Original Pastel of an Italian Greyhound!!!

Oh, YAY, YAY, YAY!!! I just checked out Mary Detwiler's Etsy store again, and guess what I found? Another original pastel of an Italian Greyhound! How great is that??? So, of course, I BOUGHT IT!!! (Brian's gonna kill me!).

I don't think Mary will mind if I post links to her website and her Etsy Store since told me on my last pastel purchase that it was okay.

This time, I'm not sure if the little dog looks like Iggy Pop or Stuart Little--doesn't matter, it's an original piece of artwork, and I HAD to have it!

Here's a photo of the art work:

And, what's really funny is that I have photos of both Iggy Pop and Mylo with tulips:

Artwork by Kevin Z. (arttogo)

I am soooo happy! My prints and original watercolor from Kevin Z. arrived yesterday. He said I can post pictures of the artwork and a link to his website. His website is http://www.greyhoundart.com/. His Ebay id is arttogo. Here are the items I bought:

An Original Watercolor titled "The Return of Autumn." This looks just like Mylo!


Here's one of Stuart Little: an art print titled "My World in Black and White." It's a limited edition of 500, but I'm not sure what number I got right now. (Later: 14/500)


And another of Stuart Little called "Black and White with Roses." Also a limited edition of 500. Moke's in my lap so I can't see what number I got. (Later: 31/500).

I'm getting "full up"

[I'm not sure if any of the links below will work...???]

I've been buying Italian Greyhound prints for several weeks now, and have spent around $200 on the artwork and about $75 for the frames (well $205 if you count the $130 custom-cut frame). I'm getting "full up" and running out of wall space to put all of it. EXCEPT... today I found an original watercolor by an artist named Kevin Z. (AKA arttogo) on eBay for $37.00 (I had a $2 off coupon), and it looks like Mylo so I HAD to buy it. Here's the link to see it. It's named "The Return of Autumn." It's matted in an 8x10 mat.

I also bid on a limited edition print he has called "Black and White with Roses." He has another black and white one called "My World in Black and White." That second one is a completed auction, but it didn't sell so the listing is just expired. I hope he relists it so I can buy it! The reason I want these two is because they look like Stuart. He's been neglected as far as the art buying goes because all of the other prints look like all three of the other dogs and not him. He must have an unusual coloring for IGs.

It looks like this guy occasionally lists his originals for $39 so I'll just have to watch for them.

Iggy Pop's portraits

Oh, YAY! I picked up Iggy Pop's enlargements yesterday and put them into the new frame I bought. The frame looks really pretty, but it is really cheaply made (though it was expensive, I think: $39.99). Anyway, here's what it looks like all put together:


It has Stuart Little nose prints on it because he is SO nosey. Anyway, I think it's beautiful, and now I have to find someplace to hang it.

$130 later...

So, yes, I just spent $130 to custom mat and frame that stupid dog print. I can't believe it costs that much--and that is half off!

I also bought a huge (16x20) frame that holds two 8x10s. I want to put Iggy Pop's picture with the golf ball in her mouth on one side and this picture of her on the other:

More Michael's Framing

So, I have this 7.5 x 24" print of a bunch of Italian Greyhounds frolicking. It's #146/500 (or something close to that--I have a cat in my lap and I can't get up to see). I had hoped to find a standard-sized long skinny frame that I could put it in, but that isn't the case so I'm going to have to have a custom frame and mat made for it. The thing is... I guess I'm el-cheap-o, but even though it's a signed and numbered print, I don't want to spend that much money on framing it! Michael's is having a 50% off sale on custom framing (which I think they have regularly) so I'm going to go see how much it will cost just to put it in a plain black frame with a plain white mat.

I already know I want to hang it over the door in the office, and move the long skinny bathing beauties print I have hanging there now to the bathroom.

BTW: the little white IG all the way to the right in the blown-up inset looks like Stuart Little. That's the only piece of art that I've found that looks like him--all the rest of the stuff looks like the other three!

