Homeless Pets Inspire Art by Chicago 7th Graders...

Back in October I volunteered to do an art project with Friends of Audubon School to help raise money for educational programs. This school has no budget for art so it was a treat for the kids and I also got a chance to share awareness about all the homeless pets out there. These nineteen 7th Graders certainly rose to the occasion. Using Petfinder.com to search for homeless dogs in the Audubon zip code, I found over 5,300 within a 100 mile radius. I printed out photos/descriptions/adoption information for 19 dogs and gave one to each student to use as their subject. They each painted their dog’s portrait on a 6x6 inch piece of cardboard and attaching tags with their particular dog’s name onto the painting. I mounted the paintings on wood panels and they have been on display at Starbucks since early November. They will be auctioned off to raise money for the school next Wednesday, December 8th. You are welcome to view them and even bid on line at the links below. Thanks to Amanda Shell to helping out on painting day!

Bid on 'Nine Lives':

  

Bid on 'Adopt A Friend For Life!'

The administrators liked the kids' work so much they used it for the promotional materials for the Auction Fundraiser. Follow the links to see all the other wonderful art available for bidding by kids who worked with other artist volunteers.

Happy Tail Syndrome...

A very belated update on Gracie...made even later by a freak and unfortunate step on Friday which resulted in a sprained ankle for me! More about that in the next post. So back to Gracie girl...we took her to our vet for the first time so he could take out her stitches (from spaying) and give her a good check up. What he found was the end of her tail in very bad shape (it was hidden by her very dark fur) basically raw to the bone. "Happy Tail Syndrome" is a somewhat common occurrence for shelter dogs - every time someone comes into the kennel area they get so excited that they wag their tales so hard that they break on the back walls of the kennels which are usually cement. I know, ouch. Almost impossible to heal in a shelter environment and even challenging in a regular home, as we can attest to!
Dr. Rovner bandaged and wrapped up the tail (like a flower complete with pink end and green stem) and suited her up with a cone collar to keep her from going after it. This means she no longer fits comfortably in our kennel so I took her to the studio that afternoon where she proved herself a natural snoozing away in the front window among the adoring public. While fun for her, this scenario proved to be very unproductive for me so Plan B ensued: sequestering her to the bathroom when we couldn't be home with her.Did I mention she had the bandage off within the first 12 hours?! (we wanted to give her a break from the cone). Over the next several days Rich played doggie MD and re-wrapped it with a pipe insulator to soften the blows. It was not a pretty sight and soon she found a way to get to it even with the cone on!

So I rigged it up with duct tape to add some inches around the perimeter, she looked so silly - but it held up until we got her back to the vet for 30" cone and a new bandage - this one reminiscent of a sock monkey!
 At this point we have made it through 2 of the 3 weeks they predicted for recovery. It's been a little exhausting to say the least and training is going very slow but she and Alice are warming up to each other. I do have to add that she is one of the most affectionate, snugly dogs that I have met, even while sporting the plastic satellite dish couture!

Save the Date! October 22: Dog & Art Lovers Night

  If you're in the Chicago area on the 22nd we hope you can help us collect **supplies for the Friends of Chicago Animal Care & Control Foster Program while enjoying Anne's canine inspired ART, WINE, CHOCOLATE (from local chocolatier, Parks Chocolates) and SAVORY TREATS! Don't forget to bring your dog and your friends to meet our special adoptable guest from CACC!

Bring in an *item/supply for Friends’ Pet Foster Program and you will receive a 20% savings certificate off any art or gift purchase!
**Items needed: Leashes, Snap-on Collars (any size), Dog Beds, Treats for Dogs & Cats (New), KMR Kitten Formula.

Please come out and support this group and all these deserving pets...we just adopted our Gracie from Chicago Animal Care & Control and I can tell you there are countless other dogs and cats there waiting for homes. See them here on Petfinder!!

Two tails in the house, again...

