Category Archives: Studio Stuff

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Happenings in and around the Cowbelly studio at 116 Elliott Ave. W. in the beautiful city of Seattle.

Waiting list update + holiday schedule

August 20, 2008 – 7:30 am

I am now booked solid for photo shoots through the 18th of September. That is for both weekend AND weekday shoots of any length, in any location. This does NOT apply to the folks we are already in communications with, have indicated they would like to do a shoot, but that we have yet to set a firm date with for the first two weeks in September, OR anyone we may need to reschedule with this week due to the weather (grrrr…).

I am also booked up for new art commissions until early October. (That doesn’t include the two people on the waiting list we have promised to start with the 3rd week in September!). I am planning on a November 10th cutoff date for start dates for holiday art commissions this year. That means if you’d like to order a custom art piece for a holiday gift, you need to contact me NO LATER THAN November 7th, and plan to get your images to me NO LATER THAN November 10th. Sorry to be so firm but you wouldn’t believe how many people contact me to request a custom commissioned art piece within the week or two before Christmas! 

FYI: photography + prints can be done up to 14 days prior to Christmas (specialty products can take up to 6 weeks). But really, for both of our sanity, please don’t wait that long.

So, the NEXT free dates are:

Photo shoots:

first open weekdays: Weds. 9/17 + Thurs. 9/18  (now booked), open: 9/23-9/25

first open weekend: Sat 9/27 and Sun 9/28 

Decopaw art start dates:

earliest date: Thurs. 10/2-Fri 10/3-ish. Will be updated as things change.

Also, depending on how my upcoming studio shoots go (a handful of doggie models planned for the last Sunday of this month), I *may* decide to offer short studio shoots this fall as an adjunct to my location shoots, for those who would really like to give a gift for the holidays. This remains to be seen and depends largely on a) the studio schedule, b) my lighting situation, c) how good my studio shots end up being (they might be terrible, who knows!) and d) how many regular location shoots I end up scheduling, and e) how full my art commission plate is.

I can’t believe I am already talking about the holidays, but given how fast time goes by, and how busy my schedule usually gets starting in September (as if THIS isn’t busy, lol!), I need to start planning in advance.

To the workshops folks who have contacted me, I am in the process of catching up with everyone, and intend to reply to every email within the next 2 days. There are 23 people on my list to contact so it will take some time but I promise to get back to everyone! There is still plenty of room in the October workshop, so never fear if you’d like to register! I know folks want to get good rates on airfare, so I will do my very best to get back to you asap! Also, if you have requested to be placed on the waiting list for the September workshop, you are on it, I promise!

Lastly, I haven’t taken a vacation since the fall of 2005, so at the very first possible chance I am going to split town for a week. This will most likely be during the 2nd week in October, which is not the most ideal time of year for me to try and pull away from the biz but I just have to. I won’t be able to survive the holidays without a break between now and then. 

Thank you sincerely for being so patient with me! It is the best gift I could receive right now. :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Dogs Rule Fatbook- I’ve got photos- lots of photos!

August 19, 2008 – 5:11 pm

I can’t let another day go by without posting on this amazing book. Those who follow my blogroll may have already discovered that I was recently involved in a collaborative art project in the form of one-of-a-kind dog art books, called the Dogs Rule Fatbook, created by 13 different artists around the country- a group of women who are also known as ‘The Sisterhood of Pet Portrait Artists’ (moniker by Kathy Weller).

The rules for each artist were simple: create and design 14 unique 8×10 pages of your signature dog art (mine being Decopaw), with the theme ‘Dogs Rule’, embellish the pages somehow, include your business name and contact information on the back of each page, then send them to the organizer Jill Beninato (more on Jill later), who would then bind the pages into 14 unique books (called ‘fatbooks’); one for each artist to keep + one very special book to save for a very special purpose (more on that later).

The results? Stunning.

Participating artist list + binding detail. Also see links to each artist’s website at end of post.

Each artist’s page had a tab with their name on it, and a clear page separating their page from the previous, and following pages. The clear divider page held a photo and quote from each artist. Gee, who do you think that is on the right below? 

Jamie Pflughoeft, Decopaw Design + Cowbelly Pet Photography: Seattle, WA

Linda O’Niell, Abby Creek Studios: Boulder, CO

Melissa Langer: Pug Notes: Louisville, CO

Jill Beninato- the organizer: Sit.Stay.Smile Photography: Virginia Beach, VA

Kathy Weller: Wellerwishes + Kathy Weller Pet Portraiture: Cambridge, MA

Rebecca Landsdown: ArtPaw: Dallas, TX

Ann Leuck Feldhaus: Pet Portraits: Chicago, IL

Leigh Jackson: Noisy Dog Studio: Gig Harbor, WA

Manon Doyle: Hoochie Poochie Studios: Columbus, OH

Nicole Mlakar-Livingston: Pet Photography: Austin, TX 

Moira McLaughlin: Dog Art Today: Los Angeles, CA

Bernie Berlin: A Place To Bark: Portland, TN

Wendy Crumbley: 2 Dog Studio: Florida

The final page. That’s Wendy’s photograph there on the left. Jill’s back inside cover on the right. 