The big gold frame

Yesterday I hit Michael's for a frame for the pastel painting I bought from Mary Ditweiler. I looked around for the perfect frame, but didn't see anything I liked until I got over to the open-backed frames where I found a big gold frame with lots of molding. I've never bought an open-backed frame before, but there was a sign that said "1. pick the frame 2. pick the mat 3. we'll assemble it for you." I didn't need a mat, but I found a little "kit" you buy that has glass and backing mat board. I asked for help, and the sales girl said she liked the black mat so I kept it. I think it looks okay. She assembled it for me. Here it is!:

Oh, yeah! The little sales girl was so helpful, and she was really cute. I noticed she had a little, funny-shaped purple birthmark below her left eye. Well then I spotted the tattoos she hand on her knuckles and fingers and realized she had a TEAR tattooed beneath her eye! She totally didn't look like the kind of person who'd have tattoos like that! Not that I'm being judgemental, I just think she looked rather preppy-ish in her khaki pants and chambray shirt (is that a Michael's uniform?).

Lisa Ballard's art

Lisa Ballard from http://www.dreamdog.com/ got back to me that it's okay to post pictures of the prints I bought from her. Here's her Etsy store and here's what I bought from her:


"Sweet Iggy" is the first one and looks like Annie. "Iggy Bug" is the second one, and I think it's hilarious. "Come Float With Me" is the third one. It looks like Annie and a friend, and I just thought that one was cute.

They're all different sizes (all small). One (not sure which one) will fit a standard-sized mat; the other two will require custom-cut mats.

Oh, I just looked them up. "Sweet Iggy" is 9x7 and needs a custom mat (one of 100); "Iggy Bug" is 8x6 (one of 200); "Come Float With Me" is 8x10 (one of 200).

Lisa e-mailed me to let me know she's shipping them today. I can't wait to see what numbers I get.

Also, she'll be posting some new prints this week, and I can't wait to see those. I hope this is one of them:

He's called "Skinny Vinnie" and is the cover of a magazine called "IG Times." I think he's hysterical, too.

Dogs in Pastel Painting

Mary Detwiler from http://www.dogsinpastel.com/ got back to me, and it's okay that I post a picture of the wonderful original pastel of an Italian Greyhound that I bought from her last week. Here's her Etsy Store and here's a picture of the painting I bought:



This little sweetie looks just like Iggy Pop.

The painting came in an 8x10 mat, but I'm going to have it matted bigger so I can put it in a bigger frame.

dreamdog artwork

Lisa Ballard from dreamdog got back to me yesterday! She re-posted several of her prints in her Etsy store so I could buy them. This is what I bought:

• "Sweet Iggy" looks like Annie. It's one of 100, is 9x7 and will need a custom-cut mat.
• "Hound Bug" is an hilarious painting of 3 IGs in a VW bug. It's 8x6, will need a custom-cut mat and is one of 200.
• "Come Float With Me" looks like Annie and a friend. It's one of 200 and is 8x10.

She told me she'll be posting some new prints within the next day or so. I checked out her website, and she has a painting called "Skinny Vinnie" which is an IG in a 3-piece suit and a fedora, smoking a cigar. She painted it for the publication, "Ig Times." I LOVE it, and I hope that's one of her new prints. I'll keep checking back.

Also, when the prints arrive I'll ask her if I can post pictures of them here.

Oh, yeah. And she also posted her print of the sphynx cat for me to look at. I'm on the fence about that one. The expression is dead on that of Moke, but all three of our cats are black and the painting is one of those pink ones that give me the willies because they look like little aliens.

I found that Iggy Artist on Etsy!

I was kicking myself for not having bought some Iggy Prints from an artist on Etsy. I searched for "Italian Greyhound" on Etsy, and couldn't find her that way. I also searched Ebay and I even googled "Iggy Bus" which is what I thought the title of one of her prints was. Well... this morning in the shower, I had an Ah-Ha! moment when I remembered that I may have saved her shop in my favorites! And I did! Her shop name is dreamdog, and she has a couple of really cute pastel iggy prints that I want: Iggybug (not Iggy Bus like I thought), Sweet Iggy and Come Float with Me. I hope there are any left because it says they're of limited editions of 100, and she's been selling them on Etsy since 2006. Anyway... her shop is down right now, but she said she'd re-post stuff starting on February 15... she's a little bit late so I hope that doesn't mean she's out of the selling business.

