A Revisit to a Painting I did a Few Years Ago

Guernsey Cow Painting on Teal/Turquoise Background.

This painting is prettier in person, and I'll try to get better photos of her in a few days from now.  It's a 16x20x3/4" acrylic painting on stretched canvas, no staples on the sides, and is wired and ready to frame or hang as is.

The earlier painting I did was similar to this one, but it was on a smaller sized canvas.  I've had many requests to do a painting again from the same photos I used for the first one, so here it is -- at last.

A Rough-Coated Collie Painting just finished

I just finished this painting a couple of days ago.  It's a beautiful tri-colored rough-coated collie, and the original, an 11x14x3/4" acrylic painting on stretched canvas, is still available.

Also, the original of the cav that I listed yesterday is available, too, and it's the same size as this painting.  Both are in my Etsy shop, along with prints.

Lately, I have been given a fairly large number of photos from a loyal customer, and I plan to paint as many as I can after the holidays.  Many of them are some of the most adorable goats I have ever seen.  I can't wait to get started!  But my family members come first during this holiday season.

We celebrated the fifth birthday yesterday, in fact, of my little precious granddaughter (my only grandchild!), and we did it in as grand a birthday style as we possibly could because, being a close-to-Christmas birthday person, her birthday often gets passed over in all the busy-ness of the holiday season.  Oh, and a happy birthday on the same day to her Aunt Eileen, too!

A new Cavalier King Charles spaniel painting

This is a tricolored cavalier King Charles spaniel painting I finished recently.  I'm quite happy with it -- another painting I've done fairly recently that makes me happy.  Sometimes for me painting is such a struggle, and sometimes, such as lately, it's become a pleasure.  I wish the pleasurable days outnumbered the difficult ones!

I have a problem with a photo thief

Not my typical blog post, obviously, but I feel I need to warn people and to vent a little bit.  From time to time, I search my name on Google; just curiosity, just to see if I'm even a bit relevant in the big wide cyber world -- and I'm usually kind of okay with my level of relevancy.  However, I did such a search a few days ago and was upset at what I found:  Several pages into my "Dottie Dracos" search was a site that said something about Dottie Dracos Art, and I knew it wasn't someplace I had listed any of my work.  So I clicked on the site, and there were what appeared to be listings of my work.  I clicked on one of my photos of MY artwork, and I was taken to some pornographic images and videos.  I am appalled!

I did a little research online; and from what I can learn, there's probably nothing I can do to stop this outright theft -- and embarrassing theft at that!!  I do not support pornography in any sense at all.  I find it reprehensible on so many levels that it would take me weeks to even begin to scratch the surface of my loathing for such despicable exploitation of all that is (or ought to be) decent in this world.

I generally just create my posts of my artwork and move on to my next painting and hope that from time to time, someone will be interested in some of my artwork and buy a painting or a print.  But this time, I'm asking if any of you who read my blog if you know of anything I can do to stop these people (and I realize it's probably nothing I can do); or if I can't stop them, things I can do -- or stop doing -- to prevent their stealing and illegally using my images.  Is it because I post my images on this blog, on Pinterest, on Twitter, sometimes on Facebook?  How about my posting my artwork for sale in such places as Etsy and Fine Art America, where they're supposedly safe?  And I store my artwork in cloud accounts; can it be stolen from those, even though they're supposedly for my eyes and use only??

I know -- because I've tried it -- that one can steal the small files I upload to, say, Etsy, etc., but I thought my large images were safe.  And maybe that's what these people used, were the small images that anyone low enough to want to steal my artwork could easily take.  And I think the photos I saw on this site were this smallish size, by the way, although I didn't do any thorough checking to see.  

So if you have any advice on what I might do, please let me know.  And, please, if you're trying to sell me something to stop the theft/piracy/whatever-it's-called, don't bother writing.

An absolutely beautiful Holstein cow painting I just finished

Holstein Cow Lying in Field Original Acrylic Painting 16x20x0.75"

I have been working on this girl fairly steadily - and lovingly for a change - since I was in France, where I roughed her in.  But today, I finally finished her.  She was such a great pleasure to paint; every paint stroke was well thought out and deliberate.  I am quite proud of her and hope I can continue to work in such a comfortable and relaxed manner.  (Well, I can't call this painting "work." It was too much fun.)

Hope you like her.  I'm still on a farm animal kick, so I'll be adding even more new paintings over the next couple of months.

And I also let in a couple of custom paintings to regular, long-term customers, so I'll be showing those, too, in the next few weeks.

Back in the USA

Well, the excitement, exhaustion, fun, and all the rest are in the past now, and I have only memories of my month's stay in beautiful Paris, France.  I hope, too, my experiences there helped me grow as a person - yes, even at my age!  I feel they did.

I'm back to my beloved painting again now.  Here are a couple of  recently completed pieces:

Holstein cow, original on 16x20x3/4" stretched canvas

Sweet, Innocent Piglet, original on 11x14x3/4" stretched canvas

On another topic:  I've been receiving several requests daily for custom commissioned paintings for holiday gifts.  I have accepted just a few, from repeat clients, but I don't have space on my calendar for more for the rest of this year. 

I have several more paintings in the works now, all farm-based as that's what's been on my mind a lot lately, so I'll be posting those over the next week or so.  

One Final Post from Paris

I wanted to add one more thing before I leave:  I really liked my apartment here and feel the price was reasonable, the apartment very nice, comfortable, and functional (dishwasher, clothes washer, comfy bed(s), etc.), and the neighborhood very convenient.  With the owner's permission, I am posting his email address here so that if you're interested in renting the apartment from him, you can contact him directly.  His name is Alex, and his email address is snowhaze1@hotmail.com.

My Final Post for my Vacation in Paris

This is my final post from Paris, and it's a bitter-sweet one.  I'm looking forward to getting back home and getting back to work, and I'm regretting terribly leaving my little Parisian apartment and this magnificent city.  But there's always next year.  Read my post in my "Paris Vacation" page -- off to the right side of this post.

Another Post dated Oct 1 - an update and a trip to the Louvre - again

Another Post on my Paris 2014 Vacation page

Here's another update, dated Sept. 27.

A New Post on "My Paris Vacation 2014" Page

I've just created a new, long post on what's been going on in my world as I continue to visit Paris for a month.  Remember, let me know if you have any questions or comments.

A New Post on my Paris Vacation 2014 Page

Comments on our Louvre Museum visit.

Dog Paintings (and Cat and Other Animals) by Dottie Dracos: All New Posts about my Paris vacation are on My Paris Vacation page

Dog Paintings (and Cat and Other Animals) by Dottie Dracos: A new post on my Paris vacation page

A new post on my Paris vacation page

I have my computer now and will be posting hopefully daily about my vacation.  If you find it interesting, please let me know by commenting.  If you have questions or comments, I'll do my very best to answer or address them.

See "My Paris, France Vacation 2014" Page to Follow My Trip Information

So I don't bore others who are only interested in my artwork, I've added a page about my Paris vacation.  I post on it pretty much every day, but it doesn't show as a new listing, so check it out daily if you're interested.  In it, I talk about jet lag, packing lightly, list of clothing for a month, traveling in general, upgraded tourist seats, what it's like to "live" in Paris for a month, etc.