Main Street Art

My pet portrait work is being displayed in the window of Main Street Art for the month of February!

Come in and browse through the beautiful original art handcrafted by artists from around the U.S. and Canada, shop through Main Street Art's wide variety of art supplies and see some of their gorgeous specialized, creative custom framing works. If you have artwork, photos, heirlooms or ANYTHING that needs to be framed, they are the ones to do it in a creative professional style that will tickle your fancy! ...and who doesn't like to have their fancy tickled?

hmmmmmm...?

While you're at Main Street Art, you can check out my portrait prices , then contact me for a custom commissioned pet portrait of your very own! They make fabulous one of a kind gifts for any occasion or discriminating pet lover!

Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine depending on the time of day and take a long luxurious gander at my website and see more of my work here:

ArtQwerks

When you purchase an item from my store, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities; Last Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity the donation goes to, will depend on the item purchased and I will love you forever from the bottom of my little black heart. They deserve a chance too!

IF~ Craving

This is a commissioned portrait I did for a customer of mine a while back. I always use him as my poster child to help support small animal rescue shelters, as he too was a rescue. I love the soulful look in his eyes, he is truly craving for someone to love him unconditionally and take him home.

This is Reilly, she is a princess, we purchased her from a breeder (a wonderful breeder in fact) before we knew there were better ways to go about it. It does not lessen her importance any to us that she was from a breeder, there are good ones out there, but there are many bad ones too (google "puppy mills" and see for yourself). After becoming enlightened about no kill animal shelters, animal rescue and how many dogs are hurting and craving love and new homes, we knew that we would go to a rescue shelter to choose our next puppy. Reilly has a personality full of love and understanding for her brother and cousin that came after her. We love her with all our hearts and she loves us with all of hers. I mean come on...look at that schmoopie doopie face...

This is Zeus. He came to us from a local rescue shelter nearby in October of 2008. A wonderful no kill shelter that loves, loves, loves their animals, right up until they find them new homes and after. Zeus was a puppy mill puppy. He was a breeder dog, where they use them for breeding only and kill them when they are done with them. He was in a cage for three or four years, we are not certain of his age, his feet never touched the ground and the cages were stacked on top of each other where they pooped right on to each other through one cage to the next. We adopted him for our daughter Lauren, who fell in love with him at first sight after a long search for a new best friend. He could barely walk, could not go up or down stairs, was afraid of the grass and shook uncontrollably when we held him. Although this is a lovely picture of him, he was a mess...

But not any more! This is a video of Zeus today under the care of his new mom Lauren. Look how happy he is now. What a great feeling Lauren has to have provided Zeus with the love and nurturing that has made him the hambone he is today. Zeus loves her right back, they are inseparable.

This is Enzo, he is Zeus's cousin (our newest baby) also from a rescue nearby. We adopted him in November of 2008 at 4 months and we don't know his full story, except that he came from a puppy mill and that's enough of a story for me. He was very shy and scared from the beginning but has come almost full circle. Now that the weather has warmed up, he has taken to riding the four wheeler with Reilly (with Dean driving of course) and playing chase in the yard. He loves to carry his teddy bear around in his mouth and he CRAVES attention.

This is Enzo today, he is about 10 months old and a gorgeous specimen. He doesn't care about his dashing good looks though, all he cares about is that he has a great home and a family that adores him and that he gets his snacks on request. He adores us right back.

See?


Illustration Friday is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. Read more about it here:http://www.illustrationfriday.com/about_p.php
When you purchase an item from ArtQwerks, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities; Second Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity will depend on the item purchased and I will greatly appreciate it.
See my store and galleries to the right.

EBSQ Art of the Day

I'm honored to have had my work featured for EBSQ's Art of the Day on 03/07/2009. This particular work is titled "Groovy kind of Love." I have displayed this piece here before but since it has been honored, I feel like it needs to be displayed again. I am a huge rescue dog advocate (in my family, we own two) and this little guy just happens to be a rescue also. I donate a portion of my sales on Etsy to Last Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven in Howell Mi. You can read more about this EBSQ featured work and see each day's featured art here: http://www.ebsqart.com/ArtOfTheDay/cmd_20090307_ArtOfTheDay_Pastels.htm
What is EBSQ?
EBSQ is a creative space that provides art marketing tools and serves as a hub for the self rep and indie artist community.
The theme for last week was Pastels.
A pastel is a stick of pure, ground pigment held together with a binder. Some prefer the more chalky soft or hard pastels. Some prefer oil pastels. All require practice, but in the right hands, pastels are a medium without peer.
Thank you EBSQ for including me in last week's featured art!


You can see most of my art in MY GALLERIES at: http://www.ebsqart.com/Artists/cmd_20424_profile_portfolio.htm or view my slide shows to the right. You can purchase my illustrated children's book "The Harp Mouse Chooses Her Home: The Adventure Begins" by Diane E Dunn and the companion mouse puppet, prints and original art or request commissions and at the same time have 10% of your purchase donated to animal charities here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5663698