Holy cow, you guys!!!  Dogtoberfest was pawfectly spectacular!!!   So many cool people just hanging out with their dogs.  I would venture to say that there were probably at  least 300 dogs  and more than 500 people at Crow  Creek Dog Park!  

All the pups were so well behaved  and it was so much fun to see them all actually socializing with each other and with their humans! This year is the first time I have ever been an official event sponsor, and I am so glad I did it!  I learned so much from the experience and made lots of new  connections with new people who also love the subject that I love to paint.  Dogs!  

Doing Dogtoberfest forced me to do more branding work for my business, which was much needed. I took a whole day to design a new banner to use at events, and was able to hang it up at the park. 

It was so cool to see all the dogs enjoying themselves,  playing games like musical chairs, performing tricks, participating in a costume contest and just running  around, frolicking through the park.  It was such a  beautiful day. 

 Every kind of dog as far as the eye could see! We saw old dogs, puppy dogs, eensy weensy dogs,  gigantic dogs, tall and skinny dogs, short and stocky dogs, fluffy fuzzballs, and sleek and sassy dogs, spotted dogs, speckled dogs, salt and pepper pups, floppy eared dogs, pointy eared dogs, dread lock fur dogs, long tails, docked tails, bushy tails, you name it, they were there!!! 

Crow Creek Dog Park was most definitely the place to see and be seen with dogs on Sunday. It was a sea of people and doggies with more breeds in one place than I have ever seen in my entire life! 

My art business also had an item in the live auction at Dogtoberfest.  I decided to go all in  and donate a certificate for a $250 valued 11x14 custom  dog portrait or the option to put that towards an  upgrade to a larger portrait! I was so excited to be able to do something I love and know that it can help to make improvements to Crow Creek Dog Park. 

It was quite a rush to see all of the bidding action!  I have only bid in a live auction once in my life, and found it to be a total thrill!!! I also  discovered that I get so excited that I find it hard to stop bidding as I get so caught up in the moment, hence the reason why I have only participated once as a bidder! 

I love the idea of being able to be a philanthropist, well, a small one, through my art.

 Do you see these two German Shepherds in the lower right hand corner?  They were soooo funny!  They sat so attentively  watching their humans eat their lunch, just hoping for a tiny morsel of foodly goodness to drop for them to snarf up!  Beautiful creatures! 

 Pawtraits, or Puppy Picassos? I had a make and take activity at Dogtoberfest too! It was slightly messy, but a fun way for me to interact with people and their dogs.  I offered to do paw prints, AKA, Pawtraits. 

 Let me say, they ended up being much more abstract looking than how my sample Pawtrait turned out!  They were more like "Puppy Picasos"!  Even still, the human participants still seemed to enjoy the experience of crafting with their pups! I think I ended up with more paint on me than the dogs did! 

I plan to do more experimenting with the Pawtrait process, and hope to perfect it a bit more, so that maybe I can offer it as a service when I have booths at doggie events. Anyone out there know the secret to getting the perfect paw print??? 

Do you have pictures of your paw print  projects? Share them in the comments! New Paining Inspired by Dogtoberfest 

Coming Soon I was so inspired by my experience during Dogtoberfest, that I have decided to create a new painting of the  whole Dogtoberfest 2017 scene.  Above, is a preliminary sketch of what I have in mind for a nice long fall/winter project. If you would like to see my progress on this piece,  and other events I will be participating in or hosting, who knows, maybe a make and take class now and then, sign up for my newsletter: