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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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!!

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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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I wanted to share this final custom dog illustration alongside the photo so you can see how I’ve turned my client’s pretty boy, Ruby, into an illustration that he can use for his business! He was such fun to doodle, and I’m delighted to add Ruby to my illustration portfolio!

You can see Ruby’s illustration in action at MyRealtorJake.com!

I’ve been continually verbally assaulted with birthday wishes and greetings from friends and family on Facebook today. Don’t you feel sorry for me? No? Well good. Because DANG if there’s a place on the internet where you feel really special on your b-day, Facebook is IT!! I just want to make a hot cup of cocoa and stare at my wall for a few hours. It’s that nice.

38. The big three-eight. What’s the big deal? Honestly, the older I get, the farther away from “old” I feel. The years may be whizzing right past me, and I might not remember your name, but darnit I’m always going to be 16 in my head. So what do you do on your 38th birthday? Appreciate the people who take the time to pop in on your day, have a piece of cake, and smile.

So this is me, smiling at you. Thanks for popping by.

And while you’re here, I’ll show you what I’ve been finalizing the last couple of days. This is a custom illustration of Ruby, a beautiful mixed breed pooch wearing a scarf. It’s in the proofing stage so there may be some tweaking but I have to say – Adobe Illustrator rocks so much. I previously drew my doodles in using PSP using my Wacom and the paintbrush tool. This time I used Adobe’s pen tool to piece the dog together in a hundred or so different shapes – and I love the pen tool! I can definitely see getting much more accomplished in the way of illustrating using AI in the future. Very cool.

Hope you’re staying warm – the polar bears are almost finished with the igloo they’ve been building in my back yard. I’ve got to run to the store to get some salmon. (Translation: It’s -40 something degrees here. I think everyone who lives in an area with these kinds of winters should automatically qualify for disability checks from the state for being mentally impaired. There. I said it.)

A new feature to my blog for 2009 — a weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner will be selected to receive one 5×7 graphite drawing from their photograph.

Welcome to Week 3! I truly enjoyed each of your submissions last week and wish I could have drawn them all! The winners portrait, Foofer (little dog, big bone!) is above, next to his photo. Congratulations, Tink!

Each Monday, I will post the weekly Call for Entries along with the previous weeks completed portrait. 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 3 : CALL FOR ENTRIES
Theme

: Open – Single subject (person, pet, place or thing)

Deadline

: Friday, January 16, 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)

The entries for week #2 of my custom portrait giveaway were AMAZING!!! Seriously, folks, I want you to know – each of your entries tugged on my heart this week. Each of them inspired me in their own way, and I want you to keep on entering Because there are still many weeks left in the year and I want to draw them all!

This week, Foofur will be getting his very own pet portrait drawn by me, in my pajamas, on my favorite couch, wearing my favorite hand sock. I know he’ll appreciate that.

Here’s the story:

In 1999 Foofur and I met when his previous owner brought him to the pet shelter where I’m a volunteer. The big dog didn’t like the little one (they tried it for one whole day…). He was just 10 weeks and it was love at first sight for both of us. It took me some time and effort to convince my hubby, but now we both love him to pieces.

In 2002 we were rebuilding at home. I went out for some errands with Foofur. Of course we went into the pet store. I said he could pick his own bone; he chose the biggest one he could carry! He had to hold it exactly in the middle, otherwise he fell over. Proudly he walked all the way home, warning every dog that came too close. He walked into our home and started eating it in the middle of our rebuilding.

I’ve made many, many pictures of Foofur, but this one will always be my favourite! 🙂

Love, Tink

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’ve had to put a few of them in myself due to some confusion about the rules, but 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.

For future reference – entries need to be comments on the call for entries announcement. You can e-mail the photo to me but the entry should be available for everyone to read. That’s part of what makes your story special, as I think everyone likes to read through them. (Especially me!) **Karen, I didn’t get yours transferred in as a comment but that was my fault and I still considered it.

So, 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. When I opened Foofer’s photo, I burst into laughter – and I had the strongest reaction to that photo, though all of my reactions were really strong this week!!

I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am. I’ll share Foofur’s portrait with you on Monday! Have a great weekend!

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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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