Anne Leuck Feldhaus Adventures & Art

...missing my girl.

Missing my sweet girl, Izzy...the dog that launched a thousand paintings, and even a few sculptures. I said goodbye to her a year ago today.

doggie drama...part 2

....so on Saturday Alice went in for her follow up appointment at Roscoe Village Animal Hospital (see doggie drama...part 1)...while there, I mentioned to the vet that Gracie had been sick several times over the last 24 hours with obvious signs that she had chewed up and consumed 1/2 of a large, black 'extreme' kong. She said to keep an eye on her and play it by ear...within 2 hours of being back home, things coming out the other end indicated something more serious, so we took her in. They did an exam and xray and it was not good news - pieces of the kong were blocking her lower intestine. They sent us to the Animal Emergency Treatment Center on Belmont for immediate retrieval of what turned out to be the most expensive 3 pieces of kong we would ever see!

Luckily there were no complications and she is at home healing up, her incision is at least 8" long. No more kongs for Gracie, someone suggested deer antlers for pit mixes - got one and she loves it. Here are some photos from the 'canine infirmary': all the drugs for the 2 dogs and...oh yes, in the baggie are the 3 very pricey pieces of retrieved kong! (kind of strange though, only one was black the other two were tan colored...maybe her stomach acid bleached them?)

The staff at AETC were great, and they loved sweet Gracie (who looks much smaller than 60 pounds with that cone on her head). I was taken aback walking into their beautiful contemporary hopital to see all this vacant wall space - whose art do you think would go perfectly in this pet ER? (where people definitely need a reason to smile!) Could have outfitted the place if we had done a trade for the surgery!

doggie drama...part 1

I guess 'part 1' is not an accurate statement, the real drama started back in February with Alice having seizures, it was very scary to witness. I'm happy to say they are now under control with Potassium Bromide - her diagnois was Canine Epilepsy. Now that she's adjusted to the drugs she's been pretty much herself agian - with the exception of a little problem with one of her toes that has grown to be a bigger problem....the photos are from last week, I called it her Easter Paw, the i.v. bag was given to us as her official rain gear. She has now downgraded to a sock and 'whirlpool spa treatments' twice a day...these entail filling a rubber surgical glove with an anti-bacterial solution, inserting her paw and pumping on the fingers of the glove...and voila, the canine paw spa is born!
Stay tuned for Part II - it's a doozie...

A Narrative Portrait of Alice...

This is the long overdue Narrative Portrait that I'm working on of my dog, Alice....
The image below was my initial sketch. There are so many silly things about her, it was hard to narrow it down, but I think these translate well:

So Lucky...

I vowed not to design any pet sympathy cards until Izzy left me...4 months after her death I started sketching designs, it was a heavy hearted exercise. I had to put them away for awhile but last week, one of my clients  sadly and very unexpectedly, lost their dog so I decided I should finish one...this is it. My grief does not arise without an equal amount of gratitude for having had her in my life.

Happy Tail Syndrome...

A very belated update on Gracie...made even later by a freak and unfortunate step on Friday which resulted in a sprained ankle for me! More about that in the next post. So back to Gracie girl...we took her to our vet for the first time so he could take out her stitches (from spaying) and give her a good check up. What he found was the end of her tail in very bad shape (it was hidden by her very dark fur) basically raw to the bone. "Happy Tail Syndrome" is a somewhat common occurrence for shelter dogs - every time someone comes into the kennel area they get so excited that they wag their tales so hard that they break on the back walls of the kennels which are usually cement. I know, ouch. Almost impossible to heal in a shelter environment and even challenging in a regular home, as we can attest to!
Dr. Rovner bandaged and wrapped up the tail (like a flower complete with pink end and green stem) and suited her up with a cone collar to keep her from going after it. This means she no longer fits comfortably in our kennel so I took her to the studio that afternoon where she proved herself a natural snoozing away in the front window among the adoring public. While fun for her, this scenario proved to be very unproductive for me so Plan B ensued: sequestering her to the bathroom when we couldn't be home with her.Did I mention she had the bandage off within the first 12 hours?! (we wanted to give her a break from the cone). Over the next several days Rich played doggie MD and re-wrapped it with a pipe insulator to soften the blows. It was not a pretty sight and soon she found a way to get to it even with the cone on!

