New burning

[Pyrographer]

I finally finished the wolf I started months ago. So many things got in the way of finishing it. The actual wolf is a resident of Wolf Haven International which is near our home. They gave me some photos of some of the wolves for references. I told them if I got a decent burning and sold it that they would get a portion of the proceeds. Well, it's done and turned out better than I thought it would!!!!

sorry the photo did not turn out as good as I would have liked.

Nedra

[squbrigg]

Nice job....could almost be my Siberian, Kira, they could be cousins! Great burning, fantastic detail.

Bob

[Mottles]

Nedra, your wolf is beautiful and you captured that wolf expression and fur design beautifully. I also like the dark background frames the wolf really nice. Did you burn the background also? Congratulations on the offter to donate a percentage of the sale. Way To Go!
Kathy

[Pyrographer]

Hi Kathy, thanks for the kind words. I was so nervous about doing this. I'm not great at animals but the only way to improve is with practice. It did turn out better than I anticipated and just in time for two upcoming art shows I am exhibiting at.

The background was actually burned with a torch. Something that I've been playing with for a while. I used the torch on Chief joseph for the first time and had a ball with it.

the photo I was working from was taken during the winter with snow on the ground and the background was very blurry. The foreground had nothing so I used some artistic license and created my own foreground and background. Bart still looks like Bart and although I haven't met him in person yet we are hoping to go over there aftter the art shows are over. It's just such a hectic time for me with the art shows, some classes and woodcarving shows.....Sad

There was a lot of todo over at Wolf Haven a year ago. Some problems with abuse of the wolves and it just sickened me that a rescue would do that. There is a new Director and things are improving. I just so wanted to do something. We joined as members and I asked them if they would be interested in me doing some portraits and I would donate some of the profits. They were overjoyed and gave me some photos to work from. They have a store there but people in this area don't spend money so we decided it wouldn't sell in the store but we'd put it on our website and perhaps theirs and I'd display it at some of my shows. When it sold I said I would give them a percentage of the sale.

I guess I really shouldn't complain...I sound like a spoiled kid... . I guess I just wish things were spread out a bit more so I had more time in between things. The art shows are back to back weekends then a two week break and then back to back show/class and another weekend of classes. Sheesh!!!! Busy Sept and October!

If you get a chance go check out their website. http://www.wolfhaven.org/

Bob, I do think that Siberians are distant cousins of the wolf. It's amazing how many similarities there are. Also looking at my sable sheltie I notice a lot of similarity. Perhaps that's why he's such an independent spirit!!!

Nedra

Nedra

[jax]

Nedra,

Great burning of the wolf!

I may try your torch technique to obtain "darks".

Jax.

[Irish]

Just beautiful ... I so love your use of contrasts to push your focus forward in the work!!!

As far as genetists can determine all domestic dog breeds originate from the wild wolf line. It is estimated that this break came around 25000 years ago just as we were beginning as humans to settle into permanent villages after the ice age.

Wolf pack societies and human social structures are very similar. Each individual in the 'pack' needs the pack to survive, each individual has a particular peeking order of social placement and each 'pack' has the same dominate female/male relationship and each 'pack' shares the spoils of the hunt with the entire 'pack' - whether wolf or human.

Now a wolf pack will shun a wolf for several reason - wrong color, too many males, a breeding female that is not the dominate female of the pack. Those shunned wolves often died. However, humans found that by taking in those shunned puppies the wolf pup adjusted easily into the human pack and became a major survival assest to the village. Research shows a dramatic population explosion in humans just at the time that the human/wolf combination appears in history.

There is a great experiment that was done over several decades of the White Russian Fox that shows how the wolf line transformed into so many different breeds today. They breed a set number of fox's over many years back into the same genetic line.

By the third generation color pups were appearing in from pure white parents. By the fifth generation full color bodies were showing up as well as changes in the muzzle shape and ear positions. By the tenth generation the pups looked like little 'common pound puuies' ! Lots of color, floppy ears and short or long coats.

Turns out that the White Fox carries all the genetic information for a variety of color tones but those tones only show up from interbreeding. Interbreeding is the prime purpose of the AKC breeds.

So, that dog at your feet isn't a dog at all ... it's just a wolf in genetic disquise.

Susan

(Now, that's way more than anyone wanted to know about wolves an dogs ... Sorry!)

[Pyrographer]

Originally Posted by Irish

Just beautiful ... I so love your use of contrasts to push your focus forward in the work!!!

As far as genetists can determine all domestic dog breeds originate from the wild wolf line. It is estimated that this break came around 25000 years ago just as we were beginning as humans to settle into permanent villages after the ice age.

Wolf pack societies and human social structures are very similar. Each individual in the 'pack' needs the pack to survive, each individual has a particular peeking order of social placement and each 'pack' has the same dominate female/male relationship and each 'pack' shares the spoils of the hunt with the entire 'pack' - whether wolf or human.

Now a wolf pack will shun a wolf for several reason - wrong color, too many males, a breeding female that is not the dominate female of the pack. Those shunned wolves often died. However, humans found that by taking in those shunned puppies the wolf pup adjusted easily into the human pack and became a major survival assest to the village. Research shows a dramatic population explosion in humans just at the time that the human/wolf combination appears in history.

There is a great experiment that was done over several decades of the White Russian Fox that shows how the wolf line transformed into so many different breeds today. They breed a set number of fox's over many years back into the same genetic line.

