Today begins Week #8 of my 2009 weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Last week’s winner was Janine who submitted a photo of her baby girl, Juliet, shown above next to her completed portrait. I chose Juliet purely for selfish reasons, it’s a gorgeous photo of a gorgeous baby with gorgeous and HUGE eyes. I could not deny my inner artistic desire to draw this baby. That’s my story – and I’m sticking to it!

A note on framing for portrait winners: I recommend the Nielsen Bainbridge Archival Gallery Frame, available through Dick Blick.

Each Monday, I post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait (above). I may change the subject theme each week, or leave the theme open, so please pay close attention to the details in each announcement.

Entries will be accepted through Friday afternoon around 4PM CST, at which time I will close comments and select one winner from the entries received. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday and post the completed portrait with the following week’s Giveaway announcement.

Qualified entries will include a valid e-mail address, and the comment should include one link to a photograph owned/taken by the entrant. If you do not have a place to upload photos to link one, you can e-mail it to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com. Your entry, however, should be included in the comment section below, with your story – should you choose to include one.

The Selection Process: In case you’re curious, I’ll share my little artsy process in selecting the winner. First – I do not read any entries at all during the week. I do not read them because I don’t want anyone’s entries to have any more time than any others to settle in my creative brain. At the end of the week, I close comments. When I sit down to go through all of the entries, I read the story first, and open the photo link in a new window. When I finish reading, I flip over to the photo and my initial reaction is what I go by.

If your entry is not chosen, you may enter again. I encourage you to include a short story with your entry.

WEEK 8 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

: Open (1 or 2 subject – people or pets)

Deadline

: Friday, February 20, 2009 (4pm CST)

To Enter

: Leave a comment, include a link to your photo. For e-mail submissions, leave a comment with your story as your entry, attach your photo to an e-mail separately, and send to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com.

Note: *G* Rating only

Your challenge? To inspire me! Choose your photo wisely – I will select a winner based on how the photo and/or story moves me.

Good luck!!

Put this button on your blog to remind yourself to enter each week!
Link it to:
http://intricateart.com/browse/blog/getting-creative/graphite-portrait-giveaway/Or just copy and paste this code:
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Today begins Week #7 of my 2009 weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Last week’s winner, Willie, was a much loved Maine Coon cat that was rescued by Ammie. Her love for him is still apparent, even after his passing. Willie is pictured above, next to his completed portrait.

Each Monday, I post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait (above). I may change the subject theme each week, or leave the theme open, so please pay close attention to the details in each announcement.

Entries will be accepted through Friday afternoon around 4PM CST, at which time I will close comments and select one winner from the entries received. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday and post the completed portrait with the following week’s Giveaway announcement.

Qualified entries will include a valid e-mail address, and the comment should include one link to a photograph owned/taken by the entrant. If you do not have a place to upload photos to link one, you can e-mail it to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com. Your entry, however, should be included in the comment section below, with your story – should you choose to include one.

The Selection Process: In case you’re curious, I’ll share my little artsy process in selecting the winner. First – I do not read any entries at all during the week. I do not read them because I don’t want anyone’s entries to have any more time than any others to settle in my creative brain. At the end of the week, I close comments. When I sit down to go through all of the entries, I read the story first, and open the photo link in a new window. When I finish reading, I flip over to the photo and my initial reaction is what I go by.

If your entry is not chosen, you may enter again. I encourage you to include a short story with your entry.

WEEK 7 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

:

KIDS

(Babies through age 5)

Deadline

: Friday, February 13, 2009 (4pm CST)

To Enter

: Leave a comment, include a link to your photo. For e-mail submissions, leave a comment with your story as your entry, attach your photo to an e-mail separately, and send to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com.

Note: *G* Rating only

Your challenge? To inspire me! Choose your photo wisely – I will select a winner based on how the photo and/or story moves me.

Good luck!!

Put this button on your blog to remind yourself to enter each week!
Link it to:
http://intricateart.com/browse/blog/getting-creative/graphite-portrait-giveaway/Or just copy and paste this code:
<a href=”http://intricateart.com/browse/blog/getting-creative/graphite-portrait-giveaway/”><img src=”http://intricateart.com/wp-content/uploads/leannewildermuth125.jpg” title=”Leanne Wildermuth, Artist by Nature” alt=”Weekly Portrait Giveaway” border=”1″/></a>Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
for just $70.00 right here in my shop!
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Winner of Week #6 of my Custom Portrait Giveaway is Ammie with her story of Willie – a cat she rescued and promptly fell in love with.