So I rigged it up with duct tape to add some inches around the perimeter, she looked so silly - but it held up until we got her back to the vet for 30" cone and a new bandage - this one reminiscent of a sock monkey!
 At this point we have made it through 2 of the 3 weeks they predicted for recovery. It's been a little exhausting to say the least and training is going very slow but she and Alice are warming up to each other. I do have to add that she is one of the most affectionate, snugly dogs that I have met, even while sporting the plastic satellite dish couture!

Two tails in the house, again...

We headed down to Chicago Animal Care & Control on Saturday, this is the city shelter, basically ground zero for pets in Chicago, they are open every day for adoption (see their site for hours). No animal is turned away from this facility, which means when the other wonderful rescue groups can't take any more, the only way these pets find homes is for you and me to go down and adopt them. This would not be possible without the incredible volunteers who are responsible for taking the dogs outside, playing with and socializing them, as well as showing them to potential adopters - such important advocates, as they get to know the dogs and can offer feedback to potential owners. Sadly the city, does not provide enough resources, the volunteers are critical. It's so tough seeing all these sweet, innocent dogs, waiting alone in their kennels just wanting a little love and a home.Several caught our eyes and hearts but the one that pulled the strongest, for both Rich and I, was 11 month old pit mix, Poppy. She had been there since early July, very sweet and quiet, yet quite lively when we got her outside. We decided to go home and get Alice. The meet and greet went well...not instant best friends but definitely comfortable around one another and tails wagging. So we proceeded with the adoption, which only costs $65, and that includes the dog license and spay/neuter.  We had our adoption interview with Charles Craft, an amazing advocate for these dogs and the head of the adoption program for the city and Fostering Program through Friends of Animal Care and Control. We had corresponded in the past when I did art work for CACC, so it was an honor to finally meet him. (You can see other adoptable pets on PetFinder.com).On the drive home Poppy (who they told us was originally Pippi, and we just named Gracie!) draped herself over me and melted into my lap with a sigh.It took a bath Saturday with a follow up shower on Sunday to fully remove the Eau De CACC perfume she was wearing.I'm sure she was relieved on Monday to find that bathing was not going to become a daily ritual in her new home!She is a very skinny little girl with a very LONG neck...so long that she can counter surf, this is new behavior to us. Izzy had a few episodes early on...but this girl, you have to keep an eye on! Did I mention we think she might have some Great Dane in her?We have some work to do with Gracie, she and Alice will need some time to bond, but soon, I'm sure she will fit in. This has all been a little bittersweet. It's the sad realization that we are really moving on, left with only our memories of Izzy...as we open our broken hearts back up and make new ones with Gracie.

Wells Street Wrap Up Part II

If you've ever chatted with me at a show, chances are I told you all about my dogs and their influence on my art. So I was a little nervous about retaining my composure, since this was my first art fair since losing Izzy, and I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. As luck would have it, the Greyhounds Only rescue group were set up across from my booth at the Wells Street Show. They created a beautiful diversion, and also inspired me all weekend long. I did several drawings of them and in the midst of sharing with people about Izzy, did my first 'patron saint of' / post-pumpkin sketches.  

Saying goodbye to my sweet muse...

After almost 15 years with us, on Monday, we said goodbye to Izzy. It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make, but in the end it was a more peaceful parting than I could have imagined. Things have been going downhill very gradually over the last 2 years, Rich and I did as much as we could to keep Izzy comfortable. Early on we tried acupuncture and chiropractic kinesiology to help with her arthritis. We gave her 9 pills a day, 7 dispensed with peanut butter in a special method perfected by Rich. He cooked weekly in the crock pot for the girls over the last year, and we started using sign language with her as she lost her hearing. We often carried her down and sometimes up the stairs, took very slow labored walks which she still loved, especially to smell the earth and nature (Rich wrote a song about her years ago called "The Sniffer"). There was endless discussion between us about the consistency of her #2...which on a good day was something we termed 'turdular' and if she ate or what she ate. Through it all she taught us patience and compassion and made us better human beings. Since the day we adopted her in November of 1995 (from a vet office on North Avenue where she had been abandoned) she has brought more love to our lives and inspiration to my art work than I could have ever dreamed of.

