Author Archives: Cindy D

Four Dogs, a History in Pictures

Wilson the Lhasa-Cavalier, very good boi — Wilson dog, the sweetest. Epilepsy and a too big heart took him at 12 in 2016.

Wilson came with Bert, my ex. He helped Bert survive the end of a relationship for a couple years before I showed up. He was our mutual best friend for six years until his health troubles overtook him. RIP sweetest boy.

Toki Wartooth, the extremely not ferocious, goofy, anxious boy. Havanese, adopted approx. 3 yrs old, late 2016.

Found Toki at petfinder.com in 2016. He was rescued along with other Havanese and Yorkies from a puppy mill.

Toki. Still a nervous boy these days, but much improved.

Goofy fella. Sticks his head out car window whether it’s 25 degrees or 85! (I draw a line at under 25 and over 85 but he is not happy about it.) Would not harm the smallest thing (at least not on purpose). Likes to say hi to strangers but prefers to keep it to a short interaction generally.

Toki was named Buttons when we got him, but I had picked out the name Toki and it suits him entirely. The full name Toki Wartooth comes from a terrible cartoon about a heavy metal band (Metalocalypse), but Toki is the sweet, naive guitarist character, without guile. Toki the dog was an only dog for about 5 months before we adopted Dexter.

Dexter Dog, a very big Shi Tzu, adopted approx. 3 yrs old 2017. Dexter was the name he came with. I always said he was a Dexter’s Laboratory type and not that other Dexter.

Dexter was adopted at a Petsmart store event. There was a long line hoping to adopt this guy but we were first!

We were warned he barked at night and could be reactive to dogs, but who is perfect? We did not say no. He met Toki at the event and came home the same day.

He did bark at night for a long time, and it was hard, but did not last forever.

Dexter and Toki. Sometimes friends, sometimes not so much.

Dexter and Toki, so much trouble! Would not trade it.

We moved out on our own and the owner of my construction office agreed to let them come to the office every day. It is a perk of enormous value and I know I am lucky

My grumpy loyal friend, gone suddenly and too soon. I made an overly long remembrance video for Dexter and put it on YouTube.

RIP Dexter, miss you lots.

Stella Belle. Adopted Feb 2024 from a Havanese rescue group found online. She came from a horrible Amish puppy mill in Ohio. (I’m told some are worse than others but overall they are very bad. And sad.)

I chose a Havanese in hopes the new friend would be a great friend to Toki. Though, I think Stella may be part Bichon or part Maltese. Her foster mom named her Feebi, but I was looking for a Stella and she is it!

Toki and Stella. Stella was understandably afraid when she arrived, and the three of us had a rough week or so. But she found the stairs up to the bed, claimed my favorite blanket as her own, and settled in.

Toki and Stella are good friends now, just like I hoped.

So many haircuts! Expensive. May purchase clippers and give it a try, but these two are squirmy. Fortunately we do not demand perfect hair in this household. I will say I told myself no more longhair dogs but then adopted Stella anyway. :-)

When I think back on Stella’s rough early days it’s hard to believe this hilarious demanding dog is the same one!

Stella gets away with LOADS , partly due to genetic cuteness overload. Has Toki wrapped around her tiny paw and has stolen most hearts at the office as well.

Wow this post is way too long but I’m hoping it may help me get back to a really big painting I started last year, and which includes all four puppers listed above.

Hopefully next time (and soon), I’ll work on and post the painting, whether finished or still in progress. Thanks for dropping in… and making it to the end!

Toki and Stella, for Dogs of Metafilter May 2024

Actually “Animal Companions of Metafilter”, but it’s dogs for me. At least, I am going to try to make a post over there so everyone can post pics. I will say, I lost my boy Dexter at the end of last year. I made a slideshow for him. But this post is for the current duo, Toki and Stella.

Vital stats:

Toki: Male Havanese, 17 lb, puppy mill rescue at age 2/3. Adopted Oct 2016. Current age, approx 10. Cream with silver ends and some champagne. Also known as Tokes, Pokey Toki, Tokester, Mr. Thing, Monkey,

Stella: Female Havanese (maybe Bichon mix), puppy mill rescue at age(3?). Adopted Feb 2024. Current age, approx 3. White with hints of cream and silver. Also known as Stelly, Stelly Belly, Miss Thing, Stellabelle, Stella Bella Boo.

Stella (before haircut), Toki (after haircut). At the office April 2024.

Stella (looking like a toy dog) before haircut, Toki after haircut. At home April 2024.

Toki with our old friend Dexter, 2023 at the office.

Another January’s End

On the off chance you’re here to find out about the third January painting I teased in the last post, “Phoebe in the Aisle of Eyes”, I am sorry to report that painting was a dud. However, I finished my favorite painting to date over a number of days. This one:

*Patience, 16″ x 20″ acrylics.* He was told they would sleep the whole time. They did not.

Here are the rest of my results from Paint Every Day, January 1-30, 2023.

11″ x 14″ (and one 12″ x 12″) acrylic on canvas paintings, January 2023
Top Left: *Louise, After the Recital*

Results: The first painting (blue critter, above), and the last painting (at the top of this post), were the only ones I managed to finish. I had hoped to finish a painting a day but it turns out that goal might not work for me.

I have some paintings to finish for February. We’ll see how that goes.

Thanks for visiting!

It’s January Again. And Paint Every Day!

Today is January 7, 2023. I finished a painting on January 1. The painting is titled Louise, After the Recital, and here she is:

11 x 14 acrylics on wrapped canvas. *Louise, After the Recital*, by Cindy Dauer.

