Save 15% in my Etsy Shop!

Save 15% on any purchases through my Etsy Shop through the end of the month.  Simply use this code:  FLH221 when completing your  purchase.  This coupon is good for all 11 x 14 Matted Prints, Note Card Packages, and any of the unique laser-engraved gift items displayed throughout the shop.  All purchases are completed through PayPal, so you can rest assured that all transactions are safe and secure. Offer expires May 31, 2011.  The link in the title will take you over to the Etsy shop, where you can browse through all of the artwork uploaded thus far.  

Cooper

Introducing Cooper!  As most of my friends and readers are aware, last year we said goodbye to two cherished members of our household. Henri, our Australian Shepherd mix, and Sheba, our Keeshond/Shepherd mix, pictured in the profile photo with me, were together with us for 12 of their 14 years and will always be in our hearts.  And they were gone within a month and half of each other last summer.  Boots, our Shelty, also in the photo, was lonely, so shortly thereafter, we welcomed Cooper to the family.  Cooper is a Blue Healer mix, and I've recently completed a Pen & Ink portrait of him, which I've posted here.  The pose shows him in one of his more anxious moments, as he awaits with patient anticipation his share of the bowl of ice cream which is just out of range of the shot. 

Max

Although I had a dog named Max growing up in New Jersey, this is not a portrait of that Max.  Unfortunately, I don't think I even have any photos of that particular Max.  I think we named him for Maxwell Smart.  He had a fondness for scaring the beejeesus out of the mail man, the meter man, just about any man in a uniform, although he was at heart really friendly.  This Max greets everyone who enters Mah-Ann's Pro Fitness Center in Keizer, OR.  My wife, Fran, took some classes there last year and snapped this photo, along with a few more, and now, Max is the latest entry into the Pet Gallery on my website.  I also have his portrait posted in my FineArtAmerica gallery and my Etsy Shop, so there are all kinds of ways to check him out.  The link in the title will take you over to my FineArtAmerica Gallery, but if you are interested in a print or note cards of Max, I'll point you in the direction of my Etsy Shop, where you can still take advantage of the 10% Discount through the end of the month by using the code:  B00Coo upon completion of your transaction.  This portrait was done in ink, using black and brown Micron ink pens, and a combination of stroke work with stippling, or pointillism.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary

Lover Boy

 

Meet Lover Boy (LB), the February Horse of the Month posted on the Redwings Horse Sanctuary website.  One of the new features of this blog is to focus from time to time on animal, pet and human interest stories, in addition to my usual posts of artwork, products, and my other general ramblings. The Redwings Horse Sanctuary is one of those animal organizations that you will find posted on my "Links of Interest" page on the website, and I thought "what better way to focus on animal interest stories than to feature articles from the various organizations that I have some some affiliation with.

Lover Boy is a Belgian Draft horse, descendant of horses used by knights and farmers to better human lives in early times. He is over 17 hands high, and weighs in at a hefty 1900 pounds.  Lover Boy  was one of the four foals rescued from the Premarin slaughter sales held in Canada. Redwings originally planned to rescue four fillies, and when LB was brought into the ring he was listed as a filly. When the Redwings Staff went to pick him up and discovered he was a colt, she was told, “you can just pick out some other filly and we’ll send him back into the ring”. Well, Redwings wasn’t about to give him back to be sold again, so he went home with the three fillies.  

 

He was named Lover Boy because he was the first foal to be rescued and spent the first night alone (he was only 3 ½ months old, not yet weaned from his mother, and forcibly taken from her). When the three fillies were brought into his corral the next day he was so happy to see them, he immediately gave them all “horse hugs” and was named “Lover Boy”.

The mission of Redwings Horse Sanctuary is to eliminate the causes of equine suffering through education and community outreach programs, rescue abused and neglected equines, and provide permanent sanctuary or selected foster homes for those equines.  For more information on Lover Boy, and the other horses at the Redwings Horse Sanctuary, which is located in Lockwood, CA, please visit their website at the link provided in the title.

20% OFF Giclee Prints - 10 Days left!

Since I'll be out of town next week, I thought I'd get in one last reminder about the 20% OFF Sale over at my website on FineArtAmerica.com.  The link in the title will magically transport you over to that site (Beam me up Scotty!).  The Discount Code to take advantage of this sale is:  GDPDBZ. This discount is good through 2/26/2011.

I have over 70 images uploaded there now, with more to follow this week, and this promotion is good for any size Giclee Print, as well as purchases of Note Cards and Note Card Packages. Matting and framing options are also available for the prints, and there's even a canvas option if you are so inclined.  Here are a few of my more recent postings there, but I hope you'll get a chance to check out the entire gallery.

I've recently organized all of the images into categories, or galleries to make it easier to find a specific image. Pictured at the top is "The Reiner", which you will find in the Horses Gallery.  To the left here we have my rendering of the Oregon State Capitol building, which you will find in the Scenic Portraits Gallery.  Finally, to the right, we have my rendering titled "Kestrels", which you will find in the Wildlife Gallery. 