Here is the backstory on the book:

Back in May of this year, I received an email, along with the other participating artists, from my dear dog artist/photographer friend Jill Beninato. Jill is a master scrapbook maker and does incredible things with her dog art and pet photography.

Jill had the idea for all of us dog artists to create the book that you see in this post. Not being a crafter (at all) I couldn’t really picture it but had a rough idea of what the project would look like, from reading Jill’s detailed instructions and also being familiar with her work on her blog. 

So we all had until July 5th to get our pages in (as many things are with me mine were late- hey I was moving the week they were due!!), and after we mailed our pages to her, Jill got busy (very busy) assembling them all and creating covers and backs for every single book (yes, every single one), and then shipping them off to each of us. I know it was a huge amount of work, and I don’t think I can ever express my gratitude to Jill for this amazing project. I feel so incredibly lucky to be part of this group of dog artists- some of the most talented in the country, IMO. Don’t believe me? Just check their websites and Bark magazine- these are the gals whose ads you see, who are all successful, highly visible artists. 

And not only are these women incredibly creative and talented, but also super nice and supportive, and positive happy people. Oh, and beautiful- did I mention beautiful? Both on the outside and inside! Ok, I could go on forever. ;-)

How about some more pictures of the book?

The details on the pages are just incredible. I did my best to get some close-ups to show y’all. Pictures just can’t do this book justice. Manon Doyle’s embellished page on the left with beeswax, Mellissa Langer’s page with an adorable pug tag and the prettiest aqua blue with gold paper. 

Linda O’Niell’s boxer- one of my very favorites of hers. Linda was the very first dog artist I met online early in 2007, and introduced me to many other super talented women, many of whom are in this book. I consider Linda to be my Pisces soul-sister (we miss you Linda!) and can’t wait for the day we can meet in person. Fergie’s page on the right below has metal ’studs’ and a silver heart tag that says ‘love’. 

Bernie Berlin’s quote on the left, which resonated not only with me, but many of the other artists involved in the project. The sewing you see behind it is the backside of Rebecca’s very unique sewn giclee art. On the right is a close-up of Jill Beninato’s page- which is even more amazing in person. 

The backside of Anne Lueck Feldhaus’s page on the left. I love that I got a painting of a ball happy dog! I seem to be attracting them lately. The backside of Nicole Mlakar-Livingston’s page on the right- one of my favorite photographs of hers- every time I see it I crack up. That’s a sock monkey tied around her pooch’s neck, hee hee. 

Kathy Weller’s backpage on the left. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at each picture and every detail. Kathy excels at detail, which is pretty astonishing considering she works in watercolor. A close-up of Leigh Jackson’s canvas on the right below. She hand-painted details on the giclee prints- something that must have taken forever but that I cherish more than she will know. ‘Wow” was all I kept saying. 

Close-up #1 of the front of Nicole’s page, which has buttons ’sewn’ on, and little birdies, and of course the cutest little dog in an airplane. (Nicole is that your dog??). Talk about creative!

A close-up of a quote that Wendy wrote in pencil on her adorable dog art page. Ditto to that!! Check out the darling chocolate brown fetch tag. 

A close-up of Bernie Berlin’s absolutely beautiful art page. I sat speechless in my office late the night I finally had the chance to look at the book. Amazing job Bernie. More on Bernie later.

Ann Leuck Feldhaus’ page put mine to shame- she hand-painted hers!! I was so thrilled to have an original Ann Leuk Feldhaus. AND, it looks like Fergie!! I still can’t believe it. :-) Thank you Ann!!

Manon Doyle’s multimedia collage, which I don’t even have words for it is so cool. You all know that I like to talk (or at least write) a lot, and very rarely am I speechless. Here I was, and still am, speechless. I don’t even know what to say- it’s that amazing. By the way- you can’t really tell from the photos- but the page on the right is 3-dimensional. 

The backside of Jill’s page. Buddy, a Costa Rican dog that I think we have all fallen in love with. I teared up when I read what Jill wrote. It is so special, and life-affirming. 

More detail of Nicole’s page. How cute are those little birdies?! I think they are made out of mother-of-pearl.

The back cover of the book, designed by Jill. The little cat is a holograph (?)- is that what you call it? When you turn the book up and down the cat moves. So cute. 

