A Peek Into the Studio Today

On Friday my artistic friend Judy Mackey and I will take our creations to the Dallas Arboretum for potential entry into their first juried show. *crossing fingers, toes, and all puggy appendages nearby* After weeks and weeks of painting landscapes, I needed to stop and produce something frivolous. I found a bouquet of PURPLE miniature roses in the grocery store. One of my fellow shoppers wondered if they had been dyed. I hope not. I think the world would be so much more interesting if you could just grow purple roses, don't you?

Sweet Pea - The Girl Next Door

Sweet Pea

11X14

Oil

Howie is in love with the girl next door, a busy little Boston named Sweet Pea. When she comes over to play with the puggies, the only one of my fatties who can keep up with this little speedy cutey is Java! Howie has got a little too much chunky stored around the nether regions to run that fast.

Anniebelly DivaPuggy Girls' Day Out

When we got to Fredericksburg, Mom said it was time for a girls' day out!

I made quite a fuss over the free samples at Dogologie!
These little bacon thingies were
delishush. I ate the whole bowl.

Mommy said every professional shopper who is worth
her salt immediately digs through her treasures just
as soon as she exits the store.



This here is my favorite - feel that imitation sateen poo-
resistant fiber. Hey. I see you looking at my orange bunny.
Don't even think about it!

New toy, new bed, and a whole bowl of free sample bacon thingies.
All in all it was a successful divapug's day out.
Now if mommy could just remember where we parked!

Howard Pee Pugpants Meets a Llama Mama

So THAT'S a llama....hmmm, smells

delishush, kind of like an old rug.

Ruh roe, that little one is givin' me the google eye!

I'm gonna just tiptoe away here all casual like...


Java says he ain't askeered of no llamas!

Hey, Dr. Doolittle, wudder them llamas sayin?

Passion Flower

My mother's yard is filled with some amazing plants. This is one of my favorites - the passion flower. This one is the Passiflora "Incense." It grows like a weed and is very heat tolerant. I've seen these in South Texas at Dena Wenmoh's Art Ranch Retreat near Marble Falls, but had no idea they could grow this far north until I visited Mom out at the farm last weekend. Her yard was filled with them! My Aunt Bitsy is going to bring me a cutting from Mom's house. I made her promise not to tell Carlos that this is going to take over our entire backyard. I can hardly wait.

A Day in the Life of Java CheesyBritches

Java Cheesy loves his naps. While Annie and Howie are up and at 'em every morning bright and early, I have to give Java a booster back to bed after brekkies so he can snooze for another hour or so. He likes us to wrap the blankeys around him and make a little nest. The only thing Java likes better than naps is...wait for it...snacks!

Somewhere to Dream a Little

One of my favorite places to visit is the blog of my dear friend Cathy, a Midwestern Gardener's Journal. Her passion, besides her little puggies, are her beautiful gardens. Cathy has a talent for gently coaxing an amazing array of flowers and plants from her little spot of heaven on earth. I suspect her secret ingredient is the talented cadre of puggy gardener apprentices, Buster, Pugsley, Daisy and Cricket. Thank you for sharing your gardens with us non-green thumbers, Cathy. It gives us something to strive for!

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Dallas Arboretum Series

16X20

Oil

Ruby & Rocky

Ruby & Rocky

Dallas Weenies

30X15

Oil

Ruby and Rocky live with their mom and dad, Deb and Bill, and their Labrador siblings in Dallas. These grand hunters rule the roost in their little Weenie World.

To the Jiggliest Angel

Winnifred Wigglepants

The Jiggliest Angel

We leave tomorrow, bright and early, for Fredericksburg. It will be our first trip without our divapug, Winnie Wiggles. Every moment she will be in my thoughts, because she so loved going to this little spot of heaven on earth.

Heavenly Missive

Whippy creme and scrambled eggs are

Way up here in Heaven

In case you too

See only blue and

wonder what you're gettin

They're other things like angel wings

With fur that's never sheddin'.

There's no disease or achin knees

and wrinkles smooth and silken

I fall asleep and dream of you

and times when we were given

to sprint and run and tug on toys

and dash to mom for lovin.

Tonight no tears oh Howie dear

because I have been taken

I’ll kiss your cheek and whiskers sweet

And heal the ache within you.

The pain it fades and goes away

And even loss feels lighter

When time moves on then pushes back

All that separates us.

Annie's Thought for the Day

This is what I say to Howie before
I've had second brekkies...

Sunflowers in Blue Vase

Sunflowers in Blue Vase

11X14, Oil

Winnie's Garden

Howie and Annie in

Winnie's Garden

I finally finished the sign for Winnie's Garden and we hung it on Sunday. I covered it with a nice coat of mariner's varnish so it will withstand moisture and the weather for years. This little garden borders our back porch and is the first thing I see when I look out my bedroom window each morning, which happened to be Winnie's favorite time of day because it was...wait for it....brekkie time!!!!! Winnie Wiggles was my light and my joy. Winnie was taken from us in January just a few months after she was diagnosed with GME encephalitis at the age of 7. There is not a day that goes by that she is not in my thoughts. I sure miss my little jiggley wiggley.