I'm so grateful to Rich for helping to take such great care of her and to Alice for always being our comic relief. And other folks helped us through these senior years: Ben King from Urban Tailz, who took such gentle care of Izzy and Alice whenever we had to go out of town, Kelly Krueger of Articulate Animals...who was able to communicate Izzy's needs to me from pain med adjustments to letting me know that she was ready to leave her tired old body behind, our vet Dr. Gaspar who respected our wishes to just keep Izzy comfortable and worked with us on pain control, and in the end Dr. Amir Shanan, a hospice vet, who came to our home at 10 in the evening on Memorial Day and so compassionately helped us say goodbye. I was going to close with 'Rest in peace, Pumpkin...' but prefer to imagine her sailing through the air to catch frisbees in that big dog park in the sky...

Poem I wrote in 1999 written around the painting above:

"My Dog's name is Izzy and she's really neat, she chases frisbee and walks on four feet.
She chases squirrels, she chases cats, she even lives with two, how about that?
She loves me no matter what my mood, but she loves me most when I have food. "
She is the color of cinnamon and pumpkin pie...
I'm happy she's my dog and those are the reasons why! I love her so..."

A...my name is Alice and I like snow...

Alice enjoying our winter wonderland...it's hard to believe that our yard looked like this just a few days ago:
That's her new friend L.B. "Little Boy" a stray taken in by my friends Mark & Johanna. His name is still to be determined but I kind of like L.B. or Elbee!

...with wings

As I drove to clay class Monday night I decided this dog was asking for wings but being the neurotic artist, I worried it would hasten the departure of sixteen year old Izzy...then thought even if it does, maybe this means I'll be giving her permission to go, in case she's just been sticking around for me. (I know...welcome to the emotional crazy world of my mind and heart!)Then Wednesday my Mom sent me an email regarding the previous post commenting that the dog looked like Snicker...her beloved big yellow lab that passed away over the summer...and I realized right away it was Snicker and not Izzy and how appropriate those wings were...and that's the reason everyone who saw the sculpture called it a 'he' including me. So this is Snick. My Christmas gift to her and Bill is a portrait of him that I have yet to create but I gave them some drawings as a preview of my ideas: Snick was not the only family dog to go last year, Willie my brother's dog (who I'm also working on a portrait of) and 2 dogs that belong to my Mom's stepchildren's families Pretty Boy and Nimush the 3 legged dog. That's a lot of new doggie angels frolicking in heaven...and many broken hearts they left behind. Mom, a hospice social worker, has been on me for awhile to design pet loss sympathy cards, and/or a book. Perhaps we will pen one together, but not while my Izzerloo is still wagging her tail on this earth...and I'm happy to say she has been doing pretty darn well these past few months and doesn't look to be taking on wings any time soon.

My wonderful Mom with Snicker, the 'Patron Saint of Stick Chewing' last spring.

Back up...

Well last week's computer problems reached crescendo on Friday...I lost every email written and sent Monday-Thursday and everything I did (including an art fair poster design, pet portrait sketches and photos) poof! gone. Rich was my Mac hero all weekend, he got everything back running and revamped so it sort of feels like I have a new computer. It could have been much worse so I am playing catch up.  Luckily I emailed the sketches to the clients so they were able to send them back to me and at least I have somewhere to start from. We've been taking lots of walks with all the great weather so today I just leave you with some fun photos of Alice & Izzy...who by the way is doing so well!! She even started snoring again, maybe she's going Benjamin Button on us! I hope you are having a lovely and LUCKY spring week wherever you are...

