Great motto right?

Now what does that mean. What am I going to do to “Be Better”?

Here are some goals that I have come up with for 2010 to fit my motto and are great areas for growth for me personally.

• I want to grow with my art, and drawing skills, by keeping a daily sketch journal going. Drawing something daily, whatever it might be. This will enable my drawing skills to grow and I will use up the small sketch books that have lying around the studio.
• I would like to put together an amazing solo show that is coming up in March in Milwaukee.
• I want to put together a sketch book for the convention I am doing in April.
• I would like to finish my children’s book.
• I would like to get back into my daily yoga schedule, even if it is only one or two poses a day. My body will thank me for it.
• I would like to eat better. I lack energy a lot and it slows me down. I think that if I would eat better I could accomplish so much more. And live longer in the end too.
• I would like to grow with my pet portraits here in Chicago by getting my name out more. This will grow my business more and in turn, I can give more money to the ArfHouseChicago for the great work that they do to save hard to adopt animals.
• I would like to keep better book-keeping in the new year too. So at the end of the year I don’t have to play catch up for tax time.

Those are the goals that I have set for myself this year. I think that in doing these things I will grow and become better. I have so much that I would like to accomplish with my life and each new year brings the promise of new opportunities and new growth.
Heres to being open the opportunities around us and pushing to becoming even better in the new year ahead. May this be a great year for everyone!

Happy New Year!

for a while but it has been so cloudy out lately I can’t seem to get good pictures. I will share them anyway with you because I am excited about this new series of work and really want to share.

These are a few pieces I have finished lately from my series of pet portraits.

In this series, I want to focus on all kinds of pets not just the typical dog or cat. Most of my pet portrait work I have done, for clients or studio pieces has been the dog. I sometimes forget the variety of pets that are out there. I haven’t even done a lot of cat pieces because my contact with them is so limited. I am highly allergic to cats so I have not been able to study them the way that I would like.

But this new series will focus on all kinds of pets, birds, fish, small furry creatures as well as the cat and dog.

Stay tuned and check  back for more studio watercolor pet paintings in the works.

Here is a cat sketch that I did over the weekend in my watercolor sketchbook. It is just a study painting.

Just wanted to give you an update to the Holiday Bazaar that I did over the weekend. It was sponsored by the Smith Park Neighborhood Association and was hosted at the Baza Restaurant and Sports Bar. It was a very small event with about ten artist and crafts people showing their wares. Santa was also in attendance and the children loved that.
I had a table filled with my original pet portraits, original small framed abstracts, blank cards, prints and more. I even made special original illustrated gift tags for the occasion.
It was a great day, made some sales, talked with so many people and met new artists in my neighborhood. And the Italian baked goods were amazing.

These are a few photos from the event with my table full of art.

Come celebrate the holiday season this weekend at A Holiday Bazaar, put on by the Smith Park Neighborhood Alliance and hosted by Baza on Chicago Ave in Chicago, IL.  Saturday December 5 Th from Noon to 5pm.

I will be there celebrating with my artwork. I will have some of my original artwork as well as blank greeting cards, prints, bookmarks, original ACEOs and also some wonderful original illustrated watercolor gift tags. And to celebrate the season I will be featuring my framed original abstract work at a special holiday price, for this bazaar only. They are wonderful small abstracts, already framed and ready for hanging. They make excellent gifts for the holiday.

Come and have some fun, get some handmade artwork for gifts or for yourself. See the flyer for more details.

This should be a wonderful event and I look forward to seeing you there!

Here is the latest pet portrait I did this past week. Just the cutest little guy. This piece is available through my Artfire studio, http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=763432

If you would like to commission a pet portrait, contact me by email or check out my Pet Portrait page http://cherilynnfineart.net/pet-portraits/ for more details. 10% of the sale goes to ARFhouse Chicago. A local shelter working to find homes for so many great animals.