Dog Scratchin' Kickstarter Project Continues

First week has gone by with amazing response. We are now 36% funded with 40 days to go. This doesn't mean it's time to slack off and wait till the end to push for the goal of $5,000.00. Oh no, dear friends. There will be a concerted effort daily to raise awareness of this project and all of the dogs out there who either have been adopted or need to be adopted. I opened the paper this morning and there was a lovely story about an old, blind and deaf yellow lab that was recently adopted. I love this kind of story. I love the kind of people who will open their homes to a 'special needs' animal. For this kickstarter Dog Scratchin' book project I'm looking for all kinds of dogs to draw. Special needs, heart wrenching rescues from neglect, and the 'regular' pup at a shelter with no big backstory, just a dog that wanted a home, and the people who helped them. I had a question from a potential funder regarding this; he wanted to know if his story and dog qualified because it hadn't been neglected or any special circumstances around being in the shelter. My response? Absolutely, this is an important part of the book as well. It's not just the high profile, drastic, dramatic stories and dogs that will make it into the book. My beloved dog Bo, was found by a dumpster by my neighbor. He was about 6 wks old, scared and homeless. I fell in love with him and had a good long time with him. There is more to this story, of course, and it will be in the book. Stay tuned. Please share the link to the kickstarter project site. Help me create this book of scratchboard drawings. Every bit helps. Even at the lowest amount to pledge.
The above drawing is on Ampersand Art scratchbord, with various inks. It is 11"x14" and is available for $375.00
Check out the project here.

This Is The Big News!

For two months I've been putting this together. Agonizing over each piece. Now, for some of you that might not seem a long time. To this Aries, it is an eternity. I've been pushing and pushing and then playing the 'hurry up and wait' game.  Finally, it's done and launched. Out of my hands into yours. Feels good to have it out there. Now, I need your help. Check out the link to see the project. I want to draw your dog, your neighbor's dog, any and every rescue dog out there...really. The sad thing? There are so many dogs who are needing a safe home. The great thing? So many folks have adopted one or two or more. And the organizations that rescue and place them inspire me. So I want to do this little thing that I do, which is to make art, to try and help these groups and dogs.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547701634/dog-scratchin-book-stories-and-drawings-of-rescued

Still Working On The Big News

Still working on getting the 2012 Kickstarter project to launch. You must know, this hurry up and wait stuff is absolutely crazy making for a 'get up and go' Aries. I usually make a decision and then pull the trigger. Doing that means I have to 'fix' things on the fly. And it makes my Virgo friends who analyze and plan a bit alarmed. There is a lot of good in both techniques. I just have not been a big planner, or known to wait patiently. This time, I am getting all the bugs out, having the video tweeked and revising the text, and waiting...waiting. Now it seems the launch will be sometime next week. I will, of course, keep you posted.
The above is a 5"x7" scratchboard drawing using the Ampersand product. Three tools, the knife, scraper and fiberglass eraser. Ink and a couple of light coats of Krylon Workable Fixatif. 
I'm off to some fun and R&R in Texas for a few days. Friends, little bit of business and some new art supplies. Sounds good to me!

Big News Coming!

Well, the project I've been focused on, and working on for the last month or so is coming together and about to be launched as a Kickstarter project to gather funding to produce a scratchboard book of dog drawings and more. I hope to get it up and rolling no later than Monday the 6th. Sooner if I can. I have learned a lot about the Kickstarter process in the past two weeks. One of the things I learned and will do differently is to have most of it up on the site and ready to launch. I mistakenly thought I couldn't store the info there until ready to launch. What a dino I am. Still learning tho, so I'm not extinct yet! The other thing I learned is I don't know anything about producing a video. I spent the better part of two days trying various things that just ended up looking like crap. Luckily, my best friend Tina Riedel (who is an amazing artist herself) jumped in and made a really sweet video in a short amount of time. I owe her. You hear me Tina? I OWE YOU!! No, You.
She has always been there to bail me out when I get in WAY over my head. And I was. I have the best friends in the world. Love her.
The above is one of the dogs that inspired me to go in this direction. I used the usual, Ampersand Art scratchbord, inks, knife nib and fiberglass eraser. Love this doggie's eyes, face and pose. I can't wait to scratch out a bunch of dogs! I hope I can get this funded in the next 30+ days.

Chicken in The Yard

I've been working on some new designs in scratchboard. This one is adapted from a pattern from the 50's that came out of an estate.  Not sure what the original chicken was for. Well, not really sure what this one is 'for' either. My pleasure? Your pleasure? Any way, it's an Ampersand Art Scratchbord. I used the pointed nib, scalpel nib and fiberglass eraser, plus Claybord inks. Fun, fun, fun. I'm still in love with scratchbord. I think it will be a long relationship.  I'm also doing some assemblage work this week using some wooden houses that I built a few summer's ago. Will post those soon. They are in the style of 'Memory Jugs' with a whole crap-load of stuff from my misc. drawers in my studio, glued on. Today I will try to grout one of them. Fingers crossed that I won't wreck it.