Custom Pet Painting Portrait

Being that it is getting close to Christmas, I've been commissioned to paint some pet portraits. The most recent are these three beauties! Aren't they gorgeous cats?! I'm looking forward to starting, and will make every effort to post my progress. Sometimes it takes me no time to create the paintings, and other times it will take days just to get an eye the way I want it. We'll see!

I am trying a new experiment at the store. CafePress is discounting all calendars, so I've lowered my prices, and now the calendars are under $5. Then I decided I'd target some Google AdWords ads for border collie calendars and bulldog calendars, and "pet" calendars. I wanted to see if there was any difference between very targetted and rather general ads. The discount only runs until December 3, and I may, or may not, run my ads that long depending on their success.

It's always a little unnerving to see the money I spend on Google, not being made in the store. Like I said to my spouse, I am making money, I am just not making a profit yet ;)

The Miracle of the Cat Sitter Video

Well, you could knock me over with a feather! Of all the cats, none has ever been interested in any "cat sitter" type videos. Until Reese. I borrowed a copy from my sister (who borrowed that copy from my other sister) after watching Reese stare intently at a crow that was on some nature channel documentary. She LOVES this stuff! Kai, as you can see, is bored. He wants to know what Reese is looking at, and couldn't care less about the birds and hamsters and fish on the television.

We even put Reese's tatty old cat tree in front of the TV for a while, so she could enjoy it in a leisurely fashion. Now, I actually have to go out and *buy* one of these things for her. Who knew?!

New Dachschund

Well, I've noticed a lot of visitors to the store come there looking for Dachshunds, but generally aren't enthralled with my little Doxie's face. So, I've created a new one that I hope captures people's imaginations. It's based on Guinness, the friendly little dog of a co-worker. She used to bring him into the office!

Well! After a day of coding, I finally have a main page on the My Visible Soul store that looks good. It includes the first of a great series of photos celebrating pets and their parents. I was going to create a downloadable catalogue, and use this photo (and the others to follow) within the catalogue. That's just too ambitious right now. But I did want to use the photos somehow, and decided to redesign the entire storefront, just to fit the photo in. A few prototypes later, and voila! If you haven't been there recently, go and take a look. Got something to say about it? Let me know :)

A Little Bird Told Me

What a grey day today! Cold, wet, November skies, to be sure. And despite that, I had to meet my spouse at the local Starbucks for a"tall javachip frappuchino, double-blended with whip and chocolate sauce, please." Damn this addiction! We managed to get a table right by the entrance, so we could watch the people walking past outside.

The area of Church and Wellesley that I live in is very dog-friendly. The Starbucks has a dog tie post, and a bowl of water, for example. One fellow had an adorable Akita pup, and people both inside and outside the coffee house swooned over it. We loved it, the guy about to leave the store told us he loved it, and the brave soul sitting outside in the slightly sheltered patio was fawning over the little pup. Then a couple coming in to the Starbucks were raving about how cute it was. Maybe we Torontonians aren't the cold, big city folk that our Canadian counterparts say we are. When it comes to dogs, The Big Smoke totally blows its cool!

That fellow who was braving the cold and drizzle outside on the patio had a bit bag of almonds with him. There are only 2 tables on this little patio: he was at one, and a little bird showed up on the other. We watched from inside as it eyed him, and eyed his almonds. Cautiously it hopped over to his table as he broke a sliver of almond off and left it just an inch or so away from the bird. Of course, the bird took the almond and flew off, and this guy had the biggest grin on his face as he turned around to look in the Starbucks window (looking to see if anyone had seen this event). My spouse nodded in the affirmative and flashed a smile.

After a few moments, the patio guy finally came back into the Starbucks, to get another coffee perhaps, and, jesting, asked if we'd like an almond too!

It's amazing how, even on a cold, grey wet day in the heart of the city, the presence of animals can bring strangers together, if only for a moment.

Boxer design added to store

I am pleased to finally add a decent looking Boxer to My Visible Soul designs! Isn't he handsome? Soulful eyes really set this dog apart from other designs. Be sure to check out My Visible Soul for both blue and yellow sunburst dogs.

New Jack Russell Design

Yep, finally got off my butt and designed a new, adult Jack Russell graphic. Here's a preview! You can find the yellow and blue sunburst Jack Russell designs at My Visible Soul.

For the love of music

I was chatting with my friend Chris this evening, about her domestic moggie, Sam. Seems that she loved the song Cocaine, by Eric Clapton. I mean she loved that song. She'd close her eyes, purse her lips and purr every time it came on AM radio. Totally freaky!!

