The power of $1 and "Furpower"... plus the chance to win custom art.

From @romeothecat:

http://www.romeothecat.com/2009/10/25/donation-update/

As a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been donating (we’re well over $2K now plus our $1K match from Nutrish!) Patrice DeAvila is upgrading her lovely gift to a free 24×36 custom portrait. We’ll be doing a drawing from donors at the end of the month. Thank you Patrice and everyone who has given their time, money, support and energy to helping animals! xoxo.

From Patrice:

Donate $1 to romeothecat's donation page and be entered to win a custom fine art portrait AND help save a life. Thanks for taking a minute to stop by my blog and for helping animals in need. I try to limit promotion, unless it's truly important. The work Romeo does every month is essential to non-profit rescues.

Prints of my work for sale...

I am really excited to announce that I've got giclee prints available of my work. They run $28 and free shipping for approximately 8x10 inch on archival paper. I'm really delighted with the quality of the print and you can truly see the pigment strokes so clearly that it looks like the pastel would come off on your fingers! Please email me at patrice.deavila@gmail for questions comments or orders and if you look at my flickr galleryhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/patricedeavila/ you can see other images that are available as prints (same size same price).

Wait! There's more, when I hit 100 followers to my blog, the 100th follower and 4 other followers randomly drawn from the previous 99 followers get a giclee of my work.

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Main Entry:	giclée
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a printmaking method using an ink-jet printer for photographic images of paintings to produce high-quality reproductions; also written giclee
Example:	In giclee, the ink is sprayed on to your choice of media in millions of colors utilizing continuous tone technology, retaining all the fine detail of the original.
Etymology:	French 'sprayed ink'

Sublime Hiroshige...

I turned recently from pastel painting, to a relief printing project. Naturally, great print masters from various times and places are attracting me at this time. And no master exemplified the Japanese art of Ukiyo-e better than Hiroshige.

To me there is no other word for his work than sublime... so delicate and perfectly composed.

Composition, craftsmanship, and color can all be learned from looking at this artists work. He did several prints of winters snow scenes and his greatest strength may actually be his use of negative space and lack of color.

Please take time to Google his work.... who is your master of negative space?

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"I leave my brush in the East

And set forth on my journey.

I shall see the famous places in the Western Land."-Hiroshige

(The Western Land in this context refers to the strip of land by the Tōkaidō between Kyoto and Edo, but it does double duty as a reference to the Paradise of the Buddha)

Whistler, not just a Momma's boy....

The following excerpt is from the wiki page for Whistler:



"...After West Point, Whistler worked as draftsman mapping the entire U.S. coast for military and maritime purposes. He found the work boring and he was frequently late or absent. He spent much of his free time playing billiards and idling about, was always broke, and though a charmer, had little acquaintance with women. After it was discovered that he was drawing sea serpents, mermaids, and whales on the margins of the maps, he was transferred to the etching division of the U. S. Coast Survey. Though he lasted there only two months, he learned etching technique which later proved valuable to his career..."

Sadly, as with most artists that are accomplished etchers and engravers (Durer is another example), Whistler actually made more monies from his print work than from his painting.

I have been focusing more on painters, or wood carvers who are also master printers, because of my relief print project that I'm immersed in at the moment and am taking so much inspiration from these masters.

Who is your inspiration for your current work?



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It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.”
James Whistler quote

Buck's Portrait

This is being delivered to the client tonight and is 36x24" soft pastel on stretched watercolor canvas. (all I can say is Unison pastels are the BEST).

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"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera