any means possible to give you a thumbs-up, letting you know that your efforts are appreciated.

I'm wondering who the Orb belongs to...

Why bother...

... being anything EXCEPT a dog? There must be some unwritten law of nature which predicts that if you live with dogs, they WILL expect you to get out of bed at an ungodly hour. If you don't, then playing 3-a-side bed rugby is bound to get you up.

I've just figured out why it feels like I have weird indigestion. Weird only because when I located my indigestion area, it felt BRUISED. Only then did I remember how my day started – with a Jack Russell using my chest as a spring board to referee the Labs as they tackled each other. On the bed. Where I was still sleeping. In the dark. At 5.30am. Dark because it's mid-winter!

This is Jackie now, doing what Jackie does best: sleeping. Throughout the day, while her human walks around, bleary-eyed, stumbling over sleeping dog bodies.

Hazy shades of winter

South Africans are funny people - as soon as we get a bout of weather it makes the news. Of course, summer on the highveld is super hot with thunderous storms and thirst quenching rain. Winter is another story though. Usually bright, clear, cold and sunny days are the norm. Except when we have unseasonal rain, like we had yesterday. It really whacks the temperature down, but it's pretty to wake up to. The mist sets in and creates monochrome scenes reminiscent of London.

Time spent in the company of canines...

Is always time well spent.

I was asked by a portrait client to take some photos of her new puppy Emma and while I was at it, to give her some advice on integrating the newbie with long-time resident Bambi. Even though Emma had been in residence for 3 months, Bambi still didn't look like she was happy with the snappy li'l space invader.

Emma is incredibly busy, which can be expected for someone so small and so young. Being a miniature Dachshund, her tiny size makes her a hazard, she gets under your feet when you try walking anywhere and it appears that she is driving poor Bambi nuts. Her typical puppy behaviour includes biting with razor sharp teeth, jumping up incessantly and running around at top speed until I wanted to take her batteries out!

I spent about ten minutes TTouching her little wriggly body. She experienced mouth work for the first time and we fashioned a body wrap for her out of a Build-A-Bear T-shirt. She gave a couple of yawns and then settled between my knees on my lap, giving me a chance to finish my tea and show her mom how to do the simple TTouches. During the photo shoot she climbed into my lap and refused to go to her mom when called. It's always interesting to see how a body responds to this gentle work. She was more relaxed and much calmer after only a short time!

This is the favourite part of a day, when I gett to photograph one of my favourite subjects, do a bit of healing and connect with like-minded animal lovers!

So Sunday

The right idea for a rainy Sunday afternoon... sigh, if only I could do that too.