It All Started As "Snool"!

Sometimes it's hard even for me to believe that what I'm doing with my digital art all started from my Cassie's "snool" on the door and windows. For the uninitiated, snool is (to be indelicate) a combo of snot and drool, which dogs make in abundance. Most of them will get creative when there is glass between them and the object(s) of attention, but few of us humans recognize the beauty of their expressive work. It helps to be an artist, because part of our job is to bring attention to things that others might not see. The print below is a PiCassieO work titled "Laughing Lion", named for the cartoon-like image of some sort of feline that I saw in Cassie's marks (imagination I have in abundance!). I decided that the colors were too far-out in this first version, so I did the actual print with a more subdued palette. Last fall I took another look at it when I was playing with fabric designs, and abstracted a couple of tiny squares to put in repeat. The results blew me away! The colors and patterns remind me of art from India - but Cassie's big Airedale nose was the source of the striking patterns. Inspiration can come from the weirdest places!

I call the two resulting designs "Laughing Lion Geo" and "Laughing Lion Geo Diamond."  It has been so much fun putting them on items in my Zazzle store - the two stamps are incredibly bright, and the candy tin and wine charm can be monogrammed. They make great small gifts - I did a tin and charm for a friend's birthday and was really pleased with the way they turned out. That is my idea of FUN - slapping my art on unlikely items in the wild colors I love so much, and secretly laughing and remembering where the art started. I have only scratched the surface in these first two "LL" abstracts.Thank you, Cassie girl!

"Laughing Lion, Version 1" by PiCassieO

"Laughing Lion Geo" Postage by PiCassieO

"Laughing Lion Geo" Candy Tin by PiCassieO

"Laughing Lion Geo Diamond" Postage by PiCassieO

"Laughing Lion Geo" Wine Charm by PiCassieO

BTW: Young Calli continues to give me ideas, although her style and our connection is still in development. Her epilepsy is a constant impediment, but her "snoodles" on the door make me laugh! I think this girl tends to be a cartoonist - more of her work in another post.

"Line Dance"

Line Dance © Beth Stafford 2011

Line Dance is my latest PiCassieO - to me it looked like a pair of dancers floating against a rainbow of colors. I like it so much that I reformatted it to use in my shoe designs on Zazzle .
Below is a sneak preview of my first Keds for kids featuring Line Dance. There are four other styles available for adults: Pro Keds Royal Hi, Pro Keds Royal Lo, Lace Up, and Mini Slip On.

The art was fun to make, and the shoes are fun to wear! Interested? Go to PiCassieO and check 'em out!

Are you creative? Zazzle is a fun place to use your photos or art on lots of things besides shoes. See for yourself:

Cabin Fever!

Cabin Fever © Beth Stafford 2011

The title pretty well describes the mood around here - lots of gray, damp weather, and mud everywhere, which limits where Cassie and I can walk (when weather permits). Yesterday I tried to soak up the few hours of sunshine we had, to store it for the week ahead. Feels like the supply is already running out...but at least there is plenty of COLOR in my art to brighten the day! Cabin Fever is the result of Cassie's markings on the storm door during January. I drew over them with the stylus and then used several filters before applying a custom gradient for the color. I've used the gradient before, but the results were a total surprise - I really love the purple and orange and black combo. No subtlety here, for sure!

Nose Garden to the Rescue!

You know the old saying "what goes around, comes around"? Ten years ago some wonderful people took Cassie in when she had nowhere to call home, and that's how we found each other. That group is now known as NC Airedale Rescue; I am pleased to announce that Cassie & I are offering our print Cassie's Nose Garden on their Merchandise Page, with a percent of sales going to help other Airedales who are temporarily down on their luck. Please help us keep them safe and healthy until they find loving homes!

This whimsical "garden" is one of the first PiCassieOs - sure to bring a smile. It has an "Alice in Wonderland" feel, with suggestions of other-world plants and creatures, in earth tones with blue and green accents. It is joyful, exuberant art - a fitting tribute to these wonderful dogs who display the same characteristics.

Recently a large format version of Nose Garden was purchased by Cabarrus Animal Hospital in Concord, NC, for their new lobby. Reviews are in; PiCassieO is a hit:

“I just wanted to  let you know I loved  watching the  reactions of
clients & staff to your work! There was fascination, astonishment, &
joy. I can't remember the last time I saw such animated reactions
to art.”  – Tom Oakley, Oakley Designs

I've put a "faux" frame and mat around the print here so you can see how terrific it looks on display! The 8.5 x 11" print (image slightly smaller) is on premium matte paper, in a limited edition of 50. Each print is signed and numbered on the bottom border (by "PiCassieO" of course!), and shipped in an archival sleeve for protection. Price is $50 plus S&H. Payments (and donations) are through PayPal at NC Airedale Rescue.

