Custom Pet Portraits (You want one??)

Years ago I had a little side business of painting and selling animals painted on rocks. Yep river rocks.  I just love them and I have done many over the years.  I have held on to a few of them but  most have sold. I took pictures of them and have the pics safely stored in a computer hard drive. They are so safe that I myself will need help getting to them! (smart eh?)  But here are some pictures of the ones I still have.  They look so cute displayed around the home and can be done to compliment any decor.  The cats especially look great on pillows or folded comforters because they look like they are curled up resting.  I have done many breeds of dog as well. Toys on up to larger breeds. I have done horses and bobcats (wild cats) because we live in KY and how could I not!  I have done zoo animals and exotic animals. Wild and pets.  The ones that I have kept are the ones I did to resemble our beloved pets.  As you can see the Gambit rock was a portrait of my sheltie who passed away about three years ago. It was done many years ago when I was first learning to paint on rocks and it is much more elementary than my later ones but I loved that dog so much and now that he is gone I cherish that rock flaws and all.  The two cats are "Laverne and Shirley" they live with my Mom. They are much more detailed and as you can see from the pictures I really went into detail with their coloring and fur patterns. The little pug was done just because I love pugs (never owned one) but it turned out so darn cute!  I am having trouble getting a good picture of the details so I tried to take the pic with out the flash.  The piggy (never had a piggy either) has been on my porch for a couple of years and shows some paint damage but you can still see how it once looked and its curlie Q tail. After painting each rock I seal it with clear coat acrylic but if the roc is kept outside it will need yearly coats. The stuff is about $1.50 at walmart and so easy to do.   Like I said I DO have more pictures of rocks I have done and if I can get to them I will post them here as well.

                                     Shirley

                                Laverne

                                      We call them "the twins because they were littermates"

                                 Laverne has more black fur in defined stripes

                                  Shirley has a freer fur pattern with peaches and gray

                                   My "Gambit"  This was done many years ago and I got  much better at painting but this was MY DOG. He loved me best and was a faithful friend for many years. I cherish this one the most!

                                The "pug" was fun to paint! Hard to photograph though! Very detailed and in the photo he looks like he is frowning but that white line is the accent under his mouth and he is not frowning.

                                      Pink Piggy shows some paint damage from being outside but I can touch it up and recoat. No biggie lil piggie!  See how the rock shape compliments the paint to make them look almost real!

So all that being said... In my efforts to raise money for the ARCHER family's adoptions I am going to pull out  my paints and do a custom pet portrait give away!  To enter the drawing you must donate at least $5.00 to the ARCHER Family FSP.  We will keep it going until the beginning of December when 1 name will be drawn and I will contact the winner.  I will need photos of the animal to be painted. Or you can just specify an animal. Maybe you collect a certain kind of animal???  I will then paint the rock. Just in time for CHRISTMAS.  Give it as a gift or just keep it for your self. I will then ship your rock to you. (Shipping is HIGH on these because of the weight but...)  When you donate to the ARCHER FSP  shoot me an e-mail at pattycake432gal@aol.com  (don't use the e-mail associated with this blog because I don't ever check it...) or you can leave me a message on the blog  to let me know and PLEASE PLEASE REPOST THIS! (if you send me a link to a blog post about this giveaway I will put your name in 1 time for the draw.  100% of the funds go directly to the Archer family as they adopt THREE wonderful boys!  I BELIEVE WE CAN RAISE A LOT FOR THESE BOYS!  Questions?  E-mail me! Here is the link to donate!        http://reecesrainbow.org/22087/sponsorarcher-3