Melissa’s hilarious pug peeking out of an envelope. I showed this to Charlie and Seymour’s mom last week and she totally cracked up. The backside of my page below, which, sadly lost some of the sparkly thingies (sorry if they fell off ladies!). No big surprise here considering I bought 3 different kinds of glue and really had no idea which one(s) to use. Crafty I am not, but I think my pages turned out ok. BTW: which artist ended up with the dogs with the feathers coming out of their heads? I was getting loopy at that point, hee hee. ;-)

The book seen from the side. FYI: these shots were taken in my new studio. What you see there is the late afternoon reflection through the western-facing windows onto the ginormous cyclorama wall, which is about, oh, 50 feet wide. I think you could fit my entire apartment into just the studio portion of the space. I promise (!) I WILL post photos one of these days- I just have a couple more things left to do in my office before I can take pictures. I have my first studio shoot tomorrow morning. Excited but nervous. 

And again, front and back. Dogs really do rule. 

Remember earlier in this post when I said there was a 14th book? Well guess what- it could be yours!!

The 14th copy of this book, the most special copy, with the most embellished pages, is going up for auction on Ebay on November 15th, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Bernie Berlin’s A Place to Bark, an amazing rescue organization in Tennessee run by an equally amazing woman who has devoted her life to saving animals. 

The book will also be getting some press in the upcoming fall issue of Bark magazine. Our collective hope is that with the Bark’s help and through the grassroots efforts of our blogs, we can garner lots of visibility for the book so we can raise as much money as possible through the auction. Here’s to saving (and adopting!) needy animals!

Here are all of the artists websites and blogs.

Manon Doyle of Hoochie Poochie Studios , blog
Jill Beninato of Sit Stay Smile Photography, blog
Jamie Pflughoeft of Cowbelly Photography,
Leigh Jackson of Noisy Dog Studio, blog
Moira McLaughlin of Dream Dogs Art, blog
Melissa Langer of Pug Notes, blog
Linda O’Neill of Abby Creek Studios, blog
Rebecca Lansdowne of Art Paw, blog
Nicole Mlakar-Livingston of Nicole Mlakar-Livingston Photography, blog
Wendy Crumbley of 2 Dog Studio, blog
Bernie Berlin from A Place To Bark, blog
Anne Leuck Feldhaus of Anne Leuck Feldhaus Studio Ltd., blog
Kathy Weller Wellerwishes Pet Portraiture, blog

I will post more on the book when the article comes out in Bark, and also before it goes up on Ebay. 

Remember that adopting dogs saves lives! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Personal Projects | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (21)

waiting list + gift certificate change

August 7, 2008 – 2:46 pm

It pains me to write this post, because I want to be able to say yes to everyone and pride myself on my ability to be flexible, but as of today I now have a waiting list for new clients for both Decopaw art commissions and photography (and prints and any other products from past clients). “Even for one small print?” Yep, even for one small print!

Details:

New art commissions waiting list: 6 weeks.

I schedule commissions according to start date, so we are looking at a late September start date. That is very close to when my holiday commissions start, so I have a feeling I will have a holiday commission cut-off date somewhere around early November. If you follow this blog and are planning on commissioning art for the holidays, now would be the time to contact me to get on the waiting list.

Also, it’s very likely I will be heading out of town for 7 days in mid-October, so plan for that. I will also be taking 14 days off starting December 23rd. I don’t foresee any other weekends out of town this year other than those two. 

Photography waiting list: 2-6 weeks, depending on type of shoot and location. (this does not apply to those I have already communicated with but have yet to schedule). 

Shoots for sick and/or elderly dogs can definitely be expedited (please contact us!), but expect the wait time from shoot to online gallery to be longer than the standard 7 days. 

Gift certificate change: 

In the past we provided gift certificates for specific products and services, leaving the dollar value off the card. So it would read something like: 14×16 Decopaw art canvas for one pet. 

That has now changed so that instead of indicating the specific product, we need to indicate the dollar amount with a general description of what the gift certificate can be used for. This is because federal laws prohibit small businesses from applying expiration dates to cards, and it has become very common for folks to wait a year or two to use a gift card- often times for products or services I no longer carry/provide. Given the youth of my business I know changes are inevitable, hence the new change to gift certificate policies. 

The new policy is: all gift certificates must have a dollar value written on the card, and each card will indicate that prices are subject to change at any time and without notice. 

An example of how one might read: $350 in Decopaw art or photography products and/or services from Cowbelly Pet Photography. Redeemable at at time. Please allow a minimum of 14 days notice. Prices are subject to change at any time without notice. 

Also, due to our full client board, we will now require a MINIMUM of 14 days advance notice to redeem gift certificates. 

