A few weeks ago, while hanging my own flyers advertising my custom pet portraits around Connecticut, I spotted an event advertisement that caught my eye. This "Woofstock" event was to be the first of its kind in our local pet community, to be held on the Brandford green.
Being the person that I am, I fell in love with the name alone - it was so perfectly funny and fitting! I knew I wanted to be a part of the event, so I contacted the Ken Engelman (the chairman of the event) right away. 
Let's fast forward about 2 weeks to August 24th.  You couldn't ask for a more beautifully perfect day.  80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. I arrived at the Branford green at 10 am, to prepare for the 11 am start time. A few passersby took great interest in the activity and asked me what it was for as I was setting up my booth.   "Its a music festival...for dogs." I replied. It was a short, sweet, and fitting explanation.

Woofstock's goal was to raise awareness, funds, and supplies for the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford. All attendees were asked to bring a small donation from a list of necessary pet supplies like dogs toys, cat litter, etc. As a thank you for their help, visitors got to spend the gorgeous day socializing all their furry four-leggged friends while enjoying some awesome live music from (I lost count of how many) local bands. The result was a day that I will never forget.

Setting up my booth was a bit of a headache. There was just enough breeze to knock over one of my newly framed portraits and shatter the glass - so I ultimately had to zip tie everything to the tent -A small price to pay to enjoy what the day had to offer. 
I brought all my drawing supplies so that I could work on a portrait of "Samson" a white German Shepherd with quite a reputation in my town!  
The drawing process brought lots of interested spectators and was a fabulous ice breaker. 

I was pleasantly surprised to have some visits from familiar faces, like my friend Courtney, and my fabulous parents. To them I owe great thanks for the food delivery and bathroom breaks. ;)
I also got a visit from a dog named "Diamond" who is Samson's (my portrait on the easel) lover.  Since Samson's portrait is a surprise gift, the dog's owner was in awe over the portrait. It was a great twist on the day. 

Oh yea, and my car became an attraction in itself. (To be expected.)

I've been asked many times "Do you mind if I just sit and watch you work?" - often after my spectator has been watching for a few moments. "Sure" I respond.
Since my audience enjoys the horse portrait process, I decided to start filming my portraits, in progress.  My YouTube channel has tons of "Speed Drawing" videos.  These are recordings of portraits, from start to finish that were sped up and edited to be about a minute long.  Thank God for my amazing fiancé, Adam who does spectacular work with video editing!

This is a portrait I did recently of a beautiful Oldenburg mare named "Rohsina".  Enjoy!

Lately I've had the urge to do something different with my art...and last night I found it! I'm proud to announce the Grand Opening of the Imagine Art Zazzle store!

Zazzle has always been a favorite resource of mine.  I found them years ago, and started printing custom calendars as Christmas gifts for family members. Since then, the company has grown tremendously, adding new items constantly. 

The great thing about Zazzle is that you can customize anything to be exactly how you like it - with pictures, logos, text, anything! I've always been 100% satisfied with their quality also.

The Imagine Art store has a wide variety of items, ranging from kitchen towels and throw pillows to mugs and iPhone cases. Everything is customizable, so you can add your own text if you like. Images vary from my paintings and drawings to photography. If there's something you'd like to see, let me know.

Click here to check out my Zazzle Store!

This is also available for custom pet portraits - I can make you a custom design with your pet portrait!