“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Follow works in progress by BZTAT on Twitter by searching #bztatptg.
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.
Brewskie Cinco De Mayo PawPawty
For the last 3 months, #pawpawty has dominated Twitter’s trending topics, meaning that it is one of the most talked about topics on Twitter. Many folks have been wondering, what the heck is it?
The #pawpawty is one of the silliest, goofiest and most hilarious virtual events you will ever witness! It is quite difficult to explain, but I will try.
First of all, Twitter is a world unto itself. It is a vast sea of individuals who “tweet” or send out messages of 140 characters or less into an infinite cyberworld. Followers receive the tweets of the folks that they follow in their personal cyber feed, but anyone can read everyone’s tweets if they can find them. It helps to have special applications to work with your Twitter feed, such as Tweetdeck or Tweetgrid to help you keep topics and followers organized. All Tweeters have a name that starts with the “@” symbol. Mine is @BZTAT.
Many of us who leave our pets home alone have discovered that, in our absence, our critters have taken to cyberspace and become avid Tweeters! Some call them Anipals or Twitter Critters. There are actually websites set up for Twitter Critters, like Cats Who Twitter, which is run by the amazing @Oscarthecat. Yes, you have all heard from my own Brewskie (AKA The Brew) @Brewskiebutt, who is somewhat of a cybercelebrity on Twitter. At last count, he had 2344 followers!
On an average day, the anipals do just what humans do on Twitter–they chronicle their lives in short statements and converse with their pals around the world. They talk about their favorite products (Plague Rats, Best Bully Sticks and Furminators are always hot topics), and they share about their trials and tribulations. They rally to support other critters who endure health crises, and they help to get the word out about pets needing homes. It is a very special community.
When there is a #pawpawty going on though, the anipals cut loose! For 24 hours, they frolic and “pawty”, playing games, holding contests, and drinking virtual meowgaritas and niptinis. Each #pawpawty follows a theme, and the anipals all change their profile pictures to follow the theme. (The artwork in this post are Brewskie’s #pawpawty pictures.) It is so much fun, and so trendy on Twitter, it draws interest from people who have no clue of what it is about. All tweets have the #pawpawty hashtag in them so that they can be identified.
But the #pawpawty‘s are more than just fun. They raise money for animal charities and raise awareness for the needs of pets around the world. So far, over $5000 has been raised for organizations like The Humane Society, Kitten Rescue of Los Angeles and Orphans of the Storm in Illinois. The most recent pawpawty was held May 2-3 to benefit the Margaret Green Animal Rescue.
Of course, my Brewskie has been an avid participant in the #pawpawty’s! In fact, the last one was held to celebrate his birthday. His good friend @FrugalDougal has been the Master of Ceremonies for the last two, doing an amazing job of coordinating prize contests, bartenders and DJ’s for the events.
We knew with the last #pawpawty that there was international significance to the event. It has been so noticed on Twitter now that it has, unfortunately, drawn the spammers and imposters. Never mess with a bunch of anipals, however. They successfully banned the spammers from their #pawpawty stream and they managed to get Twitter to eliminate a poser trying to sell a Twitter account name on Ebay.
So why do I allow my cat to Tweet? Why do we participate in this silly virtual world? Well, we have met many animals and their people from around the world who are very special. Brewskie has been a great spokescat and manged to get my artwork seen by thousands of people around the world. And his pals have become great models for my artwork!
So check on your pets now and then and see what they are up to in YOUR absence…
Check out this neat slideshow of pictures of the Cinco De Mayo #pawpawty!
Life is an Adventure!
Would you like a custom pet portrait of your pet? BZTAT will paint your animal for a very reasonable price. For information, email her at bztat@artadventuresstudios.com.
Follow works in progress by BZTAT on Twitter by searching #bztatptg.
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.
“Samson” by BZTAT
Meet Samson, a beautiful Pomeranian dog from San Diego, CA! Samson is the housemate a Twitter Critter friend (@PerrytheBirman) whose portrait was featured on the “Buzz from BZTAT!” on April 18. Samson and Perry’s person (@debweeva on Twitter) commissioned their pet portraits after getting to know us on Twitter and seeing my artwork online. It was a privilege to paint both of these beautiful creatures!
I have not met Samson or Perry in person, as they live very far away from me. I created their portraits from photos on their person’s Flickr page.
I knew that painting Samson would be a challenge, as solid colored animals are the most difficult for me. My style depends upon strong contrasts, and solid colored animals have very subtle visual contrasts. Honestly, Samson is the first white dog that I ever painted.
I started by making a reference image by abstracting the photo with Photoshop. This gave me an idea of the basic shapes and lines to the face. I then traced the image onto a black canvas using an overhead transparency.
I began layering colors to get different color and texture effects. I struggled, however,when I started to integrate the subject with the background. I was posting in process photos on Twitter, and everyone was loving it, including my patron. But it wasn’t looking right to me. I had to take some time away from it to get some clarity. I worked on another picture for awhile to take a break.
The image was troubling to me because the face, which takes up the majority of the picture, was very flat and abstract. The background, although also abstract, was more dimensional,
which made the face look too much like a cut-out mask to me.
I fiddled and fiddled, trying to make the face more dimensional, with no success. My style just didn’t lend well to that. Finally, it occurred to me to flatten the background instead. That worked!!!
Now that it is finished, I feel pretty accomplished, having accepted and successfully met a new challenge! There were some moments of insecurity, throughout the process. Such is the life of an artist.
Painting Samson and his housemate Perry was a great adventure! I will be sending them their portraits this week.
Next up? Another Twitter Critter friend, @Pandafur, who is a beautiful Maine Coon cat from Massachusetts!
Life is an Adventure!
Would you like a custom pet portrait of your pet? BZTAT will paint your animal for a very reasonable price. For information, email her at bztat@artadventuresstudios.com.
Follow works in progress by BZTAT on Twitter by searching #bztatptg.
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.