Category Archives: Cowbelly Family

Click on the title of the blog post to view the entire entry.


Friends and business associates of the Cowbelly team.

Dog Art Today book giveaway

September 25, 2008 – 1:17 pm

Yesterday morning the lovely Moira McLaughlin over at Dog Art Today emailed me announcing a sweet little giveaway she is doing.

Simon and Schuster graciously gave Moira two copies of their new book:  ’Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our dogs’, and Moira is in turn graciously giving them away to two of her lucky blog followers.

To enter to win:  go to the Dog Art Today blog, and simply complete this sentence in the comments section:

“My dog is chicken soup for the soul because…”

And tell Moira I sent you! :-)

Good luck!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Contests, miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

THANK YOU CONNIE!!

August 26, 2008 – 8:00 am

You will never believe what I found in my mailbox last week. 

Yes, that’s right! That’s Connie Townsend’s painting of Fergie that she did recently titled “Happily Ever After”, hanging on the wall in my new office! You may recall that I blogged about the painting after Connie sent me a photo of it. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would end up owning this amazing and deeply meaningful art piece. When I opened the box I sat on the floor and cried tears of joy. I just don’t have words…

Happily Ever After takes an esteemed position as the very first art piece on my art wall in my new office. The art wall will be added to shortly but for now I am enjoying just having Connie’s painting being the sole art piece. It deserves to have the limelight for awhile. My desk is to the right of the wall and every time I look over at it I smile. Oh, and here’s a sneak peek of my new office. I do promise to post more photos soon!

The details in the painting are fantastic. I could sit and stare at it for hours. 

Check out the colors. Amazing! Connie is not only an incredibly talented artist (she painted the adorable Barkalounger piece if you recall), but also an incredibly nice, and generous, and sharp, supportive human being! I am so glad to have met her virtually. Hey Connie, care to join the Sisterhood of Pet Portrait artists?? :-)

A couple of random weird shots of Fergie in front of her new painting. The shot on the right below is a trip, eh? She looks so cute in a weird, alien kind of way. 

Connie captured Fergie’s personality so well it’s uncanny. I love this painting more than I have words to express.

This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, and still touches me so deeply I get teared up when I think about it. Connie’s painting ‘Happily Ever After’ is now on my short list of things I would rescue if my house office was on fire. (Fergie being the very first of course!).

Thank you sincerely Connie. I can never, I just don’t, I, I, I’m at a loss for words….

Thank you. :-) 

 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Studio Stuff, miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (4)

Whidbey Island Cowbelly party sneak peek

August 4, 2008 – 5:12 pm

Yesterday was the big 5-year Cowbelly anniversary party on Whidbey Island. Dogs and humans alike had so much fun and my guess is that everyone is exhausted today. I know Fergie and I are! I am working from home today- flat out on the couch with my laptop on my lap. Fergie is right next to me, snoring away. I may need a little nap too after posting this. :-)

A huge thank you to everyone that came! Also a huge thanks to JS for baking all of the awesome homemade doggy treats that were such a special gift for attendees. Fergie snacked on hers in the car on the ferry. I plan to post all of the images on my proofs site once I have time to go through them- so far I have them narrowed to 522, ha! I will send the link to everyone when they are ready to view. Here are a few sneak-peeks that I feel best exemplify both the happy, relaxed mood of the day and the gorgeous surroundings of Whidbey Island. I swear there isn’t a prettier place in the Pacific Northwest for dog photography. Enjoy! 

Fergie was very sleepy that morning until we got on the ferry. Then I think she remembered the smells from last year and started getting excited. 

The lovely Puget Sound. Whidbey is one of the San Juan Islands, which are accessible by ferry from the mainland. There were lots of low-lying clouds that morning but they burned off by midday making for a gorgeous, sunny afternoon with beautiful blue skies.

At the first OLA- Marguerite Brons. Which, apparently, is the island’s best-kept secret. Seymour (l) and Bella (r).

Fergie and Sasha.

Kate and Spice.

The off-leash trails at the park. A dense, green, woodsy, mossy, ferny paradise for dogs. Fully fenced (no joke!). That’s Fergie and Dozer there on the left (with D’ogi next to them). F & D went NUTS running through the woods. Nearly took us all out several times. 

Kyah exploring her new surroundings. D’ogi sitting nicely for a treat.

Seymour (l) Fatsa (r). Posing on the same picnic table I shot Fergie one one year ago.

Useless Bay Coffee Company where we had lunch. LOVE THEM. There isn’t a single thing they serve- from their paninis to their cookies to their espresso drinks- that isn’t downright delicious. I think we have some new converts on our hands. :-)

Fatsa fell in love with Charlie, hee hee. That’s Double Bluff Beach. The #1 paradise for dogs on Whidbey Island. I could have stayed there for weeks.

