Mekky & Two More Paintings

It has been far too long since I posted. I have some Christmas commissions that I hope to get around to putting up, so maybe I'll post more often :) The first painting tonight is a donated K9 portrait that I couldn't post until after Christmas. Tonight I also blocked in two paintings, and I'll take you along on the process.

First here's Mekky - - -

Donation #26 - Mekky
Granbury TX Police Dept
4" x 6"
Donated Oil Portrait
Oil on Panel

This was given by the Officer's wife as a Christmas gift. Her description follows:

My husband's name is Jeremy Ballew and his "partner's" name is Mekky.

Mekky is 4 years old and they have been together 2 years this last September. Im sorry but I cant remember where Mekky is from (Finland?? something crazy like that but dont quote me). He was trained as a puppy in another country and sent to San Antonio, Texas as one of two dogs to be trained further to meet the requests of the Granbury Police Department. Mekky is trained for drug searches of all types and for tracking humans. He does not use what is called a scent item when tracking (like the persons shirt or something like that), he has to have a starting place or last known location of the person he is looking for so that he can pick up the scent. He is one of few dogs that can keep a scent across different types of ground (grass, gravel, dirt, concrete, etc). Which is very impressive!!

I would have to say my proudest moment of them both is about 6 mos to a year ago. They were tracking a man with a gun. The man had run from officers on scene and they called Jeremy out to assist. One of those call outs I didnt get the story on unitl after it was over. (it scares me to think about those - I was in law enforcement for 5 years and know how easy things can go way wrong!) Anyway, they tracked the scent from a local hotel through an area of storage sheds (a business and concrete groud with privacy fence along one side) and up to a chainlink fence fence to find out the suspect had jumped the fence at a "T". So they had to go back out and around buildings to get to the other side of the chian link fence. Now they are on the same side as before of a privacy fence but around the chian link fence to continue the sniff. Jeremy has one "rookie" officer with him as back up and while doing a track is unable to have his gun out of his holster, just has Mekky on a leash. Well, Mekky comes to a spot on the privacy fence and starts to paw at the groud as though he wants to get through and then sits (which is his sign to Jeremy that he has located what he is after). Very quickly after this as they are attempting to get behind a truck parked close by and transmit this information to other officers, while doing so on the other side of the fence they hear a gunshot!!! Im sure their hearts jumped out of their chest and Jeremy said all Mekky was doing was pulling to go toward the fence and barking while he was trying to get him behind the truck. Ends up they located the subject and he had shot himself but all officers went home safe. It was a very tense night and their first "successful" track in the line of duty. Everything worked in their/our favor and they carried out what they do time after time in training. I was proud mostly because they came home, but because Mekky and Jeremy were able to locate the subject and end the harm being done to others.

We love our family and it just wouldnt be the same without Mekky!

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Thank you to Officer Ballew and Mekky and all the others out there who work so hard to keep us all safe. If you are, or know a K9 officer, or Mounted Patrol or Search & Rescue, please contact me to receive a free oil portrait at absolutely no cost or obligation to you.

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After quite a few technical glitches and a lot of frustration, I was finally back on http://UStream.tv tonight. I started a commission of Tumbleweed - an adorable Corgi. The photo that I am working from is great - he's sitting on a chair, I think it's going to be a wonderful portrait. This is a 4"x6" portrait, the same size that I donate to K9 and Search & Rescue dogs.

Dragon Lady
16" x 20"
Oil on Canvas

Finally, I blocked in the beginnings of a painting that I think will be rather interesting. It is an oil painting of a woman with dragon tatoos. I am not sure exactly what my plans are, but it is the first of the paintings that I am starting for my upcoming solo show in Stephenville, Texas in May. I'll post the progress on the painting in the blog as it continues. I'll also be painting live on UStream.tv/PaintyLiz so join me and we'll visit awhile while I paint! If you're interested in how I go about it, I share all my tips, techniques & colors while I'm painting.

Live Creatively!

Liz