By the third generation color pups were appearing in from pure white parents. By the fifth generation full color bodies were showing up as well as changes in the muzzle shape and ear positions. By the tenth generation the pups looked like little 'common pound puuies' ! Lots of color, floppy ears and short or long coats.

Turns out that the White Fox carries all the genetic information for a variety of color tones but those tones only show up from interbreeding. Interbreeding is the prime purpose of the AKC breeds.

So, that dog at your feet isn't a dog at all ... it's just a wolf in genetic disquise.

Susan

(Now, that's way more than anyone wanted to know about wolves an dogs ... Sorry!)

Very informative. I knew some of that but learned something new. It's interesting because people don't realize how much dogs are pack animals and if they treat them as such they will fall into their proper role in the pack.

Hubby has been working with our 3 dogs using the pack theory with them and it's amazing. We took them all to the beach this weekend and let one of them off leash to watch the behavior and he ran with the pack as though he was still on leash. Prior to Al's work with them the two shelties were kinda independent and constantly testing for pack leadership. Al has now become the pack leader and it's very obvious that they have now figured that out. How do you like that I have a pack of wolves in our home!!!

Susan thanks for the kind words on the burning. I'm still kinda learning to do fur. No problem with a human portrait but I'm still trying to master fur! Looking back at some wolves I did 4 years ago and there's a big difference though.

Nedra

[Irish]

That's a big grin about Al! I have had a dog since I was 6 and some times up to a pack of three. One summer we were so overloaded that the pack got up to nine, our two, my sisters six plus her 97% wolf hybrid ... that hybrid was a story in herself.

Anyway, I have only one time had problems with the pack mentality and who was going to be dominate. My one and only registered pure bred was a Jack Russell female. She and I squared off from the moment she hit the door as to who was going to be the dominate B**** of the household. I won, but after many years of fighting for my rightful position.


The only way I know how to do dog fur is by burning the undercoat first then laying the guard hairs over that undercoat. Dogs have at least two layers of fur. The undercoat is shorter, softer and usually paler in color. It lies close to the skin as insulation. Then through that undercoat the guard hairs go out. There are less guard hairs than undercoat hairs and they are usually much longer, thicker and the ones that contain the coloring.


Susan

[Pyrographer]

Originally Posted by Irish

That's a big grin about Al! I have had a dog since I was 6 and some times up to a pack of three. One summer we were so overloaded that the pack got up to nine, our two, my sisters six plus her 97% wolf hybrid ... that hybrid was a story in herself.

Anyway, I have only one time had problems with the pack mentality and who was going to be dominate. My one and only registered pure bred was a Jack Russell female. She and I squared off from the moment she hit the door as to who was going to be the dominate B**** of the household. I won, but after many years of fighting for my rightful position.


The only way I know how to do dog fur is by burning the undercoat first then laying the guard hairs over that undercoat. Dogs have at least two layers of fur. The undercoat is shorter, softer and usually paler in color. It lies close to the skin as insulation. Then through that undercoat the guard hairs go out. There are less guard hairs than undercoat hairs and they are usually much longer, thicker and the ones that contain the coloring.


Susan

susan, the funniest part of all this is that Al tells everyone that "he is NOT a dog person". I'm now calling him the Dog Whisperer. He definately has become the top dog. I have been doing rescue on and off all my life and we've had up to 4 dogs and that was quite enough for me. Since I've been back working I no longer foster except on an emergency basis. We have 3 of our own now, one was a rescue and the two shelties are registered pure bred. I got my first sheltie 20 years ago and my friend who breeds them helped me find him. She owns the father of my little terror Toby. I guess she got me my first and last sheltie.

It's amazing how they can try to be the alpha and many of us don't even realize who's in charge. Most often from what I see is that the dogs are in charge and that's where all the problems come in.

I can surely attest to your comments regarding coat. I spend an hour every Sunday raking and brushing the shelties and I can tell you exactly what that undercoat and outer coat look like. I think perhaps that has actually helped me doing my fur because I have definately noticed an improvement in my fur since I got these guys. Hmmm, can you imagine that!

One of the other things is that I just have not done much with animals since I started burning. I kind of got lost in my own little world of flowers, portraits, etc and forgot about all those furry creatures. Perhaps I need to spend more time on them!!!

Thanks for the suggestions about the fur and I'll put it in my crochety memory banks...guess I'll have to make room and discard some unnecessary memories.

Nedra

[squbrigg]

Understanding pack mentality is a key to having a dog or two in the house. When we got the Husky, we had an older Poodle/Maltese mix , and for the first few years, she was senior and undisputed as the boss of the animals in the house (including 2 cats). She would herd the cats if they were into something they souldn't be, and she'd "correct" the Husky any time she needed it, by a look, growl or tug at the pups lip, even when the pup was three times as big. Last year, she retired her position...... is much more passive, and the Husky now does the herding and correcting.

Our vet was kind enough to teach me the key behaviours to maintaining my post as Alpha male, and supporting my wife as dominant female, and supporting our girls as senior females, but as lesser females are more suseptable to jockey for position, Kira constantly challenges them in small but clear ways for seniority, where she never challenges the male. Facinating behaviour.

No shortage of undercoat and guard hairs in our house, we could make a good heavy sweater from one brushing in the spring.

Understanding their anatomy does help when burning images of them. Love your wolf image Nedra.

Bob