Framed prints should be matted and protected by UV-resistant glass and not displayed under fluorescent or strong sun light, to preserve the rich colors for many years of enjoyment.

Back in the Doldrums (Not a Bad Place to Be!)

I thought I was working over a new photo of Cassie's marks over the milk can (shows how short my memory is!). When I finished the draw-over and posterization (next photo), it still didn't hit me.

Then I started applying filters and gradients, and it finally did register - this is a continuation of "Midsummer Doldrums": slightly different stroke interpretations and wildly different colors! When I get them proofed and printed the numbers will be in progressive order. This was so much fun, tweaking and changing from one to another! Color is my favorite intoxicant; if they print true, these will have a "wow" factor for sure!

Got a favorite? Let me know - I'd really welcome feedback. Want to subscribe to new blog posts? There's a button in the upper right for that.

After weeks of relative inactivity, due to illness, injury, and the extreme heat, Cassie had a roaring good time at the window today - two deer were moseying across the road to the woods! In spite of the heat, she took off running when we left the porch, all the way down the property to the road. Probably neither of us will be walking well by tonight! It was great to see her enthused again, anyway. And now I have new art to photograph!

Remember to visit our store - a lot of these prints and some gorgeous pendants are for sale there! Our art looks equally great on the wall or on your neck!

Midsummer Doldrums

Don't know how it is where you are, but here on the homestead it has been a really miserable summer. The wildlife is hiding from the heat, grass is growing like gangbusters, and the humidity is horrible. Cassie is not a hot-weather dog, so her favorite activity is sleeping, which means the art production is lagging. Nevertheless, she has short bursts of inspiration and I managed to capture some of her recent storm door activity.

This one was tentatively titled Milk Can With Black Strokes (really catchy); in keeping with my post title, I think I like Summer Doldrums #1 better.

Of course, if there was a #1, there is a #2: I applied a different gradient and filter to the original stylus-enhanced photo and this was the result:

And then there's #3: same gradient, different filter.

Looks more like I should title the series Color Riot in the Doldrums!. The next job is getting them to print true, and then they'll be for sale in our store. I had another really nice color variation of #1, but somehow managed to delete it - that never happened with "real" paint. No medium is perfect, I guess - but cyber-color just blows me away!

Got any comments or questions about the work? I'd be glad to hear from you! You can subscribe to our blog in the upper right if you want to be notified of new posts.

Boots: "Real" Abstraction

I always have a hard time dealing with the term "abstract art", since in my mind it's all abstract. The latest PiCassieO Boots is absolutely representational in that it came from a photo of Cassie's marks on the door and the ancient Singer on the porch beyond which is a rack for my dad's old boots. I knew when I shot the photo that I wanted to use the background in a prominent way because of the strong shadow patterns and lines made by the boots. What at first seems like random strokes and color patches takes recognizable shape if you keep looking. This is a good example of "representational abstraction" - totally based on reality, but distilled to the essence of that reality rather than factual description of it. Just wait until I finish Cassie Does Pollock - then we'll get into "nonrepresentational abstraction" (but there's still room for argument there).

I welcome comments about the art! If you'd like to subscribe to our posts, click under the Email Update heading (Post Button) in the top right of this page.

"Lost: Going Home?"

Yep- I admit it, I'm a huge fan of the TV show "Lost" - going to be totally lost without it. It reminds me a lot of the book Masquerade, which was full of clues and hidden meanings to point readers toward a treasure that was actually buried in England. I doubt there's treasure at the end of "Lost" - probably just more questions - but I love the intrigue. When I finished this latest PiCassieO, the background was looking jungle-like, with all these mysterious yellow marks more or less pointing toward the "opening" at the top left. Lost: Going Home? is my self-generated title.

I did go to the"abstract title generator" and got some pretty far-out stuff (like Falling Impressions of Ephemeral Creation) but none of them seem to fit with my art. Guess my own thoughts about a work fit better, even if it's just Storm Door No. 5,647 With Green Stripe.

I welcome your comments about the art! If you would like to subscribe to the posts, please click the button for updates in the upper right of this page.

One More Time!

"Storm Door April #1" is so bright and colorful - it's one of my favorites. Imagine my dismay when I printed it perfectly and then wrote the WRONG title at the bottom! One thing about that velvety matte paper I love - it is totally unforgiving, especially where pencil marks are concerned. Attempts at erasing only make it smudge worse. Rather than throw away a beautiful print, I decided to offer it as the first Dirt Cheap Deal in our Etsy store. Most of the titles are labels of where and when I did the original photos - as I previously said, I need to work on those titles- and aren't terribly important. I'm offering it for $15 plus $5 S & H - a great deal, especially since it's really one of a kind ( I sincerely hope I don't do that again!).

