Cement Leaves Add Colorful Sculpture to Deck and Garden

I experimented with making these cement leaves just for fun. I sculpted them last fall and finally got around to painting them a few days ago. I made two of them to remind me of Caladium leaves - plants I have always admired, but have not had much success growing. It was a fun process and I am actually letting some burdock weeds get big this spring so I can cast some "lunker leaves". They will look nice in my garden and, perhaps around a fountain I am considering building next to our porch. Once I set up a casting station I will make enough to sell. Keep an eye on my OtterTail Lab Art website, follow me as LabradorArt on Twitter or join me on Facebook to see when and where they are available for sale (along with all of my other art updates and events). Are you interested?

Painted Table Donated to Raise Funds at ARC Auction

Last year I painted a giant Adirondack chair for the Yates County ARC "Chair-ish" auction. This year I got one of the new little tables. It was a fun shape to consider. I changed my mind several times about what I would do, but liked the idea of this pond theme. I was inspired by the colors of spring out my window as I mixed paint and planned for a unique design. I hope it brings them a good high bid at this year's annual auction scheduled for 11 July at Keuka College.

Funny Old Women Pool Walking Watercolor Painting

It's not your age, it's your attitude! And the older you get the more you realize the truth in that saying! I painted this funny little watercolor of two old friends pool walking. It's an activity old women do to keep their joints moving and get some weight bearing exercise without undue strain. My mother pool walks with a group of women in Florida, so I made this watercolor into funny old lady greeting cards for her to share with friends. These ladies know how to live in style, pool walking with their cocktails. Keep your pinkies out! This painting is also available on a variety of products that make great gift ideas for old women. Share a little laughter and a happy attitude with a senior you love.

(This design will be available on greeting cards you can customize in my OtterTail Art Cards Shop. Just give it a couple more days to work through their process.)

Beautiful Labrador Photos - Custom Photograph Retouching

You already know that I am an artist, but you may not know that I also do a lot of photo retouching and manipulation. This is used in my quest for great reference photos for my dog paintings, to crop and clean up pictures used for my custom pet portraits and for the creation of fun Labrador fantasy photos, as well as my flower and nature photography. Now I will be offering this service to you so you can get those lovely photos of you dogs cleaned up and ready to display on your website. The example shows the before and after shots of a picture I took at LRCP in April 2010. Doesn't this girl look even nicer without the busy background? I can crop, edit backgrounds, remove collars and leashes and create a peaceful scene so your dog is the star. Contact me for your own custom dog photo retouching.