Category: Longhaired Dachshund Calendar

Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: July

Darby:July by Moira McLaughlin

The July collage of Darby for my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar didn't start out this way. The original concept was a nod to Magritte. This was the sketch I made last year…

original sketch

Son of a Man by René Magritte, 1964

I was going to make the apple a tomato. The leaves in the corner were going to be basil. The stripes in the background were going to be red and white, and Darby's tag was going to be blue with a white star. Get it? July 4th. I was inspired by this Georgia O'Keeffe painting…

Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1931

But, I wasn't thrilled with this idea. It's kind of kitschy. And Darby wasn't kitschy or overly patriotic. He didn't really like tomatoes that much either.

Then, I saw this painting by Helen Frankenthaler…

Untitled, 1995 by Helen Frankenthaler

"That's July," I thought. I see those colors in my garden and windowsill in the summer…

July Flowers

Then, last month I had this book on Tantra on my table…

Tantra: The Indian Cult of Ecstacy by Philip Rawson

I kept thinking it looked familiar…

Darby: Hope by Moira McLaughlin, 2008

Would that be weird to make a collage of my dog inspired by an Indian sex cult?

I did a little research and found out that Tantra is not a religion or a "way of thought." In fact, according to Philip Rawson, "Tantra sees thought as one of the chief causes for people gradually becoming disillusioned and miserable in what they believe to be their world."

Well, that spoke to me in my misery, still grieving Darby's death, and worried that the tears weren't stopping. Also, the word tantra means "to weave" or "web" and that "all is one and interconnected." Tantra is all about action and intrinsic goodness, not just sex. So, I thought, it wouldn't be so creepy to make a Tantric Darby.

I gathered some ideas…

my studio

I'm not going to lie. Tantirc Darby was creepy at first…

Tantric Darby

I didn't know what to do with it. So I shut the door to my studio and didn't look at it for about three weeks. Then, this Monday I woke up, went into the studio, and reworked it. I did it all, except for a few green leaves.

Here it is again…

I think Darby looks a little bit like Frida Kahlo, too…

Frida Kahlo

Next up, August. I'm thinking sunflowers…

I started my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar in January 2011. I am hoping to publish it by September 2012. Prints of each month will be available too. It is inspired by my muse, Darby, who passed away at age 17 on December 3, 2011. See the Darby collages I have already finished here.

March 9, 2012
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June Final

Darby Calendar: June by Moira McLaughlin

I finished the June college of my Longhaired Dachshund calendar this morning. I have lots to tell you about how it came together, but not today.

Wishing you all the best in 2012.

December 30, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June Collage Prep

This is from October 2011 when I started the June collage for my Longhaired Dachshund calendar. I can't remember why I did this in the kitchen and not the studio. I know I wanted to lay out the materials I would use and work on the color palette before I started. As you can see, I had forgotten to place Darby's pillow in his spot by the French doors. He is waiting there for me to do so.

December 20, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: June

I drew this sketch last January when I decided to make the Darby calendar. I started working on it two months ago, combining it with this sketch…

I've been looking a lot at this print…

New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857

And this one…

Fireworks Over Ryogoku Bridge by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1856

I'm incorporating the stars from the above print. And today dog artist and author Kim Niles of KiniArt sent me this quote:

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in the heavens, where the love of our lost ones shines down to let us know they are with us." – author unknown.

I still start my day with tears. I still appreciate hearing that it will get better, but I miss him so much. It's hard to believe.

December 19, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: May

Dreaming of Sky Pines by Moira McLaughin

The above artwork is the finished May page for my Longhaired Dachshund calendar. It was inspired by a walk I took with Darby in my neighborhood down a rural, farm-filled street called Sky Pines. The first idea was based on a blue heron that flew right over us, low, fast, prehistoric, and awe-inspiring. This was the initial sketch…

This was the first pass…

Then this…

Then, I got a lot of great feedback from readers. I really do appreciate your suggestions. For this piece, my favorite comment came from Suza Johnston in London who owns an erudite Dachshund named Archie. She said, " Why not a flying, soaring, exultant feel… as in a Chagall – with Darby’s ears flapping back and soaring with the heron?"

I loved that idea. So I played around with painting Darby soaring. Here are some attempts…

I thought soaring Darbies looked like too blob-like, and I wasn't happy with the colors. So I made these images out of a magazine ad…

I liked the blue heron but the blue Darby got lost against the blue background of the sky. So I added some green. This would give the heron a sense of motion and it would capture the glowing psychedelic feeling of a spring day in Grass Valley…

But the blue Darby wasn't a strong enough focal point. It was too inconsistent with the photos of the sheep. So I built a Darby composite out of several photographs of him. His ears aren't flapping in the wind, but I was happy with the shape and color and the way he looks neslted in for the wild ride…

Overall, I'm pleased with the final version of May. Once again, here it is…

But I couldn't resist playing around with the soaring Darby. And this is the image I made that hangs on my wall (I'm not crazy about the frame, but it's all I had)…

Thoughts?

