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Sniff

"Sniff," approximately 18" x 20", mixed media on Ampersand Gessobord depicting 16 canine noses. This paper painting (I'm stealing Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson's term again!) represents my entry in the 2010 AKC Eukanuba National Dog Championships poster competition.

I've been working on this piece for about a month now, maybe longer. The collage is made up of a variety of papers - palette liners, pages from books, tissue, artist paper, wrapping paper, foils, origami papers, lace paper, paper doilies, shopping bags - some of which I've tinted with acrylic paints. The pieces are primarily torn (some were cut with scissors) and pieced together in meticulous layers.

It's a time consuming process, but an incredibly fun one. The best part is the hunt for just the right snippet of paper to place in just the right place.

I've got additional details, including closeups of each snout, on Facebook. I invite you to step over there and leave me your comments.

Fingers crossed that this one makes the cut. It would be especially thrilling since my artwork was chosen for the 2007 World Championships - I don't know that any artist has done two posters for the same AKC event. It sure would be nice to earn that honor.

Inquiries about "Sniff," (and questions about booking your own pet portrait, from miniature size [4" x 4"] to larger than life) may always come to me.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork and musings with your friends and family.
Kim

TWITTER: ksantini
SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop
ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind
COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me
READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year (2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years (2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me.

Comments

  1. Wow Kim! I love what you are doing with the "Paper Paintings" collage technique! Thank you for the link. Your collage looks great but I think the strongest part of this piece is the concept. Being a dog owner myself, I feel like this set of noses is an amazing way to represent multiple dogs of multiple breeds and is super fitting for this poster. You have my vote!

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  2. Thanks, Elizabeth! It's nice to hear comments on the design elements, and not only the content/process. Design is more important that all the other things - and the one aspect that can be easily overlooked!! :) I had another concept that I couldn't resolve conceptually, but there's always next year for that!!

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