 

 

 

Bob the Dog with a Blog

Bob lives in Virginia, he has a blog and it appears a very talented photographer named Bev Hollis...Did I mention Bob has a crush on Alice? He is quite a handsome boy, pretty fancy with that brindle coat...Alice is a lucky girl!

Kongs for Christmas!

I recently sold 2 paintings to a wonderful new customer who happens to work for the Kong Company. As many of you know I've included Kongs in my dog paintings for many years now so I was thrilled to connect with Laura. Ironically, the day the UPS man came to pick up the painting I was shipping to her, he handed me a big box first. It was Canine Christmas here...a box filled with all kinds of Kong products and treats, some we had not seen before like the Wubba, which unfortunately is now over the fence in the neighbor's yard (probably until spring)! The best part was seeing Izzy so excited and engaged with her new Senior Kong and Treats for inside...Thank you Laura!!!  xo Izzy & Alice

these girls love UPS delivery surprises...this is the best they ever received

notice Izzy licking the box of treats in the bottom right photo

I spoke to soon...

Guess she's still got a ways to go towards growing up...(see previous post)

4 Legged Love...

 
Lounging Canines...Izzy loved the Open Studio weekend, I think having company energizes her spirit. Alice not so much as she spent much of it in locked up in the bedroom...but then she received an unexpected present:

This wonderful gift from my very good customers and friends..the Skiersch family. It has squeakers...she LOVES it! In the past she would have ripped this thing to shreds by now..maybe she really is growing up?

Smiling Alice & Winking Izzy...the 14+ year old wonder dog! and her comical side kick.

C'mon...throw it already! Yes, I'm head over heels with my pups...

My Pumpkin with her pumpkin

Happy Halloween! I'm glad to report that Izzy's biopsy came back negative. We added more drugs to help with the arthritis and she seems so much more comfortable. Thanks to Dr. Gaspar, she is a very sensitive vet who also does acupuncture on dogs and cats. We see her at Roscoe Village Animal Hospital where Izzy also sees Dr. Rovner, he is on the board of Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation and was treating all the fosters when we were first got Alice as a pup...we were very impressed with his attentiveness and knowledge and immediately switched Izzy and Oliver to his office. Of course Alice is the only one who likes going there...! She's the only pet I've ever had that likes to go to the vet, but she is happy anywhere she can get attention.

and Alice too (on the left)...like the upside down head?

My Sweet Pumpkin...

We've had a rough couple of days here with Izzy. Last week she was diagnosed with colitis (now cured)...a few days later she started to have a problem with her left front leg, we''ve had to carry her up and down the stairs since. On Tuesday we started acupuncture...she also put Izzy on pain meds and we go back for another appointment tomorrow, followed by a visit to see a chiropractor Saturday - we are told this man has worked miracles and will very likely be able to help her with this and her other mobility problems, I would be so grateful. I can't begin to tell you how much this sweet heart means to me, I know it's been a gift to have her with us for so long. I just want her to be comfortable - she already looks  younger on the pain meds - the stress in her face is gone. She is snuggling up here with the heating pad that started out on her shoulder. This is our first attempt at trying alternative therapies and I only regret that we didn't look into it sooner...

Dogs Rule Art

This was the secret project I blogged about the other day...I was asked by Jill  Beninato of www.sitstaysmile.com to be part of a 'fat book' called 'Dogs Rule'. "Fat books" are small books of a certain size that contain pages created by a pre-determined group of artists. They are called fat books because the pages are often embellished with ephemera that make the final book fat when it is bound. Embellishment is optional... Since I was really stretched for time I couldn't take the risk of trying something new...instead I stuck with what I do best. That's Alice with my 14 pages...all original paintings on matte board, a lot of work but it was fun! There are 13 other amazing artists who will contribute, we each get a book filled with pages from one another and the 14th one will be auctioned off on ebay with the proceeds going to artist Bernie Berlin's charity A Place To Bark please visit her links to find out about the amazing work she is doing to save homeless pets, rehab them and find them homes (she is a remarkable human being and artist). Stay tuned for more info on the auction & finished books!

Canine Muses...

And you wonder why I paint dogs...this photo is a perfect example.

