Pet Portrait Testimonial | Sophie

Working with Claire Dunaway was a complete pleasure, from start to finish! It’s such a treat to work with someone who loves what they do, so that their joy overflows into their work. That describes Claire to a T. Claire Dunaway is so gifted at capturing the essence of a pet, the way they cock their head or hold their posture, the look of love in their eyes, the variance in their coloring.

Several years ago, my husband’s parents commissioned Claire to paint a portrait of our beloved black lab, Jasper. We were positively thrilled with it…so much so that we thought of Claire this past year when we wanted to get a special gift for my mother for her birthday. Claire listened patiently, and sifted through a dozen or so photographs to get a feel for my parent’s dog. She adapts her style to suit her client’s needs and wants. She kept us in the loop & sent pictures via email so that we could ask for subtle changes along the way as she prepared the portrait of my mother’s sweet dog Sophie.

My mother was overcome with emotion when she received her portrait. She will treasure hers for a lifetime, as we will treasure ours.
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Read more about the article Sketchbook Series | June Art Walk Car Hood
Sketch of my project for the June Art Walk being hosted by the Brickyard At Marietta Station.

Sketchbook Series | June Art Walk Car Hood

I was beyond thrilled to paint a car hood for the “Under The Hood” show that the Brickyard at Marietta Station for Marietta’s First Friday Art Walk. After wrestling with several ideas (the possibilities were endless!) I decided to put together a skyline full of images that I had seen from behind my own car hood on a few road trips. Most of the signs and water towers came from Old Route 66 through Oklahoma and New Mexico.
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Read more about the article A Weekend Escape to Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts…
Dustin Farnsworth prepping a demo. That’s a cardboard “plate” prepped for printing below him. Would love to do that with elementary but I don’t think administration would love classroom exacto blade use.

A Weekend Escape to Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts…

I thought that I might post a few pictures from my weekend at Arrowmont. When I arrived I was a little taken aback that Arrowmont was not secluded in the mountains above Gatlinburg; the entrance is actually right beside the Hard Rock cafe and the campus is just above the main drag of the town. It was amazing how I completely forgot that I was so close to city life for 4 days though. I cannot find words to express the quality of the workshop, surroundings and people. After agonizing over my fear of getting a roommate with verbal diarrhea I was “bumped” up into a private room and no suite mate to share my bathroom with (it “pays” to go during an early season weekend!). The people were so nice that I even quit trying to sit by myself at meals as I realized that it was perhaps a little offensive that I tried several times to do just that (my introverted side enjoys some meals and readings alone). (more…)

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Read more about the article Peter Reynolds Spring Watercolor Flowers Art Project!
Peter Reynolds Watercolor Flowers as featured in the book Ish by Peter Reynolds

Peter Reynolds Spring Watercolor Flowers Art Project!

I promise to post more of my art soon, but I can’t resist some of these adorable kid projects that come to fruition during my day job. Here is the lesson plan for Spring Watercolor flowers (I wrote it for school, so obviously you don’t have to do the book reading but it is an adorable and worthwhile book)! You can use tempra cake paints (what we use in class) or you could even water down some acrylic or gouache paints. 🙂 This is such a simple and rewarding project; have fun!
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Read more about the article Sock Monkey Fun!
Here is a little EASY and FUN sock monkey lesson that I have found to be a huge confidence booster to my 3rd grade artists.

Sock Monkey Fun!

As promised, here is a little EASY and FUN sock monkey lesson that I have found to be a huge confidence booster to my 3rd grade artists. I think that every child was extremely proud of his or her sock monkey when we finished. Here are the instructions… (cut and pasted from my official lesson plan at school; you don’t really have to show your kids a Power Point presentation but you could!)

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