Memorial Portrait of Duncan, a standard poodle, victim of dog bloat

Here's a memorial portrait I did recently of Duncan, a standard poodle, who taught me about bloat in dogs.  I was able to capture Duncan frolicking on the beach, a perfectly healthy and happy fellow.  I love doing vacation fun photos with dogs, just like this!  This is in colored pencil on paper.  I loved doing the waves!  Duncan, himself, was taken from several photos.  I needed to get his colors right, and the photo of him frolicking on the beach was bathed in very warm sunlight, making him as orange as a pumpkin in some spots.  But I felt his family would prefer to see him more in his typical coloring!

I loved the wind in his wet fur, how he was laughing, and how his paws were caught midstep!  I angled out his leg just a bit.  The fourth is hidden by his right leg!  But his tail is high and wagging, full of fun!

And his eyes I had to get from other photos, I also angled the beach a little less horizontally.

Duncan was a young dog that died from canine bloat.  Large breeds are more likely than small guys to develop this quick killer that not much is known about.  Gulping lots dry food with lots of water and then vigorous exercise seems to be the cause, but there's no definite do's and don'ts besides feeding more than once a day, limiting water at mealtime, and not exercising immediately before or after eating.

If you have a large dog, please read up on this.  Our new pup, Sarge, is one of the breeds that is more likely to develop bloat, so I am thankful for the education.

And I'd like to thank Duncan's sweet humans for the honor of painting his memorial portrait in colored pencil.  I know it will give them comfort.  As much as I'm loving Sarge, I still miss my Otto, and having his portrait to look at makes me remember the happiness he brought us every day of his life.

Want to see more of my custom dog portraits?  I have them in my Etsy shop and lots more on my custom portraits site.  I'd love to work with you for a dog or pet or human portrait!  And it's the most meaningful gift you can give!  Thanks for stopping by!  Robin

My Most Popular Pet Portrait! Scooter-Mania!

Accoring to Google Analytics, Scooter is the most popular pet portrait I have ever done! Scooter-Mania was huge...but not long lived!  Here's what happened...

I am not especially computer literate.  I do my own pet  portrait and childrens portrait website but it's a template from godaddy and I don't have to know any kind of web hosting program.  I like it because I can move things around and add things easily.

So it took me years to install Google Analytics on it which gives me a report of what is being looked at on my site.  Now, it doesn't tell me WHO is visiting, it just tells me what is being looked at. 

And SCOOTER was WHAT everyone was looking at the first few days!!   I was a little surprised to learn that this older portrait was wildly popular the first few days I got the reports!  Of all of the images on my front page and in the other pages, EVERYONE was clicking on Scooter to see him even larger.  Scooter had more clicks than all of my other animal and childrens' art put together.

So what do I do with this info?  Rush out and get Scooter reprints and sell them on the corner?  Scooter t-shirts?  Scooter book and movie deals?  Well, sadly, Scooter-mania has died down.  Scooter is back to getting just about the same attention as all of the other dogs on my site.

So what does THAT mean?  I think someone with a dog that resembles Scooter surfed onto my site and emailed all their friends and family and said "look at this dog I found on an artist's website! Doesn't he look just like my "Mr. X?"  And they all came and looked and said "yup, that's Mr. X alright."  :D 

So I think it's easy to over analyze analytics!  But it sure is exciting to think that people are getting to my site via emails from friends!  Please, feel free to help me out that way!  (And please, quick, just click on Scooter, he must be missing the Scooter groupies!)  Scooter and I both thank you.

I'm artist, Robin Zebley.  I specialize in portraits and art of animals and children.  To commission a detailed and personality-filled portrait, just email me HERE!  To follow my blog, just click to your right.  To visit my childrens and pet portrait site, click: http://robinzebley.com/. Thanks for visiting!  I hope you enjoyed!

Dogs - Finding their way back home

In the past week, when walking Otto, he started turning NOT toward home at a crossroads intersection, but merrily turning the corner in the other direction to extend his adventure.  Then, a sly backward glance to see if I was going to stop him.

It made me wonder if our daily walks would make it easier for him to find his way home if he got lost?  He's escaped before and on both occasions, the humans who found him used his tags to call us to come get him.  One time he ended up at our neighborhood pizza parlor 3 blocks away.  He's been there before, picking up pizza.  Sometimes by car, sometimes on foot (but accompanied by a human!)

Another time, he ended up just two blocks away from the tattoo shop his human brother works at.  He's been guest shop dog there, and has been there by car. 

When Otto and I walk, we usually stick to the neighborhood that is bound by larger streets and 2 train tracks, probably 3/4 of a mile square. Except for a school yard, the area is neat little blocks. So yesterday I tried this:  I walked him across across one of the big streets where he's never been and went about 7 blocks north.  Then, I kept him on his leash, but did my best to let him lead the way home.  Would he find it? 

What do you think?  Easy as pie!  I don't know how they do it or what he smells.  But maybe it's me!  I bike a much farther distance than I walk him.  I do a lot of my errands on my bike.  What do you think?

I am artist, Robin Zebley, the human at the other end of Otto's leash (and the one with the little bag full of Otto's deposits!)  If you'd like to visit my website to see my pet and human portrait samples, my site is HERE.  If you'd like to read my whole blog, click on the top banner.  If you'd like to follow my blog, sign up to your right.  Thanks for visiting me.  Your comments are always welcome! 

Goin' Mobile - my newest dog woodblock relief print

I really wanted to capture that ecstatic expression on dogs' faces when they are out for a car ride. Our mundane errands are big sight and smell events for our dog friends! I took a ton of photos trying to capture just the right expression with my Otto as my model. I enjoyed carving the pine block grabbing the detail of the expression and the fur.

What's extra special about this print is that it is part of the Baren Forum's exchange. The theme for this exchange was "My Window", so I borrowed a title from Pete Townshend, which, incidentally is the perfect theme song to the expression on Otto's face.

It's open edition, and one of the prints will be archived at the University of Kentucky.

And like all my woodcut prints, it's for sale, HERE.

Next up for me is finishing a portrait of two little girls. Almost done, so stay tuned!
I'm American artist, Robin Zebley. My pet portrait website, including custom woodblock print portraits, is HERE at http://robinzebley.com If you'd like to keep updated, click on "followers" to your right. If you'd like to see my whole blog, just click on the banner at the top of this post. I love dialogue on my art, so please do comment! Robin

Little Bitty Art

A few years ago, I was painting and drawing tiny art cards and selling them on ebay. I love it! There's those who caution that selling on places like ebay or etsy could hurt, not help, your art career. But to me..part of having an art "career" is doing whatever I feel like! Here's a few samples, most of the photos are on a disk somewhere...


Plus, it meant I was drawing or painting every single day. Since they were "aceos" (3.5" x 2.5"), each piece took hours, not days. And it was so much fun to watch people fighting over my work! I was so lucky, 98% of my pieces sold, and almost 100 people got to own a piece of my original art at a VERY affordable price!
I honestly can't tell you why I stopped and I'm going to do them again. I don't know if there's still a market for them, but I'll find out! I think it complements, not competes with my pet portraits and woodcut prints. So tune in soon for new aceo-sized pieces.
Meanwhile, I am WAITING on pins and needles for my Yorkie portrait to be opened up by her "mom". Mailed it out to her summer home, so I'll post it as soon as she gets it. She does get first peek!Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm American Animal Artist, Robin Zebley. I'd love to draw or paint YOUR pet, my site is: HERE. Just email me and we'll get started! Click on the top right of this blog to see my woodcut prints of animals! And follow me! Just click on the "FOLLOWING" button on your right. I truly appreciate and value every visit, and hope you will pass my info on to anyone who might be interested! I depend so much on word of mouth...put on that thinking cap...hmmm...how about a gift? ....hmmmm!! :D If you'd like to read my whole blog, just click on the banner at the top. Thanks again.,Robin

Finishing touches...when and what to detail

I have to confess, I LOVE to draw dog paws. Don't know why, but those canine hands just really interest me and if I'm not careful, I have a portrait of paws attached to a dog! They are usually in the foreground, so it's tempting to give them too much attention. What I really WANT them to do is to draw the eye in and right on up to the face.

The face is where I spend most of my detailing time. I do the eyes first, and I know this sounds crazy...but I feel like the portrait comes alive, that the dog or cat or horse is really with me somehow. What I've learned about their personality comes through those eyes while I work the rest of their face.

This is the time for sharp points to get the teeniest info communicated about that particular pet, and makes it a portrait of THAT dog, not of A dog.

My style is less about fur and more about features. I'm not one to draw in every strand of fur...but some detailing is necessary. I find that when the colors are blocked in properly, a few darker and lighter mixes of strands of fur are realistic enough to convey that it's fur, but still loose enough not to take attention away from the features.

Wet noses, drippy tongues and those puppydog eyes...that's the real story! Values are very very important here, especially darks, to keep the face from looking flat and pasted on. An open mouth is a great opportunity to show depth, but I have to make sure the dark passages are really, really dark, otherwise, it often can turn out too bright.

Once all of the face is done, I go back into the eyes. They LOOKED done when I did them earlier, but once the rest of the face details are in, they need to catch back up. Not sure if it's my style or not, but I need to work around the portrait basically all at the same time to keep that balance of what's important and what can stay looser.

So here's Zack, completed. His goofy, friendly personality comes through, I think. Nobody would think this is a timid, quiet guy. And look, he's ready to play!

Hope you enjoyed my little demo of how I did this dog portrait! If you'd like to see more of my pet portraits, visit me at my website robinzebley.com . And if you happened upon this post and would like to see the whole blog that contains this demo, just click at the banner at the top that says "Art And Animals". I'm pet portrait artist, Robin Zebley, and I'm glad you stopped by!