My Hikes with Bella

 This is where I hike with my dog Bella, we go here two or three times a week, I took these photos about a month ago, the blooms are no longer on the cactus and we are in Fall here, which if I had to choose is my favorite season. I am doing much better, thank you for all your virtual hugs and love, I appreciate it so much.

Happy Autumn. XOXO

Bella!

Bella got bite by a rattle snake this morning on our hike, she is at the vets. The vet says they rarely lose a dog to this, so I am not horribly worried, but please pray or think good thoughts just for good measure. I will update this post as I know more.
Thank you.
*Update: Bella is drugged up and sleeping, with fluids, I maybe able to pick her up at 7 this evening.
I will be doing fluids and drugs for the next week if all goes well. Keep praying :-).
**Update, Monday morning. Bella had a rough night with the pain and we did not get much sleep, but we had an early vet visit this morning and my zen vet says she is doing well, Bella is very swollen and unhappy, but she will make it. She will be on meds for the next few weeks, but should be back to her old self by Friday. And hikes by the weekend, Yay! However after hiking out where I have been going for 12 years without ever seeing a snake, we will be going to the woods from now on as the vet says there are no rattlers out there, of course there are bears and big cats, so I am not sure which is better! It is either that or she stays on lead and we stay on the road. I don't blame Bella, she was just doing what she does and I don't blame the snake it was just protecting itself, I am the one at fault for putting them both in harms way.
She is sleeping and eating and all is well. Keep thinking good thoughts though as she is in a lot of pain.
Thank you for your love and caring. Happy Monday! XOXO

New Work, Give Away, Updates

Actually this painting is one I did a few months ago, but never got around to showing you. 8"x 8" oil and graphite on board. Untitled.

It is going to my ETSY shop soon, where I am having a sale for the whole month of April, 15% off everything in case you missed it. I included 2 close up photos here and the last photo is a detailed shot of my porcelain book that has not quite worked out. I finished it, but it is not totally successful, so I am putting it aside for a while and will get back to it later, but I do like some details like the one I am teasing you with here. I love the texture.

Inspired by Lori's give away I am having my own, it has been a long while. I have not decided what I will be giving away yet, so you will just have to be surprised. You don't have to do a thing, but leave a comment, I will draw a name next Saturday, so stay tuned.

As for updates, some of you maybe wondering how my dog Bella is doing with the Prozac. No weird side effects, but also no change, they did say it could take up to 6 weeks to kick in and it has only been 4 so I am trying to be patient. We are having thunder storms the next two days so

we will see what happens. Okay, that is it for me, back to painting :-). Happy Monday! XOXO

HodgePodge

I wanted to update everyone that has asked about Bella my dog. She starts her 3rd week of Prozac tomorrow and we should know soon if it is working. So far no side affects that I can see.

It takes 3-6 weeks to kick in, so I have to be patient. I will update after we know something.

In the meantime this is how she is when I am home with her LOL.

In other news I have been painting, daily, and hopefully I will have new photos to share soon, perhaps tomorrow.

Over in my ETSY shop I am having a Spring sale, 15% off all items for the rest of March and all of April. I may be adding new paintings to the list this week if I can get the photos taken, so check in often. To get the discount just type in SPRINGSALE when the coupon window comes up at check out.

Spring has sprung here, but no flowers yet, just a few leaves on trees and a bit of grass.

The skies sure are blue though :-).

Life is grand.

Happy Saturday! XOXO

Prozac for Bella, Yes or No

This is a Bella update.
Bella my new dog has a terror of being alone and of loud noises like thunder.
Here is a list of all the things we have tried:
Thundershirt,
DAP collar,
Rescue remedy,
Healthy Calm, herbal pills,triple the dose no less.
Valerian root pills,
playing thunder Cd's and various behavioral training.
Thus far NOTHING has done ANYTHING to change her attitude.
My neighbor may be able to pet sit, but he cannot commit.
I will be leaving her home alone 2-3 days a week, the rest of the time she will be with me.
I cannot afford kenneling her at $27 a day rates.
My vet tells me Prozac is the best option.
This does not make me happy, I hate giving her these chemicals.
I need help with this decision.
Do any of you know a person or animal who takes Prozac?
What are your thoughts?
Thank you :-)
XOXO

Bella S.O.S and a Sale

Remember when I posted about my new dog Bella and her problem with being home alone and with loud noises? Here is the update: The thundershirt does nothing, the DAP collar does nothing, to be fair we have only tried them with the thunder CD, we have not had the real thing to test yet, but I am not hopeful.