Coming in March, look for a special through my Etsy Shop which will feature the laser-engraved wood product line.  Since the shopping cart on my website is not really geared to specials on a wide spectrum without making massive changes to the website, I'm looking forward to being able to offer these special promotions through my Etsy Shop and FineArtAmerica Gallery.  Stay tuned.

Artist of the Week - Arman Barajas

As part of my ongoing endeavor to feature the work of other artists in my blogs and newsletters, the featured artist this week is Arman Barajas, of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Arman is a friend, and if you've visited my website at all over the past 5 or 6 years, you are looking at some of his work every time you visit Art from the Inkwell.  Arman is responsible for the re-design of my website, everything from color scheme to navigation to logo.  

While web design is one of Arman's talents, this blog will focus on his work as a sculptor. The link in the title will take you to his website, but here is an excerpt from his Artist Statement to help you along with the introduction:  

Understanding myself, relating to others, and life around me are my inspirations, and the emphasis of my body of work. My art gives a minimal amount of information, and is stylized to create a genuine feeling for nature, humanity, and balance.

I've included a few examples of his work here to get you started, and I hope you will get a chance to stop by his website to see more of his work.

New artwork - Meet Scooter

I haven't posted any artwork in a while, so I thought I'd post one of my more recent horse portraits - "Scooter".  Scooter belongs to our family veterinarian, Keri Sanders at Ark Animal Care in Mill City, OR.  Keri and the staff at Ark Animal Care are the greatest.  Over the past summer we lost two of our faithful companions, Henri and Sheba to old age.  They were both over 14 years old, and were a special part of the Howe/Tripoli household.  We greatly appreciated the care and kindness of everyone at Ark Animal Care, to us yes, but especially to Sheba, and then Henri, as we dealt with their illnesses up to the time it came to say goodbye, just a little more than a month apart.  Anyway, I did this portrait of Keri's horse, Scooter as a show of our appreciation. I completed the rendering using a combination of stippling, or pointillism and stroke work, and worked with black and brown inks.  The framed original now hangs in the office of Ark Animal Care.  The link in the title will take you to my FineArtAmerica Gallery, where you can see a larger image of the portrait, as well as all of the other portraits there.  I've recently organized the artwork into galleries, which for the most part, correspond to the galleries on my website.  There are a few differences, most notably the combining of the Northwest, Southwest and Golf Course categories (as you would find them on the website) into one gallery - Scenic Portraits, on FineArtAmerica.  As I add more artwork into that gallery, I will more than likely sort them out again down the road.

And now, for something a little different, as Monty Python used to say (no hammers smashing heads here though).  A few posts ago I introduced readers to Christopher Farlow, as artist associate of mine through FineArtAmerica, and he will be featured again in February's newsletter.  Today, I'd like to introduce my readers to one of my LinkedIn associates, Cindy Rademacher, owner of CJK Marketing.  Cindy lives in the Missoula, Montana area, and her businesses deal with Health, Wellness and Fitness.  One of her newest additions is a diet lollipop! Go figure, who would have thought you could lose weight by sucking on a lollipop. I'll try to have more info on Cindy's websites for February's newsletter as well, but in the meantime, to view her public profile on LinkedIn, just click on this link:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/cjkproducts. 

Boots

I haven't posted any artwork in awhile, so I thought I'd start off again with a portrait of Boots, our Shetland Collie, or Sheltie. He's been with us now for about 3 1/2 of his almost 7 years, and he has quite the personality. Before he was part of the family, he was involved in a little "dust-up" with our Australian Shepherd mix, Henri. We found out that his previous owner was soon to enter an assisted-living facility which did not allow pets. So our plan was to take him to the vet to make sure he was okay, and then try to find a good home for him. Well, after about 2 days, we decided he wasn't going anywhere. Henri "made-up" with him and they are now best buddies, and Sheba is so mellow that she was agreeable to the new arrangement as well. As I state on my website page for Boots, he's quite the clown prince, although we have learned that a Sheltie trademark is their barking. He barks at everything, doorbells (even on the TV), cars, birds, people going down the river on kayaks, planes flying overhead at 20,000 feet, you name it! Another of his unusual traits is his "clacking". He clacks his teeth together when he is playing or excited, almost like barking without the noise. Quite funny, and I've never seen it before, so I can't say if it's a Sheltie trait or strictly a Boots trait. This portrait was done in graphite, and is available as notecards and prints on my website, and on a wide range of products on my CafePress storefront, which you can access through the link on this page (under the "Links" heading).

Pet Portraits

Here's an example of one of my Pet Portraits, in this case, the subject is Henri, our 11 year old Australian Shepherd mix. You can also see Henri in the profile photo. This was done in Pen & Ink, and then I added some watercolor pencil highlights. What a ham! You can do just about anything to Henri, as long as you're paying attention to him. I hope to add portraits of Sheba and Boots soon, but to see additional portraits in my Pet Gallery, just click on the link in the title. You'll notice that I don't have many (all right ANY) cat portraits yet, but I hope to remedy that situation soon as well. For more information on commissioning a portrait, please don't hesitate to leave a comment or contact me through the website.