August 31, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: May WIP II

Dreaming of Sky Pines (work in progress) by Moira McLaughlin

Not feeling it yet…

July 11, 2011
Longhaired Dachshund Calendar: May WIP

Dreaming of Sky Pines by Moira McLaughlin (work in progress), 2011

My May collage of my Longhaired Dachshund Darby is coming along. It's inspired by a walk I took with him on a rural neighborhood road called Sky Pines. We saw all of these animals and birds (the great blue heron flew right over us like a pterodactyl) and more, and had no idea how I was going to fit them all in. That night, Darby was twitching and barking in his sleep, and I thought perhaps he was dreaming of his walk. That was my solution. Make it like a dream, like a Hieronymus Bosch. I'm going to put Darby on the back of the heron like Europa on the back of Zeus disguised as a Bull.

This post is part of an ongoing series of the Longhaired Dachshund calendar I am making. Click here to see the other months.

July 7, 2011
April Collage: Love Chakra Darby

About 30 minutes from Grass Valley is a place called Ananda Village.   According to its website it is "a cooperative spiritual community dedicated to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, founded by his direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda."   I've heard it referred to as a commune and a former cult.   Today, 250 people live there on 900 acres and devote themselves following the advice from the Swami's book How to Be Happy All the Time through "simple living and high thinking."

I've been fascinated by this place for a while. In fact, the truth is Ananda Village is one of the reasons I moved to Grass Valley. No, I didn't want to join the commune. Although the yoga, the lack of one true religion, and the people-are-more-important-than-things-philosophy appeal to me, it was the tulips that drew me here. When my sister, Sheila, who moved here first, started sending me photos of the tulips I was in awe. When she explained that the photos were nothing, and there was no way to describe the beauty of this terraced garden overlooking the gorge of the South Yuba River, and that the gardens were open to the public only once a year in April, something sparked in me. I had to see this place that sounded like a cross between Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz.   Shortly after that, I decided to move.

Surprisingly, I didn't see the tulips the first year I moved here.    April got filled up and I missed the window. This year, I didn't let that happen and I went twice, once with friends and kids on the opening weekend and once with Sheila and her mother-in-law on a weekday. Both visits were powerful; the first for the unbridled energy we all felt with the kids running around (and the special maple-glazed scones one of the member's bakes for the visitors), and the second for the feeling of being in the garden alone. It was just us and two other people

I still don't exactly know what goes on there year-round. But the people I met at Ananda Village did seem happy, really happy, in a way I couldn't get a bead on. They weren't hippie-ish. They looked like suburbanites who shopped the Lands' End catalog yearly — crisp, colorful, and pressed. Ok, the second time I went, there was a guy in a belted pantsuit with a groovy badge. But mostly the members just seemed sincere. What was their angle?   The prices in the gift shop didn't seem to have the standard retail markup. I'm not even sure if there was any markup. And the tulips! Sheila was right, there really is no way to describe them. Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz are technical illusions caught on film. This is real, with a blossomy breeze and the sound of the river echoing up with a gurgling roar. The photos here, and all the photos I've ever seen can't capture it. But know that the members plant 9,000 bulbs every year for five months. Then, they pull them up, sketch a new garden plan, and start over, like a living mandala.

So, as I've been making my way through the months for my Longhaired Dachshund Calendar starring my dog, Darby, I knew I wanted the April collage to be about the Ananda tulips. Both times, before we went, I asked my sister Sheila to take photos for me. And I brought my camera too and tried my best…

Between us we had some great shots. But I felt defeated. Anything layered or intricate would pale in comparison. So I decided to go in the opposite direction. I went for concentration instead of intricasy. As I mentioned, in the Ed Ruscha post on Friday, I decided to make a silhouette. When I completed it, I flashed on something someone said on our second visit. It was a woman who was with the pantsuit-guy. She entered the garden and looked out over the view and said, "It really opens up your love chakra, doesn't it?" So that inspired the name for the April collage…

Open Up Your Love Chakra

I did a little research after the piece was finished and was happy to find the colors that represent the love chakra are green and pink. Also, I think it's interesting that one of the most beloved books, and now movies, about dog-love is J.R. Ackerley's My Dog Tulip . Anyone who has one knows that nothing opens up your love chakra like a dog, but every April in Nevada County 9,000 tulips come close.

On to May. It's still freezing up here. Got to get more firewood.

June 1, 2011
Darby Calendar: March Collage is Finished

Darby Calendar: March by Moira McLaughlin

I wanted March to be as explosive as spring in the Sierra Foothills. Thank you Sharon Montrose for letting me use your baby deer photograph. Visit Sharon's Animal Print Shop to see her menagerie of animal photographs. Prints of my collage will be available soon. Calendar will be for sale this fall.

See the rest of my 2012 Longhaired Dachshund Darby Calendar here.

April 25, 2011
March Collage

Just like spring, my March collage of Darby is late. Here is my sketch of it…

Work in progress…

Sharon Montrose has graciously allowed me to use her baby deer photograph from her Animal Print Shop. Thank you, Sharon.

April 18, 2011