Willie holds a special place in my heart. He’s my “first born” and my “first love”. He was such an amazing cat.

I rescued him when he was around six weeks old. He was starving and I stole him out of my step-brother’s yard. My brother and his family were neglecting him. He was thrown outdoors to fend for himself because he had been chewing up the baby’s bottle nipples.

When I got him to the vet, the doc said it was a good thing I took him when I did, he was starving, less than a pound, close to six weeks (which meant he had been taken from his mama and litter mates at less than a month old) and would have starved within a few more days.

He grew though. And his hair grew. And his tail! it was so long and bushy that my uncle mistook him for a raccoon.

I used to walk him on a leash to take him to my grandparents for Sunday dinner. My grandfather loved that cat and often tried to talk me out of him. Others did too.

He was laid back. Cool. And big! All fifteen pounds of him under that long hair. He wasn’t pedigreed but he was clearly a Maine Coon from all the descriptions I read.

He began turning white in 2006. A few hairs here and there. I didn’t think anything of it. Then one day I picked him up and discovered he’d lost weight. A lot of it. He felt like half the cat he used to be. I took him to the emergency vet clinic and learned he had FIV and Felv. It would take thousands of dollars just to treat him to give him a little more time with us. He had stopped eating and was severely dehydrated. We didn’t have thousands of dollars and I made one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to. And I couldn’t even stay while they did it. I couldn’t handle it. I was weak and I will always regret that.

Willie was cremated and he sits in a box on my bedside table. I know–it seems a morbid. Maybe even sick.

Oh how I loved that cat. Still do.”

I remember the day Ammie shared that her boy Willie passed over the rainbow bridge. I remember shedding a tear for Ammie knowing how hard it was for her to say goodbye, and how much he meant to her. I have secretly always wanted to paint Willie’s portrait for her, so I am glad to finally have that opportunity.

Will post Willie’s portrait on Monday, along with the Week #7 call for entries.

Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
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Today begins week 6 of my 2009 weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Welcome to Week 6! Last week’s winner was a touching story of a beautiful baby boy, Dylan. Dylan is pictured above, next to his completed portrait.

Each Monday, I post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait (above). I may change the subject theme each week, or leave the theme open, so please pay close attention to the details in each announcement.

Entries will be accepted through Friday afternoon around 4PM CST, at which time I will close comments and select one winner from the entries received. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday and post the completed portrait with the following week’s Giveaway announcement.

Qualified entries will include a valid e-mail address, and the comment should include one link to a photograph owned/taken by the entrant. If you do not have a place to upload photos to link one, you can e-mail it to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com. Your entry, however, should be included in the comment section below, with your story – should you choose to include one.

The Selection Process: In case you’re curious, I’ll share my little artsy process in selecting the winner. First – I do not read any entries at all during the week. I do not read them because I don’t want anyone’s entries to have any more time than any others to settle in my creative brain. At the end of the week, I close comments. When I sit down to go through all of the entries, I read the story first, and open the photo link in a new window. When I finish reading, I flip over to the photo and my initial reaction is what I go by.

If your entry is not chosen, you may enter again. I encourage you to include a short story with your entry.

WEEK 6 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

:

PETS

(any and all critters welcome!)

Deadline

: Friday, February 6, 2009 (4pm CST)

To Enter

: Leave a comment, include a link to your photo. For e-mail submissions, leave a comment with your story as your entry, attach your photo to an e-mail separately, and send to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com.

Note: *G* Rating only

Your challenge? To inspire me! Choose your photo wisely – I will select a winner based on how the photo and/or story moves me.

Good luck!!

Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
for just $70.00 right here in my shop!
(Checkout using PayPal)

Winner of week #5 of my Custom Portrait Giveaway is Deb Hallman with her photo of her adopted son, Dylan.

Although it is so simple in it’s nature, this photo means so much to me on so many different levels. To me, this photo really is worth a thousand words.

