Art for a Cause - By Deborah Cuneo

You know how when you go to a gathering at someone's home, and there's that person sitting on the floor in the corner, playing with the dog? ...That would be me!  I've always  loved dogs, actually all kinds of animals and despite my parents protests, I've been rescuing all sorts of animals, bugs, fish, amphibians, reptiles and rodents, since I was a little kid.

 

Take Me Home - Pencil sketch

Fast forward a few years... Aside from being adopted by multiple rescue dogs and cats over the years, I have always collected for and donated to our local shelters . "Admission" to any of my home parties, is usually spare cans or bags of food for the shelters.  There are still so many animals that were either surrendered because the owners were too sick or too old to continue their care, or were rescued from horrible neglect and abuse, then put into shelters.  Some are lucky to get adopted right away, but some are there much longer and not all shelters have the funding to care for and rehabilitate them for any length of time...and, well...you know how that ends.  I wanted to do more.

 

Dog Sketches - Pencil and Liquid Pencil

So...While organizing all my artwork in my flat files, I discovered that I had a lot of dog illustrations and sketches that I've done over the years, either  as samples for submissions or for different SCBWI events. Looking at that pile of orphaned illustrations, I immediately came up with a plan! A couple of the more involved ideas are already in the works and I will be able to share them with you on my personal blog at a later date, but because I'm in the throes of finishing my book, it's hard for me to do everything right now, so I decided to start small, until the book job is done. 

 

More Dog Art - acrylic/colored pencil/ digital

Character Study - pencil sketch

A couple of months ago, I started  posting one piece of dog art from that pile of illustrations and sketches, on Instagram every Friday.  Once my book is done, I will begin sharing a newly created piece of dog art, hopefully each week. While I work on my drawing skills,  I am also hoping to encourage  people, through my art, to consider the shelters and rescue organizations  when looking for a pet. 

 

Mini Sketch Series - Pencil

 Some of the art is kidlit, some of the posts are more fine arts pet portraits, but all are posted with the same intention...to hopefully lead to placing as many shelter animals as possible,  in a loving,  "fur-ever" home. 

 

Dog Character - Pencil sketch

More to come, so feel free to follow along at:

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com
Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com
Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration

Twitter: @debcuneoart 

 Instagram: @ataleof2studios