Meet Jake - Jack Russell Rescue of Ontario

Hi, my name is Jake and I am, a great loving guy of 6 yrs old. I am a wonderfully well mannered guy who only needs a new home cause my mommy doesn't have enough time anymore to give me the life I had and deserve. I love to cuddle and walk, and play and wiggle. I am great in the house and have never had accidents! I have been through obedience training and am wonderfully trained! I am good with other doggies and people too! My mommy is so sad to see her 'best bud' go, but she knows I would be happier somewhere that I get to see people more and have more interactive time with them... I simply LIVE for my people friends! I am healthy and neutered and vaccinated and all ready to go! Adoption fee $250

Jake is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

See more pictures of Jake and visit his Pet Finder page below:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/16591348

Need more information or want to find out how you can help?

Visit:

www.russellrescue.org

Interested in having your rescue dogs portrait drawn? Check out my webpage below or send me an email.

www.juliesillustration.com

Random Cartoon

It is Friday you know ...

Strawberries

Seriously ... how can you not like strawberries?

Mmmm ... Springridge Farm strawberries...

Pretty good job here of holding onto the berry and not eating it. And no, I did not take it out of her mouth and eat it after. She swallowed it whole.

This one is for Mel!

Say hello to my little Friend...

Taco poses on the chair in my office

This adorably cute little fella is Taco the Chihauhau. One of the sweetest little dogs I've ever met, he's getting up there in age, but he still gets around pretty good. He came to my office to pose for reference photos and was a perfect little gentleman. Too cute for words, I just finished this little guy over the weekend, an 11"x14" pencil portrait to be delivered to his owner on Friday. Thanks for the opportunity to create this portrait for you Joette!

Productive Weekend

This weekend I spent some time finishing off a portrait, and working on Milo. The portrait has gone to the client for proofing, and I will post an image of it once I hear back. As far as Milo goes, he's really beginning to take shape. Poor guy, it's been a while since I put brush to canvas, but finally this weekend I was able to give him some attention and a bit of personality, so he's really coming along now. It felt good to fiddle with the acrylics again and I'm hoping to have him fully completed in the next few weeks. You can see his progress below:

Fiddling with the basic shadows and highlights

Adding some depth, personality and more shadows and highlights

Brandy and I also took in a CPE agility trial at Acton Agility. It's been a while since we've been on course, but the little dog surprised me and managed to get 4 out of 4 qualifying runs (a little elephant never forgets), and landed herself the Level 4 Standard Title (CL4-R). Lucky for me, she's still got it and probably always will have it. Smart little spoiled bugger.

What a life!

Brandy - The B-Hive, ADC, SGDC, AADC, RN MCL, RPT, CL2, CL3 CL4-R, HIT Agility JRTRO Trial 2009, JRTCC SGD

Mourn the trees...

Brandy in nature - Burns Creek Conservation Area

Perhaps I'm sentimental, just a regular nature lover, or plain crazy (could be all of the above, though I think I've been called crazy the most), but it really bothers me to see someone uproot and discard of a perfectly healthy plant, especially a tree.

Trees do so much for our environment and health, really they do, and to see them killed for no other reason than because they are in the way, not the right colour, or some other useless reason, well, it makes me sick. 

Which brings me to the reason why I have not gone near my "recently old" house. I can't do it. Our gorgeous weeping pea and Japanese maple in the front garden were thoughtlessly ripped out. Why? You ask, why?  I really have no idea. The trees were extraordinarily healthy, well looked after and thriving. Both rescue trees I might add, which just makes their deaths worse.

So I put together a little collection of just a small portion of my nature photos that I've taken over the past few years ... to make me feel better. Sentimental? ... yup, I guess so ... crazy? sure why not.

Poor babies, these are the guys that got ripped out - how could you?

Valens Conservation Area - Fall

Valens Conservation Area - Fall

Chameleon in the weeping pea - out front of our old house

Wild flowers one year in our back garden

Fall maple leaves - Lowville

Marigold (yikes I'm really not sure now) in the front garden of our old house

To see more of my photography (canines for now) visit: www.juliesillustration.com/photography

Getting There...

This truly has been a long "one more week". Settling into a new house, cleaning, organizing and puttering takes up a lot of time. I suppose it's all worth it in the end, because I really do love my new house ... though it still doesn't quite feel like home yet. Putting Brandy in the "art niche" helped a bit, and she seemed ok with being on display. My ever patient little friend.

I was actually able to finish two portraits over the past few months for one of my clients. A lot of drawing during lunch at work seemed about the only time (and space) I had to actually concentrate on my neglected craft (sad, I know). Max, the lab, a gift for my clients boyfriend, and what a gorgeous lab he is! The lucky guy gets to go to work with his owner every day.

Brandy prefers not to be at work with me. She isn't able to get a full days sleep with all the activity going on around her, so by the end of the day, she's fully wiped out and crabby - lazy little dog. I suppose I understand though,  I feel about the same way when I get home from work too.