On a general level, when I look at this photo I think of the miracle of life; I think of peace and purity; I think of new beginnings and hope for a bright future; I think of the wonder of discovering things for the first time; I think of endless opportunities and dreams to come true.

On a personal level, this photo makes me think of so much more. Of the thousands of photos (literally!) I have of our son this one is my favorite. It is my favorite, not because it’s the cutest photo, or most impressive photo, but because of the meaning behind it. This photo was taken on the day our son was placed with us (for adoption), just minutes after I held him in my arms for the very first time. To me this photo means an answer to our prayers, a dream come true, a lifetime of commitment and the end of a very long journey that brought us to this tiny, precious, little being. It means great responsibility and lots of fun times ahead. It means tons of hugs and kisses, and a lifetime of unconditional love. It is the moment our lives changed forever, and the most amazing experience of my adult life. It is the moment that our family grew beyond husband and wife and we became parents.

Amid all the happiness and joy that this photo means to us, it also has one more meaning. It has a meaning of complete and total thoughtfulness and consideration on behalf of our son’s birth family. It stands for one family’s unselfish act to give this child the best life possible. It means grieving for a child they love and care enough about set him on the path he was meant to follow. “

I think Deb’s story says it all. Thanks so much, Deb – for letting us all have a glimpse into such a deeply personal and profoundly meaningful experience.

Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
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Today begins week 5 of my 2009 weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Welcome to Week 5! Last week’s winner was a beautiful tuxedo cat named Salvadore Dali who lived happily for 19 years on a farm with her loving furmom, Nicky. The finished portrait, above, is a zoomed crop of Salvi’s face.

Each Monday, I post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait (above). I may change the subject theme each week, or leave the theme open, so please pay close attention to the details in each announcement.

Entries will be accepted through Friday afternoon around 4PM CST, at which time I will close comments and select one winner from the entries received. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday and post the completed portrait with the following week’s Giveaway announcement.

Qualified entries will include a valid e-mail address, and the comment should include one link to a photograph owned/taken by the entrant. If you do not have a place to upload photos to link one, you can e-mail it to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com. Your entry, however, should be included in the comment section below, with your story – should you choose to include one.

If your entry is not chosen, you may enter again. I encourage you to include a short story with your entry.

WEEK 5 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

:

OPEN

(Pets or people!)

Deadline

: Friday, January 30, 2009 (4pm CST)

To Enter

: Leave a comment, include a link to your photo. For e-mail submissions, leave a comment with your story as your entry, attach your photo to an e-mail separately, and send to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com.

Note: *G* Rating only

Your challenge? To inspire me! Choose your photo wisely – I will select a winner based on how the photo and/or story moves me.

Good luck!!

Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
for just $70.00 right here in my shop!
(Checkout using PayPal)

Winner of week #4 of my Custom Portrait Giveaway is Nicky. The life she shared with Salvadore Dali, her tuxedo cat, sounds familiar and comfortable. An old farm cat, dominant but dependent, reliably unreliable. I loved envisioning how he owned his owners and had such a cozy place in their home and hearts.

The cat with the crazy eyes.

“Salvadore Dali came to live with us as a tiny kitten some 19 years ago. He was named Salvadore Dali, by my daughter, after her favourite artist and because of his crazy eyes.

Here at the farm he made sure that all the other cats in the area knew that it was his territory, his shouting and screaming in the depth of the night were something to hear. He loved all our dogs, meeting the Pugs in the morning with a flat head, when he rubbed foreheads with them, and was often to be found rolling around with the GSD. He never ran away from a dog so I think that the dogs didn’t recognize him as a cat.

He was a hunter par excellence, squirrels, rabbits, rats, mice, voles and even on one occasion, a mole, were his prey of choice. He rarely touched the bird population, although the odd bird may have just fallen into his mouth, we always used to say that he didn’t like the feel of feathers in his teeth.

Occasionally he would disappear for a while, and usually, when I had removed his photo from my computer desktop and decided that he wasn’t coming back, he would appear and shout at me for food as if nothing had happened. He was a big cat, and always seemed to be hungry, demanding food off anyone who he thought would feed him. His demanding was extremely loud so he usually got what he wanted.

Over the years he was a big part of our life, he enjoyed having visits from the family, although it was dangerous to let him get in a suitcase, he was very likely to pee in it !! The grandchildren used to love having him snuggle up in their beds and he used to love Christmas and would sit on their presents and examine them in detail.