Comments are welcomed. If you like, you can easily subscribe to our posts by clicking the "Update" button in the upper right. I promise not to flood your inbox!

PS. This post title refers to the fact that the print was posted last year, which I tried to explain in the first paragraph as an afterthought, but was stymied by a pesky period that would not disappear! I could backspace right up to it but it wouldn't be deleted. That's the kind of week it's been - my Face Book page became invisible, and my email was stopped for three days , which in turn created havoc elsewhere. Another week like this and I'm blasting OUT of cyberspace!

Spring, Where Art Thou?

This is definitely the coldest, longest February in my lifetime. Guess that's why this quirky little drawing with a warm weather feel appeals to me so much. I used the stylus to outline Cassie's marks and the background on the original photo, then lifted them out with the "Magic Wand" and copied only the marks to a new file. A gradient was then applied to get some color into it. I added a little more here and there, but left it sketchy(very difficult for someone like me, who likes to fill every space and finish every edge). You can see evidence of my neurosis at my other blog.

Cassie is still working on the windows, but things are getting really smudgy - the sun's angle is just now hitting the marks which I haven't yet photographed. Hate to lose all that art!

Next week I'll be displaying our PiCassieO art at the ArtWalk in downtown Concord, NC, on Friday evening from 6 - 9 PM. Anybody local - come on down and walk around (and remember to buy some art!). Maybe the weather will improve by then, but if not, it'll be a fun evening anyway!

There's plenty of PiCassieO at our store, too! We have prints, pendants, and ACEOs, with more art in the works.

We welcome your comments. If you would like to subscribe to this blog, just click the button at the top right. I promise not to stuff your inbox!

Looking Backwards, Moving Forward

Most of my art lately has been focused on the PiCassieO Pendants; there is nothing quite as much fun as digging into older work and coming up with these little jewel-like abstracts! The source for the three above is in the archives somewhere; for a real challenge, see if you can find it! Hint: one of the three is taken directly from the original and the other two have been altered. The resulting pendants are turning out beautifully and will be listed shortly at our store.

The sun's vacation from our piece of the world is hampering my development of new art, so I'm glad I have such a wealth of material to fall back on! Cassie is semi-hibernating; when it's so gray and cold out, I feel like following her example and just sleeping until the sun comes back. Can't do that - I have to keep working to buy dog food!

Winter Solstice

Yaay - we're celebrating the winter solstice here today!! These short dark days are not to our liking - even a few more minutes of light are wonderful! In honor of the day, I am offering the print Winter Solstice for the unheard-of price of $15 (plus shipping and handling) - for one day only (Dec. 21) at PiCassieO. Don't miss this chance to own one of our loveliest works - dark and mysterious like winter, with subtle colors and a flash of brilliance when the sun made a brief appearance while I was photographing Cassie's marks 2 years ago today. It's also featured in our video, PiCassieO at Work. Wherever you are, I hope the sun is shining today!

Walking In the Air

The title Walking In The Air came from a song on a Christmas CD. I liked the way Cassie's marks sort of march across the window in this one, although the colors and feel of it speak more of fall than winter. Right now in NC, it feels more like winter than fall! Wet and nasty for several days now - but Cassie is happy because there was finally a deer in the yard this morning. Now I have some new material to work with at last - we've been having a dry spell artistically (but not weather-wise), due to lack of wildlife. Our quince tree is presently dropping its sour fruit on the ground, so there should be a little more traffic out there soon. How anything can eat that stuff, I don't know. They smell good, but have the effect of green persimmons! Ugh.

Big Announcement: Our Etsy store is up and running! We have a dozen prints for sale, and I'm adding pendants and ACEOs ASAP. In case ACEO doesn't ring a bell, it stands for "Artist Cards, Editions, & Originals". You collect them like trading cards and can house your collection in an album. Really affordable art! Visit PiCassieO often and see what we're offering!

"Storm Door September", & Other Dogs Making Art

Summer has been a slack time for us, artistically. The weather has been so strange that I think it's affecting the wildlife, and they're evidently hanging out somewhere else. Either that or the predator population (coyotes and hawks) is increasing and scaring the bunnies and deer off! Whatever it is, Cassie's main thrill these days is barking at my brother-in-law's old hound "Miss Red" when she moseys into the yard, so we don't have a lot of fresh "nose art" to work with. It has given me time to look back at former efforts (we've come a long way from Creature From the Green Lagoon, for sure!) and play with some of them. This one is a new color version of the first Storm Door. Never being one to write down steps, I'm not sure what filters were used in the first one, so I haven't figured out yet why the image is so obviously "pixelated" - got to work on that. The temptation to translate some of these images into paintings is growing, especially when the colors are so appealing. Then pixels will be no problem at all!