She does not like her kennel much and I am afraid she could hurt herself if left alone in or out of the kennel. The doggie seat belt I got has helped a lot for when she is in the car, she can move around, but cannot get out. She does okay in the soft kennel that goes with us to some of the houses I work at. The problem is going to be when it gets too warm for the car and I will have to leave her at least two days a week, alone in the house, during thunder season. This has me in a sort of a fit to tell the truth. I want to stay in the moment and I don't want to worry, but I have to prepare. The medications are not something I can just give her on the days she has to be home, from what I have read she would have to be on them all the time. I am out of ideas here.

She is on a training program to try and get her okay at home alone, but there is no training to not be terrified of loud noises, except for playing the thunder tape, which I do, but here's the thing, she knows it is not the real deal and even though she does not like it, she also does not go into a full terror panic.

I am going to look into doggie daycare, but in a small town like Taos I am not sure it exists and if it does it will likely be beyond my budget.

So Bella and I are sending out this HELP message, do any of you have an answer or a suggestion? I will be calling my vet also to see if he has anything new to suggest. Then I am out of ideas.

In other life changing news, I have decided to no longer do ceramics. I may do clay sculpture at some point, but I will be making no more bowls or pendants or buttons or spoons, I am reserving all my energy for painting at least for the next year and maybe forever :-). I would like to liquidate my ceramics on my ETSY site, so here is the deal, if you like something make me an offer by email and if I agree I will reserve the piece in your name at the offered price. You can also make offers on the paintings, but this is mostly to clean out my shop of ceramics and perhaps make money for doggie day care :-).

Thank you everyone,

Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO

New Painting

I have been working on this and 2 other paintings for a few months, this one is done, I am still working on the other two. I have no title yet, which is odd, I usually get a title while I work, but nothing came with this one. This is a 20"x 16", venetian plaster, pastel, coffee stain, acrylic, and graphite on board. I have a new trick, I use rubbing alcohol to wipe away color and it gives this sort of water color affect, I love it and went and bought big bottles of the stuff. I had heard about it for a while, but had never tried it. I just wanted to pass it on to all artists out there, it is wonderful.

I always love to hear what you think.

Updates: The show at Millicent Roger's Museum last night was packed! I was thrilled that so many would be seeing my painting. It is always the best when a piece can go out into the world and be seen. The show was very nice and there were a few other abstracts in it, which was a pleasant surprise :-). Picture taking was impossible as there was no room to move!

I left Bella in her hard crate at home while I went to the show and that did not go well, she tore the stuffing out of her crate bed.

I received the soft crate, but I have not set it up and tried it yet, I am still waiting for the thundershirt. I tried the rescue remedy and I don't think it had any effect. We take it one day at a time. Thank you for all your lovely, helpful comments.

I am off to paint, Happy Sunday! XOXO

Animal Wednesday (My Bella and her bella dramas)

This is Bella. I have had her about 4 months. If you remember she was chasing the cats last time I mentioned her. Cats are the least of her problems. Over the past two months she has torn down curtains, shredded two and it became obvious that she has problems when I leave her home even for an hour.Then last week she was in my car while I was working a short job and it thundered, never mind that it was also snowing and was not supposed to thunder. It was cool and the windows were down only about an inch and a half, you see she escaped from the car once when they were open 5 inches, so I had them up so she was safe, I thought. When it thundered I decided to go check on her because I had a hunch she may be afraid as she hates loud noises. I could see her as I headed her way and she actually had her head stuck in the window! I knew she was choking so I rescued her as fast as I could, she was okay but very shaken and she had tore up the car door. I never leave her in the car without checking on her often and lots of times she can come in the houses while I work, she likes the car and never gets destructive unless she is scared, but this was total panic. I have a dog terrified of thunder. I have been thinking about what I will do in the Summer and now I was really worried because it thunders almost daily here for part of the Summer. I went on line and got some ideas, I have ordered her a Thundershirt, I have no idea if it works, but I need to try everything, it is supposed to calm dogs down. I ordered a soft crate so that I can bring her in the houses while I work and she can be contained. I am getting a CD of thunder that I can play and hopefully get her used to the sound. If any of you have any other ideas or suggestions please share. Bella is a really wonderful dog, but fear has a very bad effect on her. Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO

Happiness is...

