DJ Geribo

I always have painting ideas in mind, actually, sometimes I get overwhelmed with how many projects I want to do and since I'm not sure where to start, I get a little paralyzed and don't start any of them. That is where I am right now. I am doing a lot more writing, I've really missed that side of me, and so my painting is a little, just a little, on the back burner. I visited with my sister, who is also an artist, and we painted a couple of times together in the last couple of weeks. We talk about as much as we paint but I always start feeling anxious and think, ok, I have to paint, I can't keep talking, I have to focus, and I'll draw us back to what we are both there together to do.

I have several large gallery-wrapped canvases that I got for a steal at a yard sale a few years back (the ones in the photo are 48"x48"). They need to be cleaned up and gessoed over, actually, they only have a light coat of paint on them so gessoing shouldn't be much of a chore. So, as you can imagine, the question I have is, what do I want to paint on them? I typically paint animals or landscapes but if I'm painting to my audience in New Hampshire, there isn't a lot of interest in animal paintings. Of course, with the internet, my audience is the world. But then you have to think about shipping, potential damage to the artwork, etc. And of course I can send the image to one of the many online galleries that feature artists around the world, like one of my favorites, Xanadu Gallery located in Arizona.

So, I have lots of things to think about as I pull the canvases out of storage and prepare for some large scale paintings that will most likely take me through the cold winter months.

A year and a half ago, Kitsune came into our lives. Unfortunately, we had just unexpectedly lost our little black Pomeranian, Binka, and I was still really sad from that loss (does one ever get over the loss of a pet, especially one that dies suddenly?) I told Jim, two weeks after losing Binka, that I needed another Pom, along with my number one girl, Kameko. I just love having two little dogs following me around the house, sleeping on the bed with me, and hanging out with me all day in my studio.

A friend let us know she was fostering two Poms (brother and sister) and she was still looking for homes for them. We met Kitsu (who was called Zsa Zsa - that definitely had to change!) and her brother Butters. We fell in love with Kitsu who was very sweet and affectionate, her brother, although very cute was not as friendly but the main reason we didn't take him, besides the fact that we have only girl dogs, was because he had a condition known as collapsing trachea. With what we went through with Meko and her fight for her life with IMHA (I wrote a book about this that will be going to the printers soon), I knew we could not take a dog with a known condition. As it turned out, when we visited this friend a couple of months later to see how the little brother was doing, we found out that he had died of IMHA, the same condition we spent nearly $10,000 on to save Kameko's life. We were very sad about Butters, but were happy we could give Kitsune the kind of life all dogs deserve, one full of love, caring, and snuggles!

I love going to country fairs in the Fall in New England. And even though I have hundreds of pictures of goats, and cows, and horses, I still manage to take lots more pictures of the farm animals every year.

These two looked very comfy snuggled together, despite all the noise and people surrounding them. I'm sure they see more people in that week than they see in a year. But they do not seem concerned about the crowd, they look completely comforted in their companionship.

A work in progress, Two Goats.

I love painting miniatures and have painted many over the years. I have sold quite a few of them as well, which is exciting to me, not only that people want my art so much that they purchase it but that they can see and appreciate the detail, especially in the miniatures, and want to own it and display it in their homes.

This one has always been one of my favorites, my neighbor's garden "Just Planted", and I am thrilled that a couple who moved to Maine from New York purchased it. Jim and I talked to them for quite sometime at the Artists in the Park show in So. Portland, Maine and I knew they would buy something before they moved on. I was happy when the wife said, I want this one. And I knew it was going to a nice home.

Here is the final portrait I did for Melissa - her dog, a Shiba Inu named Brittany, who is losing her hearing and eyesight. She sat very nicely for her portrait and even let us pat her.

I enjoyed painting these mini portraits and will continue to offer the mini portraits for $50 each even beyond this year (it was a 2013 special). So instead of paying several hundred dollars for a photo-realistic painting, you can have a DJ Geribo original in a painterly style in a 5"x7" size of your beloved pet. I display mine on the mini easels on a table in my living room. When people come to our home they say, oh, I see you have the kids' portraits! People always comment on how much they like them. You can also have them framed - 5x7 is a standard size so no custom framing is necessary, unless you want.