Commissioning a Painting...of Your Dog

casasugar — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 06:58:18 -0700

Sometimes I worry about walking that fine line between being a responsible pet owner and an obsessive pet owner. ("Your dog is wearing a backpack," my sister recently observed.) Still, that concern didn't deter me from commissioning a painting of my dog, Ozzie. Portland, Maine, artist Elizabeth Fraser, whose work I'd found on Etsy, started out with a photo of Ozzie, and two weeks later, the painting arrived in the mail.

The painting's diminutive size, at at only 5x5 inches, made me feel like less of a weirdo for getting my pet's portrait commissioned. But as more of my friends saw the final result (framed and placed on my fireplace mantel) they stopped thinking that I was slightly nutty and began to realize that I was on to something really cool.

Fraser, who works primarily in oils, was a delight to work with, and I thought that $75 was a major steal for an original piece of artwork of my pet.

What do you think? Would you get artwork commissioned of your pet?

Coffee + Creativity = Art

YumSugar — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:53:59 -0700

The bf (we're going to call him Jimmy from now on, okay? I really hate that phrase bf) is really into coffee. As in, we got rid of our microwave counter space in order to make room for the coffee pot, espresso machine, grinder and all the other bits of coffee paraphernalia. So when I found this link, I immediately had to forward it to him. For several years, Duluth based artists Andy and Angel Saur have been creating all of their works of art with coffee. Like fine watercolors, the coffee works as washes and shading and each painting is 100% coffee (with the exception of an acrylic coat to preserve the art). It started when the artists were working on a new exhibit for a coffee house. Hoping to create something unique and fun, they decided to work with coffee as a medium. To achieve the different gradients, the artists brew their own thick coffee and dilute as needed. I personally think the results look rich and inviting, like sepia toned paintings. And somehow even their rendition of George Costanza mananges to capture a nostalgic feeling. But don't take my word on it, decide for yourself by checking out their coffee art gallery.

Source: Tastespotting

CasaSugar -- Home sweet home.

Commissioning a Painting...of Your Dog

Coffee + Creativity = Art