pet portrait give-away!!

Time for the second annual Bronte Memorial Valentine's Day Give-Away!!  Dedicated to the memory of a rescue of my own, Bronte, a sweet tortie that passed away in 2009,  I wanted to create something good in her memory, hence, the annual Bronte Memorial Valentine's Day Give-away. I can’t think of a better way to honor her than to help other cats in need.  The Give-Away is a 16x20 custom pet portrait in oils, subject your choice, and the lucky winner is chosen at noon on Valentine's Day!

For more info on how to get in on the give-away and help cats in need, please email me at tracey@tagscats.com

Thanks!!!!

raffle piece, second place

Minnie's Seinfeld cats
Originally uploaded by tagscats

This is the finished piece for my second place winner in my Valentine's Day raffle that benefited a local feline rescue. This second place winner won a rock portrait and I painted 3 of her cats on this large rock! She calls them her Seinfeld cats, and this is Kramer, Jerry and George! Such cute cats and such fun subjects! Enjoy them Minnie!!

I have a beautiful black cat to paint in oils on canvas for the first place winner, that will be arriving here soon, so stay tuned!

Raffle Reminder!!!

Yes, I'm posting about this again because, well, it's important! Time is running out to enter my charity raffle to benefit the cats of Forgotten Felines and get your chance to win a custom pet portrait! It's been tough times for everyone these days, and animal rescues especially have been hard hit. These rescue folk work so hard for the cats in their care, and remember that every little bit helps.

You only have until noon on Valentine's Day to enter, that is when one of my cats will be picking the winner!

RAFFLE INFO HERE

I've gotten a great response so far, thank you SO much to those who have opened their hearts to help these cats and those who so unselfishly care for them

Cat bed

Cat bed
Originally uploaded by tagscats

Sunshine hits the bed in the afternoon, and so do the cats...

new art!

Finished these two pieces up last week just in time to take them to an art festival I did on Saturday in Athens, Alabama. The 3rd annual Athens Art on the Square, a very well-run festival and lots of fun. The weather seemed like it would be iffy at first, but, the rain held off and it turned out to be a pleasant day, not hot at all which is a nice change.The first piece is from a photo ref of a friend's cat, fellow EBSQ artist, Windi Rossen, (thanks Windi!) It's her cat Ziggy, he's so adorable!It's 9x12 oils on stretched canvas...I call it "The Yawn"

This next one is a portrait of a very cute bulldog who belongs to a fellow EBSQ artist, Deb Sprague, thanks for letting me use that fabulous reference photo, Deb! This is also 9x12, oils on stretched canvas....entitled "I love football"

I'll be taking these two paintings with me end of next week to another arts festival....they got a great reception at this last one in Athens, lots of smiles. That always makes me feel good. I'm happy people have a good reaction to my art.

cats and ladders....

A friend mentioned in a reply to a previous post about putting a blankie on a ladder for Cassady and it's a new cat tree...no kidding, lol! Whenever a ladder goes up in this house for anything, before I even get a chance to climb it, there's usually a cat who's beat me to the top. As promised for a cat photo a day (or perhaps two or three, lol), here's a picture of my neurotic siamese cat Basho. This was taken several years ago in our screened porch, I was probably hanging plants at the time. The cats liked the stepladder so much I think I left it in there for a while. This photograph of Basho won a top award in an online cat show put on by a feline group I'm part of. He's such a beautiful cat, but those brain cells of his never quite made the connection that people are ok. I got him along with another oriental cat, Susu, when both were 6 months old (different breeds though, different litters, he's siamese, she's a black oriental shorthair). The breeder gave Susu to me because she was very small for her age and had an eye problem. But, she is typical oriental and very social. Basho just never got it and has always been fearful. It's like having a feral cat in the house. He's gotten a bit better over the years (he's 11 now), but, he'd just rather be with the other cats. He's a sweet boy, just never made the people connection for whatever reason. In fact, he usually bonds with another cat, at first he bonded with Tennessee our Maine Coon. When Tennessee passed, he bonded with TS, my grey and white boy. Sadly, TS was elderly and he passed as well. Now I will find Basho hanging sometimes with Chaim, also a grey cat, I guess Basho feels an affinity now for big grey boys.




Here's a pic of Susu....this was taken before her small right eye was removed....she does fine though, with one eye, and is sitting on my lap purring as I type this...




Here's a picture of Basho's first buddy, Tennessee, a lovely Maine Coon boy who died too young from the ravages of a horrible mouth ailment. He was such a sweet boy.