He was a wonderful cat, never poorly, he only went to the vet for his jabs and to be neutered in his youth and for his final journey to the Rainbow Bridge December 2008. We miss him so much, I still catch a glimpse of his tail and he crosses the kitchen and I have been known to get up to open the door for him.”

Thanks for sharing Salvadore with me, Nicky. I’ll share my rendition of him with you on Monday!

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Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
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Today begins the fourth week of my 2009 weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Week 4! I learn something new every week, it seems. Last week, I learned that I really want to give away more than just one portrait a week! I am chewing on that, and I’ll let you know if it’s something I’m able to do.

The winner, DaGoddess, caught me off guard with her sentimental giggly moment between her and her daughter, Miranda.

Each Monday, I post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait (above). I may change the subject theme each week, or leave the theme open, so please pay close attention to the details in each announcement.

Entries will be accepted through Friday afternoon around 4PM CST, at which time I will close comments and select one winner from the entries received. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday and post the completed portrait with the following week’s Giveaway announcement.

Qualified entries will include a valid e-mail address, and the comment should include one link to a photograph owned/taken by the entrant. If you do not have a place to upload photos to link one, you can e-mail it to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com. Your entry, however, should be included in the comment section below, with your story – should you choose to include one.

If your entry is not chosen, you may enter again. I encourage you to include a short story with your entry.

WEEK 4 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

:

PETS

(cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, fish – any animal!)

Deadline

: Friday, January 23, 2009 (4pm CST)

To Enter

: Leave a comment, include a link to your photo. For e-mail submissions, leave a comment with your story as your entry, attach your photo to an e-mail separately, and send to gallery *at* intricateart dot-com.

Note: *G* Rating only

Your challenge? To inspire me! Choose your photo wisely – I will select a winner based on how the photo and/or story moves me.

Good luck!!

Get the latest updates – Subscribe by Email!
Don’t want to wait? Commission your own 5×7 graphite custom portrait
for just $70.00 right here in my shop!
(Checkout using PayPal)

After much deliberation, I’ve selected DaGoddess’ entry as the winner of a custom graphite portrait for Week #3 of my custom portrait giveaway.

Once again, your entries touched my heart and your photos made me smile. It took me a little longer to decide this time, it’s really hard to choose! I loved this story of Mojo (aka Miranda) as a baby, it really brought back floods of memories of similar experiences with my own daughters. Those times are so precious, and I think her story reminded me that I need to really keep those memories tucked away in a safe spot, and remember where I put them for future reference. I am really touched that after 15-16 years, DaGoddess tells the story like it happened just the other day, and then to see the beautiful young woman she is becoming – just tugs on my heartstrings in a mommy kind of way.

Here’s her story:

Gotta share a story about her that truly captures her unique brand of wackiness. You see, she was born that way and ’round about the time she was 14 or 15 months old, her sense of humor was already apparent. One Saturday morning — far too early, of course, I’d heard her stirring in her room and went in to get her. I changed her, grabbed her a cup of juice, and I brought her into bed with me. She took her usual few sips of juice, handed me her sippy cup, and curled up like she was ready to go back to sleep. I put the cup on the old drafting table next to the bed and curled myself around my sweet little child. A couple minutes of fidgeting later, she said, “dink, Mommy, dink!” which meant she wanted her drink. While I rolled over and reached for it, she was busy stealing my pillow. As I rolled back with the drink, I felt the absence of said pillow, and looked at her. She was lying on top of the pillow, very still, covers pulled up tight under her chin, eyes closed pretending to sleep. There was even an attempt at “snoring” for my benefit. And slowly, the impish grin spread across her face and the giggling started. Yes, my young toddler was a prankster! There was no way I could sleep after that. In fact, we got up to grab breakfast and play silly games the rest of the morning, after which I spent at least two hours calling family and regaling them with Miranda’s latest clever plot to make me laugh.

She’s sixteen now and very much still a goofball who loves playing jokes on family and friends. They’re never malicious, always done in the name of fun. Thankfully, after scaring us with her New Year’s adventures, she’s okay and will be back to pranking us in due time.

Congrats, DaGoddess, you’ll see your baby’s portrait on Monday!

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