If you don't have one (or more)...I encourage you to adopt one as soon as possible. Not only will it make every day of your life that much sweeter but there are a tremendous number of homeless pets waiting in shelters at this very minute. Yesterday alone, Chicago Canine Rescue (Alice's Guardian Angels) received over 200 requests to take in destitute animals throughout the Midwest. Many are coming from the flood zone, animal hoarder situations, and from Tennessee where the HSUS seized over 700 animals from a puppy mill. They desperately need adopters and foster homes so they can help more dogs. Wherever you are there are animals waiting for homes and you can find them quickly at PetFinder.com. This little gal could be yours, she is waiting for you at Chicago Canine Rescue:
  

Brutus...a lovely tribute to a handsome guy

I've got lots of great process images for the creation of this fun commissioned pet portrait...and this photo of Brutus at home in Alabama with his brand new tribute painting is the cherry on top. I hope to put together a page on my website showing all the steps and maybe even do a little postcard or brochure. Right now my pet portrait information pages look like this. Jean, his wonderful owner left me a really great review at PetServicesReview.com, thanks Jean I do hope to see you in October at Kentuck!

Here's a full photo of the completed painting:

5 Degrees & a Snow Day...

This first photo was from yesterday, Alice will go out and sit on the deck when it is a mere 5 degrees acting as if it is a balmy 75 degree summer afternoon...she has also been known to sit there in the rain and in the snow. She is pining away for the neighbor cats who have opted to stay in for the winter. The words that set her off and we must whisper around here are: cat, kitty cat, chatty kathy (as we often call her since she is quite the talker) she gets so excited...ironically to get her to come in from those freezing temps I just say "here kitty, kitty" and she comes running..it's hilarious. The only other magic word is 'treats'!

The girls (well, Alice) had fun in today's snow storm...Izzy doesn't like to spend much time in the cold, she prefers to lay on her bed next to the old radiator snoozing away. She is such a sweetie, we went to the vet today for a blood test, she is on a new drug called Rimadyl which has really helped with her arthritis but it can do some funky this to an old gal like her so we had to make sure all was well...and it is! : ) While waiting for our results we met a 15 year old Beagle named Gus...he looked like a very wise old dog. Okay..time to go out and shovel some more snow!

Brutus....inspired new portrait design!

I've been working with a wonderful new customer on this handsome sweetie's sketch all week...he lives in Alabama and his name is Brutus. He is a rescue and has brought much joy to his new home and canine playmates. His owner told me that he loves pig ears and I thought hmmm..those aren't going to look so great in a painting, so I thought of the cute little pig with words and pulled this design idea through for his other favorite things. I love it, this is part of the fun of doing commissions it makes me think 'outside the box', well I guess I tend to think 'in the box' with my style...but you know what I mean!

I hope to meet Brutus in person next year if I get back into the wonderful Kentuck Art Fair again.

Open Studio Becomes Winter Wonderland

We had a busy day here yesterday...as usual, I forgot to take pictures while people were here! The weather was clear at the start but by the evening we were having a little snow storm - so beautiful...! We'll see how today goes it's very sunny and bright outside but the 6+ inches of snow we received over night will probably keep many folks in for the day. Either way, yesterday's sales made it more than worth the effort, and it was fun to hang out with customers, family & friends, my Dad & his wife are here visiting from Wisconsin. We had an excellent dinner at Buona Terra last night and take out from Friendship Restaurant on Friday - our new asian favorite - found on YELP.

 

 

Buster! and the Wonders of Reflexology...

I recently completed this Commissioned Portrait of Buster - this sweet furry little guy belongs to Nourhy of Now Studio in Bucktown. Nourhy is a very talented and intuituve Reflexologist and Massage Therapist. I feel very fortunate to have received her wonderful reflexology treatments in trade for this portrait. In addition to making me feel better I have learned a lot from her, and highly recommend her services! (Ironically I lived just blocks from her studio for many years...but did not find my way there until moving out of the neighborhood.) And I should mention the photo of Buster was taken by David Sutton.