Now, about other dogs making art: I just read an article about a dog in Texas "making art" to sell for the humane society. It really disturbed me, because the dog wasn't a willing participant. His paws were dipped in paint and more or less used as "brushes" while he tried to get away, and his tail was also painted so he'd wag it against the canvas. That's certainly not the way we do things around here! There is no forcing or coaching or anything else, other than Cassie's uninhibited reaction to life, that starts every "PiCassieO". We wouldn't have it any other way!

Too many people think of "abstract" art as just a bunch of paint thrown randomly at a canvas and labeled "art". It can be done that way (by animals or humans) but it's not necessarily good art! Composition and color sense are prerequisites for any kind of art in order for it to work. There - enough pontificating for one day!

West Window September

Cassie made a really wild swoosh on the left window facing west - not her usual spot for viewing, since she prefers sitting on the other end of the couch top. I haven't been able to do much with it until now - just decided to go with dense black strokes and experiment with a new gradient background. Maybe still needs work, but I LIKE the black. It goes back to my student days, when using black paint straight from the tube was frowned upon (my instructors were still hung in NeoImpressionism). Well, I love its absoluteness and strength, and have used it in everything I've done since then - my rebellious streak showing through. I can see some interesting pendant material in this one, too! Be watching at Close Encounters - I'm working on new ones now.

Back to Serious Art Here! Scat, Cat!

OK - I was a little late, but the famous pickle recipe is now history. For a refresher course in how the art in this blog starts, check out "PiCassieO at Work" - see Cassie the Crackerdog in action! One of the works in the video is Scat, Cat! This is the updated version, with a new color palette. Funny- I really liked my "Herb" colors (check archives for the Herb series) when I first started using them, but fell out of love with them at some point and am redoing all of the art in that series - artistic evolution at work!

Driveway, July, #2

OK - this is version #2 of the last entry - another one of the new gradient palettes. Here's your chance to be an art critic - vote for the one you like best! Title suggestions are welcome, too - as long as they're G-rated!

BTW: Our July Sale is still on at Cafe Press. Lowest prices you'll ever see on PiCassieO items - also the widest selection of merchandise. If there's something you like, get it now (am discontinuing a bunch of designs!) Shop at www.CafePress.com/airedale_art

Milk Can #1 (Finally!)

After posting so many versions of Milk Can, I realized that there was no #1, so now there is. Taking a little artistic license here, I guess. Anyway, what's in a number? Mainly it's a way to distinguish one work from another, since I am totally running out of titles. There are still many different views of Cassie's marks against that milk can; sometimes the differences are very subtle, so it will be a challenge to make 'em all unique. Good thing it's still so much FUN!


We evidently have a healthy population of coyotes nearby this year. Cassie is being deprived of her entertainment at the windows, since there are very few bunnies around. Even the deer are elsewhere; to my disappointment there have been no fawns at all. If it weren't for my brother-in-law's old hound "Miss Red", the window painting might have stopped. Red has taken to following Gary as far as she can, hoping he'll put her in the truck for a ride. She usually makes it as far as our house, which sets Cassie off, and then pokes back home.


If all else fails, I could always photograph our skid marks on the road, as I struggle to keep Cassie from jumping snakes or picking a fight with Miss Red. Never a dull moment.

Singer and Door, February

You heard it right - "Singer", as in sewing machine. My dad bought an ancient treadle-powered Singer years ago, when my mom refused to let him play with her machine. His ambition was to make his own clothes; that project was quickly abandoned after making a couple of really bad neckties, so the old machine finally got a job as a porch table. It sits just outside the door (next to the previously mentioned milk can) and makes a great backdrop for Cassie's marks on the glass. If you look closely you can see the top and part of a treadle wheel. "PiCassieO" continues to evolve in unexpected ways! Just go back and look in the archives if you want proof.

Milk Can May #2 (I think!)

Help - I just can't stop! There's already a #3, plus the plain old Milk Can that was posted first. This one prints beautifully, as have the others. It's becoming more and more like painting, especially with the "hands-on" involvement that the stylus affords. I salute my new medium! Have to admit, this form of my art is not getting the reception that my earlier paintings did; I'm hoping (and do believe) that attitudes toward "computer art" are changing, and that pretty soon it will be accepted as just another medium of expression. Thoughts on that? or anything else? Let me hear from you!

Cassie is blissfully unaware that a haircut is impending. So far we've had three ticks between us, so the woolly one is going to get buzzed. If you aren't familiar with ticks, I want to move wherever you are! This wet, sticky weather is their favorite, and they're out for blood. Double ugh.