Other Stuff I Do

Okay, in addition to the artwork and teaching art one of my many hobbies is agility training which I do with Millie, our Rat Terrier Extraordinaire. I have yet to compete with her, but have taken several classes with her. She is athletic, smart, and agile, so I mainly do this in the hopes some of those traits will rub off on me. These are the graduation pictures from our last class, Agility Handlers Class, which we took through Dashing Dog Sports. Amy was a terrefic instructor and I learned a lot.

So because I was taking the pictures there are none here of Millie the Wonder Rat. The two pastels at the beginning of the pictures are of Millie (they are 6x9" works on paper.) She truly is an amazing little mutt and we are happy to have her with us.

Classmates: I am so sorry I didn't get fabulous pictures of each and every one of your wonderful dogs. Frankly some of you are just too fast for clear images, plus my batteries were running low which means the camera takes more time to focus. I particularly enjoy the one of Piper doing the weave poles. That dog runs like she's being filmed for a dog food commercial.

In other studio news: yes, I have been very busy working on a new series of monochrome pastel pieces, largely of urban subject matter. It's been a great series for me and I will post the process soon. School started for us again last week so I have been busy getting ready for that. I have 2D Design again as well as Foundations Drawing; both classes are full and it's been a hectic week. I will also be teaching watercolor at the Western Colorado Art Center largely because I am insane. Inertia, however, dicates that my body must stay in motion if I want to get anything done.

One other sad piece of news is that Chloe, my one and only studio cat died this last summer. She was my constant companion for the past 12 years and always had lots of advice in the studio (i.e. she was mouthy...) It's been difficult working in there without the commentary ("Mrow! Meh Mrooow!") while I was painting. Getting through it but I still miss her terribly. You can see a good picture of her under the "contacts" link on the website.

Until next time--go to your studio and make stuff!

Dawn