Friday's Funny

Happy Friday!!

Sherlock the Beagle!

Have you guys seen this video about  a beagle who helps return lost items to travelers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport?  It is pretty amazing, and cute!  I wouldn't mind getting a visit from "Sherlock" 

Check it out with the link below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/klm-lost-and-found-dog-beagle-video_n_5870144.html

Friday's Funny!

This one has made its around social media a few times, and still makes me chuckle every time!

The difference between dogs and cats teaching their babies to go down stairs....

Happy Friday everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

A Painting Experiment

The other day I was at Michaels buying canvases, and I noticed all of their water color supplies were on super sale.  Curious, I checked it out and decided to make an impulse buy and learn how to watercolor.

Now I took art classes when I was younger.  When I say younger, I mean elementary and middle school.  Since then I have been self-taught and have always gravitated toward acrylics.  The last time I touched watercolors was back in those art classes.  So, I got out all of my brand new supplies that I purchased, watched a few YouTube videos and "how-to" articles, poured myself a glass of wine, and went to work!

Here are two paintings I created.  Not only are they watercolor, but I decided to use abstract colors.  Very different from what  I usually do!

I definitely need more practice to learn all of the ways to utilize water color paints, but I am excited about the new opportunities this has presented for me!

Barkley

I happy to share with you one of my favorite pet portraits to date... Barkley!

Barkley was recently rescued by his "forever family" from a shelter.  They quickly fell in love with him and decided that a portrait in their home of their new family member would be perfect.  Check it out!

I think Barkley is one lucky guy that he was able to find such a great family to love him...and I think his family would agree that they were lucky as well!

Friday's Funny

This is how you get ice from the fridge when you are a pup... don't mind the slobber! 

Kylie

Have you ever learned about someone, and even though you never met them, you could just tell that they were special?  Well this happened for me with a sweet dog named Kaylie.

Kylie's mom contacted me for a painting because she wanted to surprise her husband with a gift, and gave me a little background about this sweet girl.

Kylie was born with micro opthalmia, a fancy term meaning that her eyes never fully formed in utero which has left her blind.  Kylie was adopted when she was just 10 weeks old.  A week later during a puppy check-up, the vet let her mom know that Kylie wouldn't live past a year old due to kidney problems.  She made it well past the year, and at 8 years old Kylie was told she wouldn't live another six months.  Well Kylie was a fighter and she is now still very much alive and happy at the ripe old age of 12.  

Kylie's mom wrote: "I want a way to always have her home with us, which is why I decided to order a portrait. A gorgeous canvas will add a touch of love. We know her time will eventually come to an end, but thankfully it will likely be due to old age, since she doesn't read the memos that she is sick."

Here are a few pictures of this girl:

And here is the finished portrait...

INSERT PORTRAIT

The family absolutely loved the portrait, and felt it captured her expression perfectly.  Dudley, one of the other family dogs, even barked at the portrait when he saw it!  After he calmed down, he just stared at it.  I am glad I got approval from Dudley! :)  Kylie's mom sent me pictures!

Kylie and her portrait

Dudley was in awe!

Thanks to Kylie's mom for not only sharing her story with me, but also sharing pictures of the happy family with their portrait.  While I have never met Kylie, I can tell that she is a fighter and one special dog and is lucky to have a family who loves her very much!

Friday's Funny

Do you call your dog your baby?  I definitely call Zoe my "fur baby!"

How Zoe Became a Jones

This is the story of how Zoe became a Jones...

Hubby and I were not planning on becoming puppy parents at the time.  We were newly married (emphasis on the newly) and living in an apartment.  We were just starting to sync up our lives after two weeks of marriage when something happened.  This happened.

One of hubby's co-workers showed him these pictures.  She knew that we were dog lovers and that we were newly married and eventually wanted to get a puppy, so she let hubby know that a friend of a friend of a friend had two female black labrador puppies that needed a home.

What did hubby do?  Text me these pictures for me to see with the caution that we were in no way able to get a puppy with our current living situation, but just wanted me to see them.  Bad mistake.  As soon as I saw that face, I knew I had to have her.

After a lot of talking, we agreed that we would at least go visit the puppies and see what they were like.  Clearly we were making decisions that would only have one outcome...getting a puppy.

So we go to see the puppies, and I first held the pup we will call "chubs" because she was an adorable, rotund little thing that fell asleep on my shoulder.  Hubby held the other pup, Zoe.  She was active, he could feel her little heart beating, and knew that they had a connection.  We decided to switch, and as soon as I held Zoe she looked at me with those puppy eyes and gave me the sweetest puppy kiss in the world.  I was in love.