I sent her a convo and let her know how excited I am to have found her again, and that I'm anxiously awaiting her store to reopen!

Etsy: ElleJW Dog Prints

ElleJW from Etsy got back to me and let me know it's okay to post pictures of the prints I bought from her! Here's here Etsy store. She has all kinds of watercolor and ink prints of various breeds of dogs. They are just lovely. Here are the three I bought:

The first one (a 5x7 print) looks like Annie. The middle one (a notecard) doesn't have the right coloring for Iggy Pop, but it perfectly depicts her expression and body size. The third one (also a 5x7 print) is Mylo to a "T"! Poor Stuart. I think he's a strange coloring for an IG so I haven't found anything to buy that looks like him.

The prints already came mounted in 8x10 mats which was really nice. I just had to plop them in 8x10 frames and they were ready to go.

Love, love, love them!

More Iggy Artwork!

So much for not buying anymore iggy artwork! This morning, I found an original 7x5 pastel in an 8x10 black mat for $24 on Etsy. The artist is Mary from http://www.dogsinpastel.com/. The dog dipicted looks JUST LIKE like Iggy Pop! I can't wait for it to get here.

Also, I convo'd ElleJW and asked her if I can post pictures here on my blog of the prints I got from her, but I haven't heard back from her yet. When the pastel gets here, I'll ask Mary, too, if that's okay. I can't imagine that they'll mind, but I want to make sure first.

In the meantime, these are the mini posters I already bought from CaféPress

Okay, doggoneit! Here are two more mini posters I just bought from CaféPress. I found these two when I was searching for the pictures above:

They were $7.99 each. I really like both of these posters, but the ones I found at first had big phrases printed beneath them. The one on the left said "Goofball" and the one on the right said "Caught in the Act." I didn't like them with the words on them so I was so happy when I found them without the words. I think I have a picture of Iggy Pop with a tennis ball hanging out of her mouth. My dogs also destuff toys like MAD so I thought the second poster was quite fitting. The artist is Stewart Allison.

I need to hit Michael's one more time while their frames are on sale. I think I got the 11x17 frames for $9.99 yesterday (or was it $14.99?).

New Frames!

I happily took myself to Michael's first thing this morning to see what kind of frames they had on sale this week, and I left with 5.

Before I left home, I measured what I had:
2 8x10
2 8.5 x 11
2 11 x 14
1 4.25 x 5.75
1 3.75 x 4.75

My two 5x7 caricatures were already matted to 8x10 so frames for those were easy enough to find.

Next, I checked out 11x14" frames, and got a funny feeling... I hadn't REALLY measured those ones, I just thought I remembered them being 11x14, but when I saw that size, I didn't think it was right. Then I happened on 11x17, and thought THAT looked like the right size... So, I threw two of those in the cart thinking I could take them back if they weren't right.

The two 8.5 x 11 ones aren't standard frame sizes. I picked up an 11x14 frame with an 8x10 mat, and I'm going to see if that will work for either of them. It's a cream mat, though, and I think maybe I should have bought a black mat instead. I *know* they'll both fit in 11x14" frames, but if I have to have custom-cut mats I AM going to buy myself that mat cutter and do it myself since I'm going to have to have custom mats cut for the note card and for the tobacco trading card anyway (I'm trying to justify the cost...).

So, anyway, I got home, and tried out my frames. I'm SOOOO glad I talked myself out of the 11x14 frames for the two mini posters because, sure enough, they were 11x17. One is the Igs playing poker from BGR's office (one of those dogs looks just like his dear Annie). The other mini poster is a geisha girl print with Iggy Pop's head. TOO FUNNY! I have no idea what will do with that one (a bathroom, maybe?). But the frames look really nice, and I'm glad I bought them.

The frames for the 8x10-matted watercolor caricatures are just plain black wooden frames, but they look so nice!

