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/