Summer promo art

OK, folks...drumroll....here it is. My art for my Summer promo. Now, gotta get busy getting 'em printed up and sent out before Summer is over!

HAPPY SUMMER folks and happy 4th, too!

Opinions needed from my illustrator friends

Although I am really busy with work right now(yay!), I still need to come up with a piece for my summer mailer. Gotta keep up the promotion to keep that work coming in! I desperately want to start doing more animals in my work. Don't get me wrong...I love doing children, too but I have a great love for all animals and I LOVE those wonderful books I see at the bookstore with animals as their main characters...so...I need to have more animals in my portfolio.

If you haven't noticed by now, I have an obsession with doggies so that's one of my favorite things to draw. Here is a piece I did with a book idea simmering in my head. Is this piece something that would entice editors and art directors?

Cassie and an update on Annie

Still trying to find a "new normal" these days. Life has been such a whirlwind of stress in the past 6 months that I feel as though I have been on spin cycle. I am busy working and trying to get caught up. It is good to be busy making art. I am so blessed and God is good so I know there will be much joy again. I just need to breath.

Speaking of joy, here are a few pictures of our new family member, Cassie. She has brought us so much love and joy in these past weeks when we so desperately needed it!

I was looking at Cassie about a week ago and I noticed that on both of her shoulders she has some lighter hair starting to grow in.(her withers) They are shaped exactly like wings and it occurred to me that Cassie is an angel given to us just when we needed her.  Look and see if you can see what I'm talking about in a couple of these photos. It was so hard to get her to sit still when I was above her trying to take a shot of both shoulders but here she is to the side.

And now an update on Annie(her new name is Abby).

..."Annie is now Abby or as we call her AB normal from the movie Young Frankenstein.  She is totally living up to her new name.......she is trying to become normal as fast as she can. She no longer wants anything to do with her crate. We came home from picking up Bill at the airport and we could hear her barking from the garage.  When we opened the door she threw herself up in the air and barked. Then she flipped herself around and went into a play bow. When we let the dogs outside the 3 Goldens run up to the corner of the lot looking for the neighbor dog Tommy. She is by no means anyway near a normal Golden but she is well on her way. She recovers quickly when she is frightened which is amazing for a dog with a background like hers. It is with great joy that I can tell you we are starting to see a dog."

Here are a couple photos of Annie on her pink bed with her new buddies. The gray jacket she has on is a thundershirt. It helps dogs that are noise reactive. (i.e. during thunderstorms, etc.)

Let me just take this opportunity to thank the wonderful folks with http://www.goldenrecovery.org They have truly been a God-send!! If you are anywhere near the midwest and want a golden retriever, please check out this wonderful group!!

NOTE! I've had some people wondering if all those dogs were mine...no, they are at the rescue expert's home where Annie went to get the help she needs. The rescue expert, Jacki, has a couple extra foster dogs right now. She is such an angel for helping/saving so many dogs! Thank you, Jacki!! And thank you to all the foster families who help rescues around the country!!