The King of Everything!. . .

January 17, 2008

The King of Everything!. . .

This one took no thought at all. When I found out that today's Wednesday Stamper theme was "Kings" it was obvious, since "The King of Everything" lives in my house! He is adopted. . .a rescue Bichon Frise, named "Hoot".

Hoot, and his sister Annie (Hoot n' Annie. . .someone had a sense of humor...) were litter mates who were put up for adoption when their owners needed to be cared for themselves, and could no longer care for their pets. We were fortunate enough to hear about them just as they were being processed in to an animal rescue center, so the two of them never spent a night outside of a loving home.

Last year, Annie showed serious complications of an immune disorder. She rapidly lost control of her limbs and her discs began degenerating, so she had to be put down. We were worried for her brother, Hoot. He had never spent a night without his litter-mate. They were always crated together at night and on the rare occasions when they were alone in the house. Hoot spent about a month looking and sniffing around for Annie. He used to eat his food with one eye on the look-out for Annie, who used to steal it. One morning, Hoot realized that his food was his own. No one fought with him for the better spot on the sofa. No one pushed him out of the way on the run to the door to greet guests. Hoot realized that while his sister Annie might be gone, he was now KING!

We no longer have adopted Bichons. A Bichon named "Hoot" has adopted us. And he takes very good care of us, making sure that we are well and happy and able to buy him more food! He now sleeps in our bed (How could we crate him alone at night????? We're such softies!), dictates our vacations, goes to the groomers more often than we get hair cuts, and basically, enhances our lives in ways that nothing else could ever have done.

So here's to Hoot! His Royal Highness, The King of Everything!

In making "H.R.H. Hoot, The King of Everything", I played around with Photoshop and created the brush that is the image of Hoot, used in the piece above. Here's a little slide show of the progression of Hoot from photo to Photoshop brush:

Hoot was "stamped" onto laser paper, printed and adhered to watercolor paper. His crown is chip board, glittered with Art Institute glitter. The watercolor paper base was glued and attached with photo corners to a piece of hand-made paper. Letters were stamped onto watercolor paper with Martha Stewart's clear alphabet stamps, individually cut out, and glued to strips of black card stock, which were then glued to the hand-made paper substrate.

Making the "Hoot" brush gave me a chance to practice a Photoshop technique that I have been having a lot of fun with. In case you're interested, Art-e-zine has a wonderful tutorial on making Photoshop stamps and brushes from your own photos and artwork. They charge an annual $10 subscription fee, but there's so much that this zine offers, I think it's well worth paying what adds up to be less $ than the cost of a single copy of most art magazines. . .just my opinion, I don't work for them.

Posted at 12:06 AM in Wednesday Stamper | Permalink

Comments

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Wow wonderful King. Lovely idea.

Posted by: Sandy | January 17, 2008 at 01:02 AM

Fabulous, what a cutie he is

Posted by: Andrea | January 17, 2008 at 02:11 AM

Hi Babara he;s gorgeous! You can actually feel his character through the art brush technique. I'll have to join artezine too cause I take a lot of photos. It was lovely to hear about Hoot and Annie.

Posted by: Colette | January 17, 2008 at 02:15 AM

Beautiful card.

Posted by: Hermine | January 17, 2008 at 03:47 AM

I loved hearing Hoot's story and he and my Sasha would get alone fine I think. Both owners of little white dogs. Mine is a Queen though and has the run of the house and my companion. Great idea for your piece.

Posted by: Barbara | January 17, 2008 at 04:52 AM

Hoot is very cute ... a real king ;-)

Posted by: Ilonka | January 17, 2008 at 05:55 AM

I have just recently discovered your blog through the TIF Challenge with Sharon. Your work is very cool and very tempting. I have dabbled with stamping but not nearly as much as I work with quilts. Anyway, it's fun to come by and see what you are doing.

Posted by: Debra Spincic | January 17, 2008 at 07:19 AM