The owner politely let us know that he needed to re-home these two quickly as he didn't have anywhere to keep them and that if he didn't find one soon, he would likely be forced to take them to a shelter.  A shelter?  This baby girl couldn't go to a shelter!  So despite the fact that we were in an apartment that didn't allow dogs, that we were a mere two weeks into our marriage, and we had none of the doggy necessities ready, we agreed to adopt Zoe.  And we couldn't be happier with that decision.

Here are pictures from the day we adopted Zoe.  

We dashed to the pet supply store and bought her a bed, crate, toys, food, etc to create a home for this little pup.  We created an elaborate plan to hide Zoe from our landlord for six weeks until we could move to a pet-friendly place.  This included large beach bags to smuggle her in and out, never leaving her alone, and many sleepless nights to keep her from crying in the middle of the night (as many puppies do) so that the neighbors wouldn't complain.  Six weeks later the movers came and we moved into a dog-friendly condo complete with doggy door and grass patch.  All this for our Zoe, and again, we couldn't be happier with that decision.

While she wasn't planned, and many people thought we were nuts for adopting a puppy so quickly, Zoe has definitely changed our lives for the better.  We love you Zoe Jones!

Bailey

I have always loved Golden Retrievers.  There is just something about their happy faces and golden fur that can put a smile on even the most stoic of people.  And Bailey is no exception...

Bailey is a happy-go-lucky golden retriever who happens to be the baby of my mother-in-law, Patty.  Bailey is a well-loved pup who loves to play with his toys and cuddle with his mom.  I haven't seen him in almost two years since he lives in Northern California, but I have no doubt that he and my Zoe would be great friends.

For Patty's birthday this summer, I gifted her with a painting of her boy.

Bailey, Golden Retriever

Needless to say Patty was absolutely thrilled with her birthday gift, and has been one of my strongest supporters to start Petsy Paintings.  

Dog Sitting

Hi everyone!

So this week I have been one lucky lady... and got to spend the week with all three of my favorite pups!  My parents went to Hawaii (okay, so they may be a bit luckier than me) and I was charged with house sitting and watching Casper and Rella!  Let me just say...three dogs is a lot!  But it has been so much fun so far, and Zoe has been loving having playmates all week.  Although I think Casper and Rella may be happy to have the house return to some peace and quiet soon! :)

Here are some pictures from our week together so far...

Let us in!  We are all sitting so good!

There's a whole couch, but they decide to snuggle :)

Cuddles with my Mr. Casper!

Where am I supposed to sleep?!?  Notice the two empty dog beds...

Zoe is looking out the window for the trash man.

Zoe found Casper's toy....

...and proceeded to destroy it.

Casper and Rella are thinking "This Zoe puppy has a lot of energy!"

Zoe and I sure are going to miss these two once our week together is over!  But of course, there are always play dates!

Rella and Casper

Hi everyone!

So as I have shared, I have an adorable black lab puppy named Zoe.  She is currently 7 months old, and my husband and I adopted her shortly after we got married.

Prior to getting married, I lived with my parents and had the pleasure of living with these two pups:

While both yellow labradors, they couldn't be more different. Rella is 7 years old and has been with our family since she was a young pup.  She is mellow and obedient, loves people, and is a strikingly beautiful dog.  Casper is our "old man" at 8 years old.  Our family adopted him when he was 6 years old when a painter who helped renovate our house sadly had to sell his own house and couldn't bring Casper to his new condo.  He saw how incredibly spoiled Rella was and knew that Casper would have a good life with us.  Casper loves to play fetch and will play for hours on end.  His tennis ball is his favorite, and he is a quirky fella who has a special place in my heart.

Naturally I painted portraits of these two and feel that I captured their differing personalities perfectly.

The paintings add the perfect contemporary touch to the guest bedroom!

I just love my Casper and Rella!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, where I will chronicle my journey as I begin my new side business/hobby, Petsy Paintings while sharing the adventures of my Labrador puppy, Zoe.  Petsy Paintings all started one Friday night when I had a glass of wine in one hand and a paint brush in the other and decided to paint my Zoe.  Fast forward to my wonderful hubby posting some pictures on Instagram/Facebook, a few paintings for friends and families, and then more requests for pet paintings and here I am!

Here is that first painting...Zoe!

Zoe, Black Labrador