Meet K9 Petra!

This was K9 Petra, 

and

here is her story, 

direct from her handler (daddy).

Petra came to the Colorado Springs Police Department with the hopes of being a patrol/narcotics canine officer.  She had a handler who did not see Petra's drive to be sufficient as a patrol/narcotics canine.  At times, a handler and canine do not have the bond to be a great team, therefore Petra was given to another handler within our department, who also handles another canine. Petra started to blossom with this handler, and became a canine that had a lot of potential. She did not have all of the tools that they were looking for to have her do patrol work, but the handler and department saw she had a high drive to hunt.  Therefore, she came to me to be trained and worked as a single purpose explosives detection dog. At the time, I was a first time canine handler, and did not know what to expect.  In the canine profession we call this " a green handler".  I was very green! They told me I needed to bond with Petra, by taking her home, and she would become part of my family.  I was still unsure, but within a couple of days I instantly felt the bond we had and she showed such great caring and affection for me and my family. We bonded so much that she became very protective of me, as well as my family! Then we began the training for Petra to be an explosives detection canine. She blossomed so well, she always had her nose to the ground and was always looking for the explosive odor. She was great, she had found her niche within the department and herself. She really made me look good as a brand new handler! I knew that we had created such a bond and felt that she basically stole my heart. I have had dogs as our house pets before, but with a police canine partner, it was different. I spent most of my day with her, and we would have done anything for each other. I finally understood the bond that officers have with their canine partners!  At home, Petra bonded fast with my family. She enjoyed playing with my home personal dog, and she became very attached to my wife and two sons. On our days off, we played ball in the back yard, and did a lot of walks. She had her days off, and that is when I wanted her to relax and be a pet and be home.  Of course on the work days, when I put on my black uniform and she saw me walking to the police cruiser, she would bark, spin around, jump, and was ready to go to work. I think she always had the look of where are you going without me?Unfortunately, I was only Petra’s handler for a couple of months, but it seemed so much longer, we were beginning to gel and become a great working team. Petra inspired me to be a better person, and taught me so many new skills as a police officer, and as a canine handler! When I lost Petra, I did not know if I was ever going to work another canine again, and if I did, how soon would it be before I was emotionally ready. Petra was a jewel, and impacted me so much that I felt she was my only partner I was ever supposed to be with. I took my time to grieve, and played it out in my head that Petra would want me to take on another canine partner, and continue the canine explosives detection program. The canine explosives program, for our department, was started by my sergeant and myself. We are both bomb technicians who saw the need for explosives canines after the Boston Marathon incident. We wanted to start the program and see it grow. When Petra passed away, we put the program in a time out, but realized after some time that we needed to continue this program and make it succeed with the other explosive detecting canine Belka, and my newest canine partner Britta. Britta was Petra’s original birth name before it was changed by her first canine handler. I wanted to pay respect to Petra by giving my new canine partner her original name! Petra would want me and my sergeant to see this canine explosives program grow and succeeded to the end, and that is what we are doing. 

 

I have been in law enforcement for approximately 15 years and have done a lot, and have seen a lot in my career. I enjoy my job and still look forward to coming to work every day; It has been a great 15 years. I can say the best part of my 15 years, is working with a canine, and mostly meeting and working with my girl Petra. I am very glad I was her last handler, and DAD! 

 

 

Shawn

Can this dog get any cuter?

Officer Shawn Mahon and his lovely Petra ready for work!

Rest in peace dear Petra, rest in peace.  

Just when you think "K9 Apollo" is completed, more is found to do.

This was K9 Apollo, a true hero.  

I'm working on his portrait using my normal methods of drawing, blocking in color, smearing, adding more color, working it and working it until I think it's done.  I also use an iPad to help me see things better.  I love that discovery, that I can zoom in to reveal more detail in my work.  It's drastically helped me!  

But, another way I've learned to improve my work is by using the program picmonkey.com

I like to use the collage feature where I can place my work next to the original, and for some reason, all the mistakes pop up, things I thought were okay, need more work, obvious things I should be seeing, come to light for me.  Again, it's helping me improve my work.  

Tools of the trade years ago meant using a magnifier glass, or enlarging a copy, then making the copy in color, even taking photographs or instant photos, but nowadays with the digital age, all you need is an iPad or a laptop to see your work so much easier.  Also, using programs like picmonkey which allows you to line your (what you think is finished) work, next to the original to see even more things that need changing, thus making your work better.  