I hate having to say no to people as I like to say: “I’m not in the business of disappointing people”, but my plate is so overly full at the moment I’m not doing anyone any favors by bringing on new clients. I currently have over 30 clients on my ‘board’ (my work task board), and that list will grow to about 38 people in the next 14 days. Yikes!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to anyone and everyone who has had to wait for things from Christina and I: whether it be a return phone call or art proofs, or a gallery link, or waiting to receive registration forms for the workshops. We have both been doing the very best that we can and working hard to keep deadlines, so any patience coming our way is so very appreciated!

Thank you sincerely for being so patient with us!!

With that said, it’s back to work with me! 

Hope y’all are having a great week. :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Connie Townsend paints Fergie!!

August 6, 2008 – 8:21 pm

I was at home last week taking care of some things while Christina was in the office (I love having ‘people’), and I called her to get an update. She was talking really fast and all I remember hearing was something like “email…..soooo cool……..connie……magnuson………fergie…….painting………townsend………fergie……wow! it’s so coool!”. “Huh, what is she talking about” I thought. Well, when I got back to the office Christina had already left, but when I went to get something off her computer I saw in her email inbox what she was trying to tell me about.

This!!!

Happily ever after by Connie Townsend

Happily Ever After, by Connie Townsend

“Oh my GAWD!” I screamed. 

Connie and I had been emailing and it was my turn to reply to her. She asked if she could use one of the images from my Magnuson post on Fergie for what she calls a ‘warm up painting’. Being the extremely busy gal that I am I barely even skimmed her email and didn’t really realize what she was asking me about. I flagged her email for reply, and set it aside with the other 43 flagged emails. 

Well, a few days later I got this in my inbox! To say I was delighted would be a major understatement. I simply adore it in a way I can’t verbalize. The colors, the look on Fergie’s face, her little chicklet teeth, the gorgeous blues in the shadows, the bold chunky brush strokes, ahhhh it’s so awesome!!

Fergie’s painting may look familiar. Connie is the super talented artist who painted ‘Barkalounger‘. 

I need to make a correction to the original post about Barkalounger. It turns out that Connie does not in fact live in Washington State; she lives in Flagstaff Arizona. She is represented by a number of galleries around the country, including the Howard/Manville gallery in Kirkland.

Barkalounger is still at the gallery and still for sale. I think we should start a collection so we can buy the painting for CityDog Magazine editor Brandie Ahlgren!! I can just picture it hanging in the CityDog offices. 

Connie’s dog paintings exude everything I love in life, and dog art especially- pure joy, a sense of abandon, a childlike humor, a goofiness and silliness that tells me that the artist doesn’t take herself too seriously, beautiful, vibrant colors, and a whimsy that is rarely found in fine art. 

Oh what I would have given to have Connie involved in the Dog Rules fatbook! Can you imagine?! (more on that later this week- to my dog art gals- I took high-res photos of every page!!).

Anyhoo, in one of our email exchanges I asked Connie if she does custom commissions. She said yes!

Now, given that Connie’s work is a true fine art painting expect it to be an investment. But I can  tell you from experience, the feeling you will get when seeing your own dog in one of Connie’s paintings is unlike any other I have ever had. I was honestly moved to tears. 

I encourage anyone who has joined me in checking out Connie’s website to seriously consider either purchasing a piece of her art from one of the galleries she is in, or custom commissioning one of your own pooch. Or if you know any art collectors with dogs, please forward this blog post to them. Oh, and in case this is important to you (it is to me!), Connie is just one of the nicest people you will ever meet! I am so happy to add her to my growing list of doggy art and photography friends.

Lastly, and this is a bit of an aside, I have always had so much respect for painters. I know from firsthand experience that painting is not easy. I painted quite a bit when I was young- mostly acrylics, but dabbled a bit in oils (mom was a fine art oil painter for a time), and always felt like it took a really, really special person to put paint on a canvas and manipulate it in such a way that it not only looks the way they want it to, but looks really great at the same time. It’s very very impressive if you think about it. :-)

 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Christina is back!

July 10, 2008 – 4:33 pm

Christina is now officially back at work, YAY!! We have spent the day trying to catch up on emails and other work. I still have a couple of phone calls to make, and about 4 emails and we will be caught up, yippee!!

And it’s a good thing too because this weekend we will be moving into our new office/studio space, which needs to be painted first. 

We are going to have a very busy next few days, and I am so very happy she is back. I don’t know how I ever lived without her these past six weeks and don’t think I’d ever like to try again. 

To our clients who have waited so patiently for products/emails/phone calls from me, thank you sincerely for being so patient. I am lucky to work with such a great group of people who love their dogs as much as I do mine.

Now we are off to the studio to take measurements and plan our Ikea shopping list, woohoo!

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