We headed down to Chicago Animal Care & Control on Saturday, this is the city shelter, basically ground zero for pets in Chicago, they are open every day for adoption (see their site for hours). No animal is turned away from this facility, which means when the other wonderful rescue groups can't take any more, the only way these pets find homes is for you and me to go down and adopt them. This would not be possible without the incredible volunteers who are responsible for taking the dogs outside, playing with and socializing them, as well as showing them to potential adopters - such important advocates, as they get to know the dogs and can offer feedback to potential owners. Sadly the city, does not provide enough resources, the volunteers are critical. It's so tough seeing all these sweet, innocent dogs, waiting alone in their kennels just wanting a little love and a home.Several caught our eyes and hearts but the one that pulled the
strongest, for both Rich and I, was 11 month old pit mix, Poppy. She had been
there since early July, very sweet and quiet, yet quite lively when we
got her outside. We decided to go home and get Alice. The meet and greet went
well...not instant best friends but definitely comfortable around one
another and tails wagging. So we proceeded with the adoption, which only costs $65, and that includes the dog license and spay/neuter.  We had our
adoption interview with Charles Craft, an amazing advocate for
these dogs and the head of the adoption program for the city and
Fostering Program through Friends of Animal Care and Control. We had corresponded in the past when I did art work for CACC, so it was an honor to finally meet him. (You can see other adoptable pets on PetFinder.com).On the drive home Poppy (who they told us was originally Pippi, and we just named Gracie!) draped herself over me and melted into my
lap with a sigh.It took a bath Saturday with a follow up shower on Sunday to fully remove the Eau De CACC perfume she was wearing.I'm sure she was relieved on Monday to find that bathing was not going to become a daily ritual in her new home!She is a very skinny little girl with a very LONG neck...so long that she can counter surf, this is new behavior to us. Izzy had a few episodes early on...but this girl, you have to keep an eye on! Did I mention we think she might have some Great Dane in her?We have some work to do with Gracie, she and Alice will need some time to bond, but soon, I'm sure she will fit in. This has all been a little bittersweet. It's the sad realization that we are really moving on, left with only our memories of Izzy...as we open our broken hearts back up and make new ones with Gracie.

Wells Street Wrap Up Part II

If you've ever chatted with me at a show, chances are I told you all about my dogs and their influence on my art. So I was a little nervous about retaining my composure, since this was myfirst art fair since losing Izzy, and I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. As luck would have it, the Greyhounds Only rescue group were set up across from my booth at the Wells Street Show. They created a beautiful diversion, and also inspired me all weekend long. I did several drawings of them and in the midst of sharing with people about Izzy, did my first 'patron saint of' / post-pumpkin sketches. 

Painting Raffle for Chicago Canine Rescue

Orange Smiling Pup © 2009 13x14 Acrylic on Wood Cabinet Door. Retail Value: $300

I started a raffle for this painting last Saturday at the Chicago Canine Rescue Adoption Event, $1 per ticket or 6 tickets for $5. Several of you have asked how you can purchase tickets. I think the best way to do it is for you to donate money directly to Chicago Canine Rescue via this secure CCR Donation Site, then forward me an email with your donation amount and I will put the appropriate number of tickets for you into the Raffle Jar. I will do the drawing for the painting on Saturday, March 20th and announce the winner on my blog and on my Facebook Fan Page.

Will you be mine?

 

   We had 5 adorable Spaniel mix puppies here on Saturday for our event with Chicago Canine Rescue, all from the same litter. They are still too young to be adopted but you can see each one on the Chicago Canine Rescue site and contact them if you would like to adopt! We had lots of people come in (and a few dogs) so it was good socialization for them and they sure loved to be held and cuddled. It was a fun afternoon and the volunteers were wonderful as usual! PS I'm still selling raffle tickets for the painting in the photo above...all proceeds go to CCR.

A...my name is Alice and I like snow...

Alice enjoying our winter wonderland...it's hard to believe that our yard looked like this just a few days ago:
That's her new friend L.B. "Little Boy" a stray taken in by my friends Mark & Johanna. His name is still to be determined but I kind of like L.B. or Elbee!