Try it.  

Use your iPad.  Try Picmonkey, it's FREE!  

Click here to discover Picmonkey.  Play around with a photo that doesn't mean anything to you, you will suddenly get so hooked on that program!  

www.picmonkey.com

To return to my website, click here:

www.kathleenevekelly.com

You know you're busy when...

You know you're busy when you fail to have time to blog.  Since my last post in two months, I've created so many portraits I can't recall them all!  But I do know I did one cat because it's the second cat I've ever done, so that sticks out.

The K9 portraits roll in continuously, and I keep pushing them out, and the officers say the sweetest things after I put their precious partner down on paper.  (Love to make a cop cry.)  But it's a good cry.

I'm looking at more ways to get people to my website.  I believe that will be a quest for a long time!

I am going to approach the new lady at the Visual Arts Center about a possible radio show.  I can't do it at the house because I don't have a land line phone.  This is a dream of mine, and I want to make it come true.

Other than my artwork, applying myself to get a job teaching one day a week at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida, there's not much I've done besides my artwork.  But that's okay, I'm focusing on my artwork.  That's the most important thing.

To return to my website, please click below:

www.kathleenevekelly.com

Collage of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

I painted 30 paintings in the last 30 days.

How many did you paint?

MOULIN ROUGE!

Moulin Rouge in French means Red Mill.  The Moulin Rouge is the birthplace of the can-can dance, which was in turn introduced to cabarets across Europe.  Now, it's a tourist attraction but the club's decor still contains much of the romance of the fin de Siècle France.  (Which means end of the 19th century characteristics.)

Unlike all the other paintings I did in this series, I decided to "cheat" a little and work on this painting a little at a time.  I'm so glad I did that, because red, as I know can be a very tricky color, also, painting so small with so much detail in the photo can also prove to be counter productive.  So, here's the first stage.

Then I added some reds and yellows.  I also started the marque below the windmill.

Some time yesterday, I got to this point.  I didn't know if this painting was going to make it, I was intimidated a bit by all the detail that had to yet go in.  Normally I don't mind detail, I crave it, but when crunched with a time factor, pressure adds up.  

But I took my time, and got it finished.  Not only that, I completed the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.  I'm not one to normally get too stressed out when painting.  I figure, it's just a canvas, either throw it out to start fresh, or work it out, let the paint dry and keep working.  

The part I liked most about this painting was the marque under the windmill, I FUDGED it.  Haha!  I learned from a famous PBS watercolorist Bob Fagan how to create small people...trick is to not give them a neck.  (YIKES!)  But it works.  And the legs are just triangles, do not do feet.  (How do they walk?)  But it works.  Mind you, I'm not into watercolor, yet still, I learned something from him.  By the way, if you remember Bob Fagan, he was the one who did the lighthouses up in Michigan and he did a series on Sanibel painting beach scenes.  When I had my art supply store in Cape Coral, Florida, he used to teach there part time, and the women loved him, he was a lot of fun.  His classes were unique and I listened in on them from time to time, and we had a nice business relationship.  

Here is the original photo from which I worked.  We didn't go see a show, we just had a taxi driver take us there, but to get a taxi out of that place was a hassle.  Still yet, so glad I went and saw it!

Yes, I'd like to do this one larger...but no time soon, I have far too much work to do in the next few months, but perhaps one day!

So what did I gain from participating in this challenge?

1. I learned how certain paintings just are better large, and not every painting can be square shaped...landscapes are for a reason called landscapes...haha!

2. I learned you don't need so many brushes.  When I did keep track of which brushes I used, I see I have the same ones nearly all the time.  And I do like synthetic brushes best.  

3. Somehow Cerulean Blue makes it way into every painting I do...this one not the exception!  I think the only painting I didn't use Cerulean Blue was yesterday's "Honeymoon Rock", which was all in the yellow family.

4. I had fun picking out which photos to work from, and I'm glad I went with this theme of "Around the world in 30 Days" because it brought back the fun I had doing all that traveling.  I feel I did it at the right time in my life.  

5. I found that if I play French music when I'm painting the Eiffel Tower or other French scenes it helps.  Same goes with listening to Cuenca, Ecuador radio stations if I'm painting Ecuador!  When painting surf/coastal scenes, yes, I do play the sounds of waves...it just puts me in the mood...