I hoped to do a painting every day, but the next one took three days, including many false starts. I didn’t give this one a name. Someone who saw it pointed out that the main character looks a bit like the Grinch, which is true.

11×14 acrylics on wrapped canvas, by Cindy Dauer

I am on day three of the next painting, which got a name early on: Phoebe in the Aisle of Eyes. You’ll just have to come back and see. :-)

Thanks for dropping in! Happy 2023!

Acrylic Painting Progress Slideshow

I made a video. I posted it to my neglected YouTube channel.

This video slideshow represents about 85% of my paintings from 2014 to March 2022, with a handful from earlier. Many are unfinished studies, many are quite dreadful! But I thought it would be interesting to see them all together, to see the process of progress.

Progress is not linear. And there were a lot of long stretches of months with no painting at all. I’m pretty sure a live, local community is very helpful for that sort of thing and then we had a pandemic.

I may do another version with a voiceover, but I haven’t done one of those so I’ll have to look into it.

Most of these paintings are currently stacked in my living room. Maybe I’ll list some for sale. I have started to paint over some of them, especially unfinished ones. It’s a strange feeling, to do that.

Thanks for dropping in!

Completed Drawing Challenge, 1-25

Composition/Drawing Challenge 1-25, March to April, 2022

Kyle the piranha-dog from *Despicable Me* (plush), pencil

Originally it was a 30-day drawing challenge, but I finished it out at 25, which is still pretty great! It was particularly motivating seeing drawings from all the other class participants. (I can’t link it because it was on a closed teaching platform.) It’s always good to surround yourself with an art community if you are trying to do art, which is so often a solitary pursuit.

Next up is a continuation of the composition instruction, this time with paints, and I will be using oil paints for the first time, after 11-ish years of halting progress with acrylics. I am actually putting together a slideshow of my first 11 years of paintings, which I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I want to see it for myself, and I thought it might be interesting for others.

Thanks for dropping by!

The Majestic Unicorn, Drawing Challenge Progress

The Majestic Unicorn, 4.5″ x 4.5″ pencil

I really enjoy seeing all of these together.

I may have mentioned it before but it’s so interesting I took a drawing class from Ian Roberts when I follow him for his oil painting videos. It’s also interesting because I don’t have as much interest in painting the kind of landscapes he normally paints. But he has a lot of great insights and is a great teacher, and his YouTube channel is great!

I have signed up for Ian’s Brushwork course that comes after the drawing one (the prerequisite is the drawing class). I don’t often have art-related momentum so I’m not going to give it up just yet. I will be painting in oils for the first time, and trying out some of the non-toxic medium and cleaner options.

I can’t believe it’s April 2022. The pandemic has made time even more unreal than usual. Thanks for dropping in!

Week 2, 30 Day Challenge

Pencil drawings on smooth Bristol board, 30-day drawing-composition challenge Mar-April 2022.

The end of the second row has the only landscape (and out of order). Otherwise I’ve been on this crazy still life kick. Part of the reason, is that we are supposed to be taking and cropping our own photos for this challenge, and there’s not much outside where I am at the moment. (Of course, there is beauty in mundane things, etc, but it’s the end of winter and overcast, so no additional landscapes for me yet.)

I mentioned in the last post that I never thought I would be interested in, or any good at, still life drawing. But now I’ve done a whole lot of them, and they are going pretty well!

Ladle and lemons watching tennis on television. (I thought this one wanted a name.)

A Drawing Class & a Drawing Challenge, March 2022

6 days of 30-day drawing challenge using your own photographs. Approx 6″ each, pencil on smooth Bristol

These are the first 6 days of a 30-day drawing and composition challenge, which is the final (optional) part of Ian Robert’s recent Mastering Composition drawing course. Mainly Ian draws and teaches landscape, but for this challenge we are tasked with using our own photographs, so some of us are doing still life photographs.

Who knew, first of all, that I would enjoy drawing a still life? Or think I could actually do like, a decent one. And in pencil!

Red Onion and Paintbrush, 6″ x 4″, #2 and #4 Staedlter and Blackwing Matte pencils on smooth Bristol

This onion and paintbrush went well. It goes against the parameters of the challenge just a little bit, as the challenge is intended to highlight the main dark and light shapes in an image, and this one has just a few too many details. But that’s probably because I kept going after I got the main shapes in. And that was possible because I took this really excellent class.

Ian Roberts website. Ian Roberts on YouTube.

3 Apples and Goblet, 4″x6″, #2 and #4 Staedlter and Blackwing Matte pencils on smooth Bristol

Perhaps I’ll be back with seven more at the end of next week. Thanks for dropping in!

Acrylic Painting, February 2022

I missed a couple days so far in February. I am worried because this is what happens yearly – I paint every day in January and then the rest of the year whooshes by with much less productivity.

I think I need an actual project, like a series. I feel like I’ve been practicing to get better for several years now, but for what purpose? So, I’m trying to decide on an idea for a series. Imaginary Animals? Rescued Farm Animals? Not sure yet.

And at the same time, I think I may be close to trying oil painting with some of the non-toxic materials options like walnut oil and walnut alkyd.

Or maybe that is the problem. Too many plans, not enough action. I am currently taking a composition drawing class with Ian Roberts. He is mostly a landscape painter, and with a terrific YouTube channel. After the class is over I will start thinking more about the series.

The Slumbering Herd Art Blog

Artist: Cindy Dauer