Java Baby

I was mom's first pug. I told her she was supposed

to feed me until I stopped eating. Notice the belly.

There was this giant salad bar in the

back yard, with all the leaves I could eat!

Awww, ma, why'd you have to trot out

the naked baby pictures again???

Now I'm a mature, distinguished

cheesy smelling fellow.

My favorite passtime, besides beatin up

Howie, is takin a nice snooze in the sunshine.

Oscar, aka Mister Sunshine

I was 12 years old when I arrived at

the Medina Foster Home for Wayward Pugs

Howie showed me all the best places to pee

and how to bark at those pesky birds in the yard.

I may have been deaf, but I always knew when

something exciting was happening in the kitchen.

This is my best "Feed Me Scrambley Egg" face.

Foster mom said Santa Paws was bringing me a furever family.

The best thing about the foster home was all the women
kissing me all the time. Check out that cute little divapug
Winnie Wiggles in the corner. She always snuggled me at naptime.

Two More Weeks!

Java, Howie and Winnie Wiggles

Fredericksburg Vacation 2007

Java, Howie and Annabelle are counting the days until their Pug Vacation in Fredericksburg, Texas. In two weeks they will be living large with mom and dad at the pet-friendly bed and breakfast, where breakfast arrives promptly at 7 am each morning and is usually a lovely fluffy egg-sausage casserole or something scrumptious like baked french toast. (Howie's mouth waters just thinking about it).

Howie said he is looking forward to barking at the guinea hens and Java likes running around the house from the front yard to the back yard and again from the front yard to the back yard ad infinitum, just because he can. This is Annie's first vacation trip with us, and our first trip without Angel Winnie Wiggles. Annie will get to meet the three dogs who live there and are the official greeters, including little Paris who is so small she can walk in and out the crack in the gate without even opening it. Paris may weigh only 3 lbs, but it is clear she is in charge of the dog and pony show on her little ranch outside of town.

We'll put on their finest gear and take the pugs to Dogologie for a refill on peanut butter cookies while we're in town, and mom and dad will visit their favorite little coffee shop with outdoor seating at a little old antique house just off Main Street. There won't be any late night partying with this bunch. It will be to bed at 9 pm for the puggies, but mom and dad will stay up and watch for the fireflies, who will be outside the back porch by the millions. Fredericksburg, here we come!

Wallflower

Wallflower, 11X14, Oil on Linen

From the Dallas Arboretum

Drowsy Pickles

Pickles the Pug's mom Melissa shared more of her beautiful photography yesterday. You might recognize this sleepy little boy from his portrait with his sister, Peaches, that I posted earlier in my blog in May. Pickles was wearing his blue checked sweater in his portrait. Here he is snoozing in the sunshine and wearing his harness. I was tickled pink to see that he has exactly the same harness my own Mister Howard Pee Pugpants wears when he decides to go out in public and terrorize the neighborhood.

Hummingbird Lane

Hummingbird Lane, 16X20, Oil on Linen

Hummingbird Lane is another painting from my collection of works created during the Dallas Arboretum Paintout. I love color, and it was fun to throw in almost everything on the palette into that mix of blooms.

The Story of Mister Pug

When I arrived at Foster Mom's house she said I was very

skinny, but I had a scandalously handsome smile.

I made some new friends.

One of them, Howard Pee Pugpants,
was a very bad influence.

These were just laying around
everywhere, so I grabbed one!

One day, Foster Mom said it was time
to meet my furever family.

Pugs in the mirror...are closer than they appear!

Someone has posted a welcome sign in my honor!

My new family was very excited to meet me,
and who can blame them?


Now I've pretty much got the pawfect life. Foster
mom misses me and thinks of me often. She hums this
little song when she thinks of me.

I'm Just a Sack o Bones...

I'm just a little sack o bones.......
Just looking for a home.............
Yes I'm just a sack o bones........
Just waiting by the phone.........
For the family who will be.........
Forever love to little me.........
Cuz I'm just a sack o bones........
Just waitin for a home..............

I've got some knobbley little knees...
And a tail that's very waggley...
I've got some skinny little fleas....
and a coat that's kinda scraggley....

If you see a sack o bones....
Who is lookin for a home..........
Pick him up and hold him near....
And then just whisper in his ear......

I love you little sack o bones.....
I love you little sack o bones.....
I love you little sack o bones....
Just lookin for a home.....

Birdwatchers Anonymous

Howard Pee Pugpants' favorite recreational activity out in our garden is birdwatching. When he spots one, he huffs and ruffs at it and runs as fast as his little legs will carry him. He makes sure none of them outstay their welcome for very long. What on earth would we do without Howard to make sure our house, home and garden are not overrun with pesky birds?

Togetherness

Togetherness, 11X14, Oil

Togetherness was a fun exercise in drapery, reflected light, and warm and cool color notes playing off of one another. I love pears, their color and shape can be so unpredictable so you have a bit of leeway when you paint them as long as they remain believable when it's all said and done.