Digital Photo Painting

My blogger friend Becky recently blogged about a digital painting that another blogger, Jane, did of her dog Liza Jane. It was a beautiful painting and I immediately wanted to send Jane pictures of my dogs. I didn't have a good picture of Pepper handy, but I found this one of my first girls Zoe and Pepper:



So I sent it on to Jane. And she created this:


Isn't it beautiful? I think she so perfectly captured my sweet girls. I immediately e-mailed Jane and asked her how she does it. Here is her reply:

I would call myself a digital photo painter, my focus being portraits--people and pets--and some landscapes. The photo is considered my sketch which I bring into digital editing program called Adobe Photoshop and then into Corel Painter which with a graphics tablet and stylus I paint stroke by stroke just as I would paint with real paint, a canvas and a paintbrush. I've been doing this for about a year and a half and I'm now starting to do commission work. The Pet Project started as a way to get my art out there, while also being able to earn a little money and be able to donate a little as well. My husband and I have now adopted two rescue pups, so I'm very fond of animal welfare organizations.

Anyway, if you want to see more of Jane's work, please check out her blog here. On her blog are links to the website where she sells her work. A portion of proceeds from the pet paintings (available as notecards too) will be donated to animal welfare organizations.

And, if you have some cute photos of your pets and would like to see them painted, please send them to Jane at janewoodenhorse@msn.com.

Crayons

Opened up a brand new box of 64 Crayola crayons last night to color with my boys. It brought back so many memories. I love a new box of crayons. If only I could have found the box of 128.

Scooby and...

Shaggy? Yep. That's what the boys were playing "Scooby and Shaggy." Shaggy was looking a little blue.

"Ruh roh, Shaggy. Ruh roh."

Sneak Peek

Just couldn't wait any longer. This is a shot of my almost finished boatneck tank--designed and knit by me! More photos and details to come once it's 100% finished. Still need to finish the armholes and weave in ends.

So Worth the 20 hour drive

Last week we drove 20 hours to Oak Island, NC to spend a wonderful week with my family. We had such a blast with my parents, my brother and sister and their spouses, and my six wonderful nieces and nephews. I tried to take a lot of pics, but most of them aren't great. Here are a few of my favorites:

The whole crew in front of our house:We are Stone 1. There are also four other houses of my relatives (Stone 2-5) within walking distance of our house.

My sister Cat and her family:

Our immediate family:

My brother John and his family:


My oldest nephew Michael and a jellyfish he caught in his net:
My dad and my niece Lizzie reading together:

My parents and all eight grandchildren:

Feeding the seagulls:

My niece Madeline just loved the seagulls:

We went to Jungle Golf. My nephew was on one hole and hit the ball so hard that it bounced to the next hole and went in. Hole in one!:

N had fun "golfing" too:

The rock band:
These giant shovels were the huge hit of the week.

N LOVED them:

B and J in the ocean:
I love the expression on J's face. He loved boogie boarding or as he called it "surfing."

The crab Michael found and later released:

N flying a kite on the beach:
SO high!

My boys heading out into the ocean:

My family has been going to this same beach for years (over 30) and I just love it. It feels like my home away from home and I love that my boys love it too. Can't wait to keep going back for years and years to come.