6. I have a slew of paintings for shows, and/or, I have a slew of paintings to decide if I ever want to make them larger.

7.  I learned how to photograph my work when on a small easel and how to showcase it in a collage to show all sides and they look so pretty.  The paintings looked okay when you look at them from the front, but showing them on angles really enhanced them.  See below:

8. I've enjoyed and learned to make my housework less of a priority.  Sure I still cleaned, but did far less of it than I normally do.  I recently moved and although there are boxes out in the garage calling my name, I've been ignoring them, and I learned, they don't call out to my husband either, so why on Earth did I place such a priority on them?  They can wait!

9. I sharpened my self-discipline!  Well, to paint every day...just wish I could wake up in the morning and get my day going a lot earlier and not be such a late bird.  I did good at the beginning of the challenge, but as time went on, I slipped back into sleeping daytime, up nearly all night.  GRR.

10. I enjoyed posting every day, blogging and sharing this challenge with my new online group, which I also started during this month, which has doubled in membership while I was painting away! Below is a link to my art group on Facebook.

                      https://www.facebook.com/groups/1466582746952439/

Will I do this challenge again?  Well, if I do, I think I'll do it in pastels, as they store easier.  Try storing 30 paintings in a new home.  (I did it, but it's not easy.)

Oh, and I sold TWO paintings, hoping to sell more down the road.  Sometimes people have to think about it!   

Day 29 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

HONEYMOON ROCK

This is Honeymoon Rock, which is north of Jama, Ecuador.  Supposedly, if you go to that rock, you will have a good marriage.  I'm not superstitious at all, so it didn't matter to me.  But it made for a good painting.  

Here is the original photograph.

Day 28 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

Today we're back in beautiful 

HONOLULU, HAWAII!

Although it may not look like the typical Honolulu setting, rest assured it is Honolulu, Hawaii, at a place called Kualoa Regional Park.  It is south of the Kahana Valley State Park, which if you look at a map of Oahu, the island Honolulu is on, it is at about two, nearly three o'clock if you viewed it as a clock.  WAY north of famous Waikiki Beach.  

You may say, "You go to Hawaii and take a picture of a tree?"  Well, I just found it interesting, besides, we had breakfast on Waikiki Beach that morning at famous Duke's, looking at Diamond head...so it was time to discover.  I was FORTUNATE that my husband STOPPED the car to take a picture!  But, this is only the painting, an inspiration of what it looked like, there is NO way I could represent how beautiful it looked like, at least not in a "painting a day" challenge!  Perhaps if I took more time, I could show how the clouds touch the mountains and it feels as if God's Heaven is meeting the Earth.  

On that thought, here's the original photo.

But I wanted to push the photo a bit, and decided to go with a minimum palette painting, so this was my result.

Kind of cool, isn't it?  Very Ansel Adams type, or Clyde Butcher style!  

Since I only had one day, and was frustrated to be under that pressure since I prefer to do quality rather than quantity, I decided to get a head start on the next two paintings due by the end of the month.  No, it's not cheating, in fact, even if you have a painting started a long time ago and finally finish it, it's consider a painting in a day!  

The limited palette colors I used for the Honolulu painting are:

Titanium White

Permalba Black

Cerulean Blue

(that's it, three colors)

And for brushes I also only used three:

#12 flat shader 

1/4" Angular shader

and a 

10/0 script brush to do all the leaves on the tree...trust me, I had that brush DANCING on the canvas!  

***********************************

So here's the next painting, which is called, "Honeymoon Rock" which is located north of Jama, Ecuador in a town called "Provincia de Manabi".  I guess if you go to that rock legend has it, you'll always feel like you're on your honeymoon.  (Yeah, right.)

I also "pushed" that photo with making it lead more into just yellows.  

Now, for my final painting for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge...Moulin Rouge, in Paris!

Is it wishful thinking that those grays and blacks be partially dry so I can paint the rest, or am I a dreamer?  The Moulin Rouge is something I've always wanted to see, and photograph myself so I could paint it.  Nice how dreams are coming true.  Funny thing is, nearly no one knows...haha!  

The beige in those Moulin Rouge paintings will be done tomorrow while I have the yellowish colors out for the Ecuador painting.

So to recap, tonight I reminisced about Hawaii, Ecuador and Paris!  I had on Hula music, Spanish and French tonight on my iPhone.  Aloha, Si, and Qui.  BYE!

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www.kathleenevekelly.com