I have been thinking about doing this post for a while when Artpropelled did one and it inspired me to finally do this, I also borrowed this wonderful poem from her post (Thank you Robyn!).

From the tip top on down: Happiness is:

Creating, this is my newest painting, side view and close up, 5"x 5" mixed media on board "This is Why". I fixed it so you can enlarge if you so choose.
The Oregon coast, I miss it so...

Ravens!

Coyotes, this photo was taken a few Summers ago, but in the last 3 weeks I have seen 3 coyotes and as some of you know this always means major change is afoot for me.

My Bella, I have done some research and she is a Dutch Shepherd and has no lab in her like we once guessed.

My sweet Zoe.

My bad and wonderful Max.

Taos mountain with snow aboard.

The wonderful Fall colors that are short lived, but much loved.

I hope your weekend is full of happiness, make it so. Happy Saturday! XOXO

SO MUCH HAPPINESS by Naomi Shihab Nye
It is difficult to know what to do
with so
much happiness.
With sadness there is something
to rub
against,
A wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you,
you
have pieces to pick up,
Something to hold in your hands,
like
ticket stubs or change.
But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof
of the next
house,
singing,
And disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived
in a
peaceful
tree
house
And now live over a quarry of noise
and
dust
Cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
It too could wake up filled with possibilities
Of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
And love even the floor
which needs to
be swept,
The soiled linens and scratched records…..
Since there is no place large enough
To contain so much happiness,
You shrug, you raise your hands,
and it
flows out of
you
Into everything you touch.
You are not
responsible.
You take no credit,
as the night sky
takes no credit
For the moon, but continues to hold it,
and to share it,
And in that way, be known.- Naomi Shihab Nye

New Painting (Finally)

16"x 16" venetian plaster and mixed mediums on board. Titled "Unfettered".

It has been a while and this is not the painting I have been struggling with for 3 weeks, this one I started a few weeks ago and just finished last night. Now I will go and finish the one that has be frustrating me, I finally know what I need to do :-). I have added many detail closeups so you can get an idea what is going on and if you enlarge you can see even more. My paintings really need to be seen in person to really see, but this will have to do.

Love to hear what you think.

In other news, Bella is doing well and knows how to heel and is getting much better with the cats, I left her for an hour today and no barking, no chewing and no harming of cats :-). I think in a week she will be ready to be alone for a few hours. We are both in training and taking baby steps.

I forgot about Halloween until today, but Happy Halloween!!!! I will be painting :-).

XOXO

Animal Wednesday

They say a photo is worth a thousand words and this one says it all. My new, sweet Bella is hooked to the chair (I did this for a few days so she could not chase the cats) and the cats are up on their high perches, but they are all in the same room, so that is a good beginning. I now let Bella loose and we are all finding our way, I do not think she means harm, only wants to play. I have been taking Bella on my jobs as I still don't trust her alone with the cats, but this weekend I will try an hour here and there and see how it goes, I think in a few weeks all will be calm.

Bella is a dream dog, she is so smart (her Shepard part) she has already learned so much, I am teaching her to heel this week. She rarely barks and likes to play, but is really laid back (her lab part). She is a keeper for sure. HAW XOXO

My Week in Pictures

See that wonderful face up top, that is Bella, she may be my new dog, we are having a test weekend. It was not planned. Yesterday a client told me about this wonderful dog at her vet's that needed a home, so I went to visit her and fell in love and took her home. She has been unadoptable because she is an escape artist.

She will either be with me or in the car or house. I am not one to leave my dog in the yard for long as here dogs often get poisoned. I named her Bella and she is a wonder, she already knows sit, and no and come, and does so about 95% of the time she is a year and a half old, Shepard/lab mix.

Very sweet and very smart and she loves the car. We took a long run/hike this morning and she can totally out run me :-). The only question is if she will be okay with my cats, she does like to chase them. Max is unafraid and Zoe is terrified. I am attempting to teach her that it is

unacceptable to chase them, we will see. I am hoping that it works out. I will keep you posted.

I took the photo of the tarantula last year, but saw one this morning without a camera to catch it.

This is what the mountain looks like this time of year.

My painting station in the kitchen, very little cooking gets done these days :-).

I will have paintings to show soon.

Happy Saturday! XOXO