SAD Cher

Cher was one of two puppies that came into SAD after they had been found dumped in the airport car park. Happily the person who found the puppies was a friend of the Strays of Abu Dhabi and brought them in to the programme where they quickly found new homes.

I think Cher has an unusual expression -a mixture of sadness and anticipaiton. I wish her well in her new life with her new family.

This painting is oil on canvas board 8" x 10". When finished (it has some minor things that need to be done) it will be for sale at 660dhs (120 Euros) and all proceeds from the sale will go to the Strays of Abu Dhabi (SAD) http://www.straysofabudhabi.com/

Lost on the Corniche - Abu Dhabi - almost done

I still have more to do on this, but it is almost done. I need to work a bit on the dog and finish the details on the background. I am quite happy with the way it is developing though - and tomorrow I will start on the next one-a-week!

Lost on the Corniche - Abu Dhabi

Okay - back to oil this week. This is Dude. I wanted to give the sense of the sort of locations some of the Strays of Abu Dhabi are found. My dog, for instance was found near the beach on Al Salam street in Abu Dhabi, some dogs just get tied to a tree in the park, Dude was found wandering in Khalifa City, some dogs are just dumped in cardboard boxes as puppies - one such set was found in the airport car park, and another set were found at the cricket stadium.

The reasons why people do this are numerous, but it is an aspect of our "throw away" society. Things we don't want we throw away, without much concern for what happens next. It is true for the environment, and it is true for many of the dogs in Abu Dhabi.

This painting is not yet finished. I will try to finish it during the week. It is raining here - so I have no excuse!

Oil on canvas board 8" x 10" 660 dhs unframed (120 Euros) Please contact the artist if interested in purchasing this painting

M is for Moo(se)

I am struggling so hard to keep up. This week was very busy. There were school events to attend, meetings for the art auction we are putting together for the Strays of Abu Dhabi, and I had to prepare and ride a dressage competition and paint a sign. So it is hardly surprising that I didn't manage to paint so much this week.

This was what I could muster this morning. It seemed appropriate to do Moo today, as he left my house to start his new life with his 'forever' family. It was an event mixed with happiness and a little sadness saying goodbye to this lovely, lovely dog! Congratulations to his new owners! I know they will love him and care for him.

I wanted to immortalize in paint the beautiful M that he has on his head. You can clearly see it when he has his head down. With us he was called Moo (because he has markings like a Fresian cow, but his new family are changing his name to Moose.

This is not finished yet, but I will try to finish it this week. Anyone interested in buying it can contact me. 120 dhs (25 Euros) unframed, It is pastel pecil on paper.

SAD Daisy done

Not much to add. I worked a bit on the fur and tidied up the background a bit.

SAD Daisy

Daisy is the subject of this week's one-a-week. Due to the fact that I have been going through so much paint, and I was a bit behind due to puppy duties - I was forced back into pastels. I like pastels because I draw better than I paint, but I love to work in colour, so for me, the two things come together.

This is also a bit different for me as it is pastel on canvas board. Normally I work on canson paper. I love canson, but didn't have anything the right colour. I only had orange, which didn't fancy working with for this dog. So I painted one of my canvas boards a blue colour and started work on top in pastel. It isn't as easy to work with as canson and uses up the pastels much more quickly however, there is quite a nice effect. Daisy is a SAD dog at the moment

It is not finished yet, but I wanted to post now just in case I don't get time over the weekend.

So here is Daisy Pastel on Canvas board 8" x 10" and when finished will be for sale at 660 dhs (120 Euros) with all money going to the Strays of Abu Dhabi (SAD) http://www.straysofabudhabi.com/

Amber - SAD dog

This is Amber. She is currently a SAD dog. She is a relatively small dog - around 10kg, and probably has some Saluki in her so is classed as a desert dog. She has a very sweet nature and will make a lovely companion dog.

The painting is Acrylic on canvas board 8" x 10" 660dhs (120 Euros). All proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to support the Strays of Abu Dhabi http://www.straysofabudhabi.com

Timed out!

This is really hard to do especially when you are travelling and there are events! This week I got back late from my dad's birthday party which was great, but then 2 SAD puppies turned up and it was also the weekend of the SAD stall at the Feline Friends bazaar. The sales of SAD merchandise went very well and we raised 5950dhs for SAD which is around 1200 Euros. However as a result I didn't have much time to do my painting. So this week is a drawing, I had 15 minutes spare and started this drawing of Suki. I wanted to do it as an eye study in acrylic but timed out, so here is my humble effort. Iwill try to finish it this week, and it will sell for 100dhs, (20 euros) unframed.

Am posting a little early this week as I will be away at the weekend celebrating my dad's 80th birthday. I believe 80 is something to celebrate. It is hard for me to think of living that long, since I already feel tired and like I am winding down, the thought of keeping going for another 35 years or so is just unthinkable.

So not a dog this week - but not all strays in Abu Dhabi are dogs. Although the Strays of Abu Dhabi leave most of the cat rescues to Feline Friends who dedicate themselves to saving cats, occasionally a cat comes our way, and we do what we can to help. All animals deserve to be treated well.

This painting is acrylic on canvasboard and is for sale:

660 AED

(120 euros)

(180 USD)

Please contact the artist

Made the changes to this one this morning and I am happy with the result. This painting is acrylic on canvasboard and is for sale at 660dhs. Please contact the artist if you would like to buy this painting. All proceeds go to the Strays of Abu Dhabi, which is a non-profit organisation which seeks to re-home and re-habilitate stray and abandoned animals - principally dogs - in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Dog on Dog Beach - Abu Dhabi

This week I felt like doing a whole dog rather than just a head and shoulder portrait. This is acrylic on canvasboard 8" x 10". It is a little small for me as I don't like working with really small brushes, but it is coming along. It isn't finished yet, I have just tried to put in the major shapes and shading on the dog. I still have to put in a bit more detail and 'connect' the dog better to the ground.

This is typical of dogs on "Dog Beach" in Abu Dhabi. There is basically one beach used by ex-pats to exercise their dogs off leash. This particular dog belongs to a very nice Irish lady, who owns one of the first dogs to be re-homed by SAD (Strays of Abu Dhabi). It is a German Shepherd too, but I am not sure if it is this particular German Shepherd - if I remember right, this is his companion dog.

This painting is for sale 660 dhs - and all proceeds will go to help the Stays of Abu Dhabi.

One-a-week animal portraits

I am an artist who loves animals, especially dogs and horses. In the past few years we moved to live in Abu Dhabi. In that time, I have become quite involved in a pet rescue organisation called "The Strays of Abu Dhabi". They are a non-profit organisation which takes stray and abandoned animals - mostly dogs - off the streets of Abu Dhabi and tries to find new homes for them.



In the next year, I am planning to do one painting a week for the the Strays of Abu Dhabi and donate the proceeds from the sales of the paintings to the Strays of Abu Dhabi.



Please follow my progress!



To start with, we will kick of with one of the puppies that came in with it's mother. The puppies have all now been re-homed, but we are still looking for a home for the mother of this little guy.



Here is her story:

And here is my interpretation of one of her puppies:

This painting is oil on canvasboard 8" x 10" and can be bought for 660dhs unframed.