A personal fave below.

Michelle was popular with both the big dogs and little dogs. 

Bella with her mom.

Kate on the left enjoying a game of ball in the (very warm!!) surf. Poor Kyah was still exhausted from our big photo shoot just the day before. 

The water was very shallow quite a ways out, which enabled it to be warmed by the sun. It was like bathwater- incredible. Even non-swimming dogs couldn’t stay out of it. I wanted to lay down in it but alas was fully clothed.

The dogs were exhausted before we even left the beach. Here Bella tries to keep her eyes open while she gets toweled off.

Fatsa taking a little nap in the sun.

After a 20-minute rest Fergie found her second wind. At that point I honestly couldn’t believe she was still moving. ‘Indefatigable’ as my dad says.

In the car in line for the ferry home. I have never seen her so tired ever. Although after running and swimming for hours non-stop it was no surprise! Notice the eyes rolling back into the head, hee hee?

For those Seattleites who are interested in a getaway to Whidbey Island, here is a link to the island’s off-leash dog parks, courtesy of JS, courtesy of a very nice lady on the beach. Not only do they love dogs there but all of the people are SO friendly! I love Whidbey!

www.fetchparks.org 

I agree with James in that we should do it more often! Anyone up for a trip before the summer ends?

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Events, sneak-peek | Tagged , , , | Comments (14)

Princess Fergermeister Magnuson

July 28, 2008 – 8:00 am

This should trip you out a bit. The day after Dozer’s shoot at Magnuson, I decided to take Fergie there to swim. I decided to try and re-create some of the shots I took of Dozer, to post on this blog. I thought it would be an interesting comparison since they look so much alike. Check it out.

These shots make me giggle. She is so happy. 

I was really hoping I could get some shots of my athletic dog flying through the air like Dozer, but she was tired by the time we got to the beach, so the best I could do was this scary series of Fergie’s jaws. 

In case you missed it the first time around. I would never, ever want to get caught in those jaws. No way. Fergie may look cute but she is strong enough to take your leg off. 

I think this dog behind Fergie thought he was ‘gonna get him’, until he realized the ‘him’ was actually a ‘her’. Insert “whoa” though bubble on the right. 

Hee hee hee, I love the lips caught in the teeth action. This was the first time I was ever able to capture it with my camera. 

Yet more funky processing. This is Fergie’s ‘play with me’ face. 

Snorkeling. Minus the snorkle.

Ahh hah hah, I love her. 

On our way back to the parking lot from the beach I spotted this really cool old metal chair next to the path. I grabbed it and dragged it out into the middle of the bark-covered ball area (there was no one there). Fergie obliged me by jumping on it and posing for some shots. She stayed there for 10 whole minutes until she got tired and hopped off. She is such a good girl. 

Next to her tennis balls, her red frisbee is her favorite toy. That look she has on the left below means that if you are a dog and you try and steal Fergie’s frisbee from her, she is not messing around. 

This next shot makes her look like she is somewhere else, far, far away- not a Seattle dog park. Where does it look like to you?

More shots of Fergie from this shoot will be posted this week on Amazon’s Wag Reflex blog. (Ha, as if these aren’t enough, lol!)

Hope you enjoyed my best friend in the whole wide world. :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , , | Comments (8)

Blogroll is updated!

June 9, 2008 – 7:10 pm

Last night I completed the daunting task of updating the blogroll. It was really hard to do, not from a technical standpoint, but because I love each and every one of the 60 sites that are linked to on the page, and it was killing me to have to breeze through them without really looking.

After I had the list, and had updated links, and added to it, I went through and clicked on each one to make sure they opened ok (and in a new window so you can easily access the blogroll again once you are done with one site).

It was like this: click, open, “oooh, Marisa made new hand sewn bunnies”, no wait, must continue! click next site “oh wow look at that photo! funny, I thought Sharon still used film”…. click, open next site “what- joey lawrence was in prison?!”. Pretty soon it was like this: click, open “ohhhhwwwwuuuuuuuh”, mad frustrated, can’t take the time to look.

It, my friends, is an AWESOME blogroll if I do say so myself. There is so much talent and creativity and originality in those links it leaves me speechless.

Go check it out: Cowbelly Blogroll. (also- note the link in the menu at the top of this page)

And I still plan to add little thumbnail photos, AFTER I have caught up on my client work.

I have been sending emails solid since 2:30 this afternoon and just counted and STILL have 26 more to reply to, sigh. If you are waiting to hear from me, please ’soyez patience’, I will get to you very very soon. :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , , | Comments (2)