Three Perros

Everyone enjoy the Superbowl!!! For those 38% of Americans who don’t follow the superbowl…including myself, don’t forget to watch Puppy Bowl VII. Great show on the Animal Planet Channel that features adoptable puppies playing football, chickens as cheerleaders and adoptable kittens dancing during halftime.  Adorable and funny as heck. A good friend of mine always has it playing in the kid’s room while the adult party goes on in his living room. His daughters and their friends are mesmerized by the action and some years it is more fun than the regular game. For those of you in NM it is featured on Comcast Channel 58.

Most of us were taught in art classes that to draw the human head you start with an oval. Argentinean caricaturist and illustrator, Pablo Lobato, didn’t get that memo. His work starts with triangles, rectangles, octagons, and lines and then he  fills them with traffic-stopping red, yellow, orange, acid green, teal blue and purple. His ability to bring together basic geometric shapes and make them more iconic and recognizable than a photograph is uncanny. Several years ago I saw one of his illustrations in a magazine, tore it out, placed it by my computer, looked him up on the internet, and immediately became a fan of all matters, “Lobaton”

A caricaturist for the 21st century,  his images of celebrities, musicians and sports figures done with vectors are featured worldwide and his clients include the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, LA Times Magazine, LA Magazine, The New Republic, Boston Globe, Texas Monthly, Cosmopolitan Germany, Gooo, Chief Executive, Flare, AARP, Paste Magazine, New York Daily. His work can be seen on his agent’s site, Anna Goodson or his Facepage.

Recently I stumbled on this image of Dobermans on his facepage. With triangular ears and graphic body, the Doberman breed couldn’t be a more perfect model for Pablo’s skills and I immediately emailed him and invited him to be my first featured artist of 2011.  Always responsive to his fans, here are his answers to my penetrating investigative questions: 1. Yes, I am a “dog person,”  2. My dog, Pixel, is Pointer/Doberman mix from the Buenos Aires’ dog pound and looks exactly like the dog from the Simpsons, and 3.  Yes, Pixel serves as a model and muse for my work and for this illustration on a story about home invasions for the Canadian Reader’s Digest.

The January 2011 issue (article 0645) of Before and After Magazine is out today and it features a “make-over” of my business card!! What an honor and a dream come true! They did a gorgeous job. Now I have to go through all my collaterals: blog, website, facepage and make sure they look as “purty” as my business card. Thank you John McWade, Dexter Abellera, Sean D’Souza, and all the other staff of the Before and After Magazine for the beautiful work you have done.

My favorite part of the article is how they did minute alignments to Toby’s photo to align his head perfectly with the rectangle of the card and the font of the business name. It is details like this and clean design that makes me a loyal fan of Before and After Magazine.

I’ve had a few photographer friends ask me what wonderful photography equipment did I receive for Christmas and yes, I did spend all my Christmas money and more, aaargh, on studio equipment. It seems like most of it was utilitarian items.. a couple of sandbags, baby wall plates and more.

But one gift stands out and every time I walk by it I think I would trade all those traditional items advertisers think we want,….diamond rings, perfumes, sweaters, high end cars, etc…for this one item.  What is it? The Presto Heat Dish!!

Available at my local Costco and I’ve seen it on Amazon, this is a great floor heater for the studio!! And although those of you who know me personally and know that because of my metal legs I love the cold, the colder the better, I do have limits, and when it hits  the 35 degrees mark or lower some heat is appreciated.

Now why would I blog about this heater on a dog photography/illustration site? Well, the beauty of this heater is that when it tips over it makes a horrendous noise.  The noise is so annoying and heart-stopping that none of my dogs go near it…except for Chama…who is deaf…but that’s another story.

My baby wall plates came in the mail today. I know you are all waiting breathlessly for me to explain what they are. As soon as I set them up I will answer all your questions so stay tune!!

In early December I had the opportunity to photograph both of these dogs on the same week. As I was going through the proofs and editing down the images, I was struck by why I love photographing animals in general and dogs in particular.  I had photographed, what seemed on paper the same type of animal;  two large gray dogs. But what the photos demonstrate is that within the same species, God can produce two very distinct, unique animals:  Jasper,  a Weimaraner, a gun dog bred for hunting large animals such as boar, bear and deer and Sebastian, a Bouvier des Flandres,  a double coated dog bred to care for domestic animals found on ranches or farms.

Both dogs  bounced into the studio with tremendous enthusiasm, charm and a willingness to please, both big hams wanting to be the “center of attention.” But there the similarities end, Jasper is a long legged graphic dog with a beautiful shimmery coat documented with much success by Wegman’s and his stable of Weimaraner dogs and puppies versus Sebastion who framed in wonderful wiry texture has a strong personality that shows clearly despite all that hair.

Photographing dogs is an activity were no one asks me to pleeeeeze “Photoshop” out the wrinkles in the skin, change the texture of the coat, change the color of the fur, remove defects, thin or thicken the body, or add, remove or whiten smiles, Both owners were proud and happy of their babies just the way they were and I was honored and happy to comply. We could all learn something here about similarities, diversity and acceptance as found in our best friends.

What happened to September and October? The fall went by on jet wings.  Starting to work on some Christmas portraits and they are all magnificent!! Whether it is a puppy, or a herd of Bouviers everyone is getting into the spirit.