Summer Art Print Give Away! Tanager Bird

Celebrate the season with me!

I'll give away this Tanager Bird ACEO (miniature 3.5" by 2.5") art print FREE to the first, fifth, tenth and twentieth comment left on this blog post.

Enjoy!!

Meet Ivan, Our Local "Trash Cat"

Ivan is a beautiful black feral (wild) cat who has lived behind a shed at our town dump for 7 years. 

Its my job to bring him food, fresh water, and a loving glance into his beautiful eyes every day.

Here is Ivan's story:

On Christmas day in 2008 I lost a friend to pancreatic cancer, she was only 55 years old. Leslie Smallridge was an incredible woman who was an avid animal lover with a kind and a gentle heart. For years my friend (daily) cared for our group of local dump kitties. I was able to fill in for her on many occasions, once for about two months, after which I got to actually stroke the soft little head of one feral kitty.

All the cats at our dump were black or black and white. Their numbers ranged from four some years to now just one.

All of the cats had been trapped, neutered or spayed, and had their basic shots. We live in New England which has some severe winters with lots of snow and cold. Because of Leslie's love for these feral cats, they  lived relatively well in a snug little igloo house packed well with hay and always fresh (thawed) water and food.

Now I am the main caregiver for the ferals and there seems to be just one beautiful black cat left, I’ve named him Ivan. There are winter days when I have to chip through Ivan’s frozen water to make room for fresh, and summer days when the weeds have grown so tall around his house, that I have to wade through hip high grass, but I never miss a day.

  I know I will be greeted by those soft pale green eyes that become more trusting every week.

Leslie worked closely with a local charity known as Berkshire Animal Dreams, together they made a huge impact on the quality of life for many stray and abandoned cats.

After Leslie's passing, I looked into my heart to find the best way I could offer my condolences....

I decided that helping care for the dump ferals would be my way of remembering Leslie. I now contribute a portion of my art sales to help keep Ivan alive and healthy. I also brought Berkshire Animal Dreams into my Art for Critters group so that all twenty five of our artist-members can donate to this charity. Leslie, if you are looking down on us...thank you for all you have done and I promise to continue to care for Ivan, the Feral Cat, forever.

If you would like to help Ivan, you can use the "Donate" button below or consider making a small donation to Berkshire Animal Dreams

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Find Melody's Animal Art Here:

Art Greeting Card, Free To Download And Use

I am offering this cute little clown art greeting card for you to download, print and use free! Below are the instructions you'll need to get your free art card.




Step one:
Click on the image below to open the large version (this is to avoid a very slow page load here on my blog)



Step two:
Right click the image and save to your desktop.

Step three:
Cut in half a standard size sheet of card stock rated to use in your printer, (I use Epson Premium Presentation Paper). You will want to cut this so that you have two sheets of 5.5 inch by 8.5 inch pieces.

Step four:
Depending on the program you use, ( I prefer Google's Picasa) be sure to orient the free art layout so that it fits your half sheet completely. You may want to do a test run on regular printer paper.

Step five:
Print, fold and enjoy!!

I've given you a black and white version so that even printers that do not have high end ink will produce a nice little greeting card. Why don't you try coloring in the card (or have your children give it a try). I'd love to see what you come up with!
with your version and I'll post it here for you.

Enjoy!!

Some Of My Favorite ACEO Paintings

Just for fun, I'm sharing with you some of my favorite miniature paintings that I've created over the last few years. The first three are my more recent ACEOs (miniature paintings)

Little Beagle (commission)
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)

Little Chipmunk
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)

Spring Bunny
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)

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White Rooster
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Winter Chickadee
Colored Pencil, Watercolor, and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Cottontail Rabbit
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Kitten In A Basket
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)

Fall Bunny
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Spring Rabbit
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Tabby Cat
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Zebra
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Canada Goose
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)


Rif Raf The Rescue Dog
Colored Pencil and India ink
2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (ACEO)

Enjoy!

Monthly Art E-Zine To Publish Soon

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Latest Miniature Art Pendants

As a way of sharing my miniature animal and fantasy art with you, I've been creating these (one of a kind) glass pendant necklaces. The little pendants are unique works of art- charming, wearable and VERY gift-able! I have been creating these gems for a few weeks, and I'm still completely enjoying the process! The small pendants (necklaces) feature my miniature art. Each is handcrafted using a tiny archival print, which is then secured to a silver plated tray. A glass dome cover is then adhered over the image and the whole thing is strung on either a silver plated ball chain, an organza ribbon, or a hand beaded necklace. Some of the little keepsakes are backed by coordinating archival paper, with my signature, then carefully encased in a resin like glaze.

Featured here are three of my newest miniature animal art necklaces.

Western Tanager Bird, available on Etsy.

Lavender Fairy, available on Etsy.

Little Mermaid with Fish Friend, available on Etsy.

Enjoy!