Junior & Taco

Junior & Taco, originally uploaded by debifitz.

This is the pastel I did for a project that is very dear to my heart... and kind of my brain child! My two dear friends Ron Danta and Danny Robertshaw have this amazing charity or maybe it is more of a calling... but they rescue unwanted, forgotten, and abandoned dogs. They have always been the ones that would pull over on the interstate to pick up some poor dog running loose. They bring them into their own home, use their own money and clean them up and fix whatever needs fixing. Then they either live with them for the rest of their lives or they find wonderful homes. They really kicked it into gear after Katrina. To date they have found homes for over 2000 dogs! They were honored by the ASPCA a few years ago for this achievement. A few years ago they started doing a calendar using photos of 12 of the lucky dogs. I was asked to do one of my "quick" watercolor/gouaches for the cover.... They (bless their hearts!) think I just whip them out!! HA! This last one took about 4 very long days! (the previous blog entry is the most recent calendar cover) But this year my brain child was to bring together 12 artists to do portraits of this years 12 lucky dogs and make it an art calendar as well. It should be coming out the middle of november. We started it off pretty late... had some problems getting good photos. But I think it is going to be great. Next year I hope to get a much more varied group of artists, do it earlier, and have the art displayed in a gallery... just have to find the right gallery. Ron and Danny are horse trainers (hunter/jumper) and the event would have to be done around a horse show. I will keep every one posted!

AND this is my first attempt on Wallis paper! I loved it!!!!! I have really been getting tired of the velour surface... having problems with the darker colors and losing some of the richness of the others. I also love the idea of doing some mixed media on it. Just hope the clients love it as much as I do!