I still haven't tried the 11x14 frame on one of the 8.5x11 prints, but I'll do that this afternoon and see if that will work or not? I'm just not sure. I'm afraid that opening size will cut off the signatures.

Oh, fun, fun, fun!

Oh, yeah...

I checked eBay for more Italian Greyhound stuff, and found 3 postage stamps from New Guinea from hauteobjetsdart. I bought them!

Other Iggy Prints Got Here Yesterday

Oh, YAAAAAYYY!!! My other Iggy prints got here yesterday! I LOVE them! The watercolor and ink caricatures are just wonderful. They're 7x5 and came already matted. They're from a series of 50 each and I got some really low numbers (less than 25, but I have a cat in my lap and can't see exactly what the numbers are). I also bought a notecard for $4, and I was surprised to see that it is also signed and numbered. I'll definitely be matting and framing it as well.

I also received the pencil drawing by David J. Rogers. It is BEAUTIFUL and I couldn't be happier. I thought it was from just some place selling prints by him, but it actually came from his studio. It's also a signed and numbered print (#?/500--Murray's still in my lap so I can't see what number it is, but it's also less than 25, I think).

Okay... Murray got tired of me.

• The pencil drawing is 23/500.
• The notecard (named "Unsurely") is 11/50
• The profile caricature (named "A Little Uncomplicated") is 12/50
• The straight-on caricature (named "Eternally Yours") is 5/50

Love, Love, Love what I bought!

[Later...] Just got the Michael's ad for this week in my inbox. Guess what? A ton of their frames are on sale for 40-50% off so I'm making a little trip there this morning to see what they've got. Most of the prints I got are standard sizes that will fit in 8x10 or 11x14 frames. The notecard will need a special sized mat, I think (I'll have to measure; it may fit a 5x7 frame???).

Iggy Prints

I'm so excited that my new Iggy prints have started to arrive. I received five of them yesterday:

• an awesome lineoleum block print on Etsy by Nydam Press. It's signed, but the signature is the size of a pinhead! I wish she'd signed it MUCH bigger so I could see it! Not sure how long that link will be good.
• a wonderful 7x24 watercolor print of several Italian Greyhounds frolicking. It's a signed print (146/900) by the artist (Enid Grooves). I got this print from dogstuff.com, but I guess it was the only one they had because I can't find it on their website anymore. I really like that each day's sales from dogstuff.com goes to various dog rescue programs across the US.
• a really cute 1950-ish Austrian tabacco trading card. It was $4.99 on Ebay with free shipping, and it's in perfect condition.
• and two mini-posters from cafépress. One is a geisha girl that has an ig head on it (that looks EXACTLY like Iggy Pop); the other is "Igs Playing Poker" which I bought for Brian's office.

Still left to arrive are two 7x5 caricature watercolor prints (from a limited edition of 50--I wonder what numbers I'll get?) and a note card from ElleJW for Etsy (here and here and here) (not sure how long those links will be good). Anyway, these are coming from London.

Also outstanding is a pencil drawing by David J. Rogers being sold by k9artgallery on Etsy (it's also a limited edition. Can't wait to see what number I'll get!).

I am VERY happy with everything I've received so far!

Iggy Prints

When we had the appraiser in the other day to re-appraise the house for our mortgage refinance, the first words out of his mouth were: "it looks like you guys just moved in!" Which is true because we don't even have living room furniture and we have NOTHING hanging on the walls.

So, anyway, today I decided to buy little Iggy art prints that I can have matted and framed for our walls. I got three watercolor prints from ElleJW on Etsy and another long skinny one (7.5" x 24") from a website called dogstuff.com. I also got an Austrian tobacco trading card with Italian Greyhounds on it on an eBay auction. Oh, yeah, and I got an "Italian Greyhounds Playing Poker" mini poster for $10 to put in BGR's office.

Last year, I found a really cute Italian Greyhound watercolor print on Etsy, that for some silly reason I didn't buy. Now that I want to buy it, I can't find it. I believe it was called "Iggy Bus."

I'll post photos when I get them and have them matted and framed.