Caught in the act

Finally, proof positive! They are a little blurry, but this is Reese when she is ignored for too long. She starts off with a little nibble and works her way up, taking bigger and bigger bites until she can no longer be ignored! What a crazt cat!

And in the meantime... back at My Visible Soul, I am pleased to say that I've designed some stocking stuffers. There are bumper stickers (also good on binders and in lockers!) and buttons. With the buttons, you can buy in bulk and give like Santa for less than $1 each.

Other stocking stuffer ideas for pet lovers are the coffee mugs and teddy bears.

I've also just begun using Google AdWords. It's an advertising program I used years ago, and am back using it again for My Visible Soul. I think you'll be seeing more and more of MVS over the next few months :)

Technorati tags: cat pet pet news funny kitten photo

Wednesday's MP3 download

You can dowload today's MP3, a walk with dogs and horses in the autum, courtesy of My Visible Soul.



Technorati tags: free , download , mp3 , nature

Have I introduced Kai?

Have I introduced you to Kai? He's a blue point siamese cat, about 4 years old. The photo doesn't really do him justice, but *you* try taking a picture of a curious Siamese cat! Big ears, BIG cat. How big?

Here's Reese. A standard Calico housecat, who you've met before. She can actually walk under his belly without much of a crouch, THAT's how big Kai is!

We got Kai from the Thai-Yves cattery here in Toronto. They have a pic of his dad. Ready...

Wowser! This is Grand Champion Thai-Yves DreamWeaver, Marcus to his friends, a real cutie pie. Kai looked similarly when we got him. Loooooong as can be, skinny as a pencil. He's all legs and tail and ears. Okay, after 4 years, Kai actually has a bit of a floppy belly on him too. A nice, in-the-house cattery where the animals are hand-raised. Even in you aren't in the market, you should check them out for their weird and wonderful cats!

Technorati tags:
cat , pet, funny , kitten , photo

Mondays Bite

Once again, Reese is up to her old chewing tricks. This time, the corner of a piece of furniture, but without warning! It wasn't until I heard a snap as she bit a piece off that I realized she was around! Eeeergh!

Perhaps it's just as well that she's found a new cat toy to play with. It's the loofah sponge with hang rope, like the one below, which sits on the outside corner of the bathtub. She walks into the bathroom, stalks it, and gives it a huge smack to send it hurtling into the bathtub. Then she carefully climbs into the tub so as not to alert the loofah, takes a big chomp and hauls it into the foyer for easy chewing. Sometimes the "tail" and sometimes the "body", she's a big fan of the loofah sponge.

Blue Dog

I am pleased to announce that My Visible Soul has branched out with a special series called The Blue Border Collie. Frankly, I have a messenger bag on its way to me right now! A gorgeous little pup, to be sure. Uh oh, I'm running late and the cat is giving my chair "the look"...

My costumed cat

You guessed it, a friend decided to dress Reese up as a lady bug. Oooh, doesn't she look happy!

Download this MP3

Here's an MP3 for you, free to download. I recorded it. It's a meadow, just a meadow, and the whole meadow. I find these nature recordings to be very soothing for both us and our fuzzy kids. Birds chirping, crickets, the whole thing is nice to listen to. Download it, take your pet in your arms, and listen for a few minutes together to a calming, meditative meadow.

Enjoy!

--Sue

Dogs in 100 Years

On my way to work this morning, I saw someone stooping and scooping his dog's poop. It's the law here, but it's also polite. He pulled out his baggie, grabbed the handful of poop, and dropped it into the nearby garbage bin. But it makes me wonder what the dog is thinking.

Dogs work in packs, and we humans are supposed to be the leader of the pack. Even a pack of 1. So is the dog thinking, "Wow, I must be really special if the leader of the pack is picking up my poop." Because you know darn well that's what cats think when you clean the litter box. We are their staff, to be sure! I wonder if the way dogs think will develop over time.

In 100 years, will dogs have a cat attitude toward us? "I am so great you feel compelled to pick up my poop, carry it around to share the odours, and then deposit it in a special metal container for further distribution." I shudder to think!

Job Posting - Animal Care Officer, Toronto

The City of Toronto is hiring a permanent Animal Care and Control Officer, at $26.22 per hour. Visit their website for details, call closes October 27 2006.

Free Wallpaper

Here's a real charmer! This little lamb is smiling just to cheer up your desktop. Have fun! For instructions on how to install a wallpaper, the SETI organization has these great directions, I couldn't improve on them.

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Free Cat Wallpaper

Copyright Hemera Images, www.hemera.com, which has some amazing photos like this.