I Like Broccoli, Woof

Yes, it's true, I like broccoli. And, I'm a dog. So, go figure.

Apparently, I'm not supposed to like a little green vegetable that looks strikingly like a little tree. But, I do. And my theory has to do with the fact that the little green stalks do look like little trees. Since I like taking a nap under a fig tree and waiting patiently for peaches to fall from the peach tree, it only seems fair that I'd be fond of a little edible tree. They're bite size. They taste yummy. I love the little crunch they have after they're steamed to perfection. I admit it, I'm smitten with the little green trees.

So, that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Genealogy Tree

What's been the delay in blogging? Well, a new series of course. M has been mulling over an original digital illustration on a genealogy tree series. She finally (woof woof!) came up with the finalized idea and ta da, here is the result (above). If you have any suggestions for letters you'd like to see, just drop an email or Etsy convo. M loves genealogy. She's always over at rootsweb and ancestry.com and looking at something called census records or the sort.

Meanwhile on the dog front, I've been a bad bad dog. I found a most comfortable quilt in a back room at home and well, I just had to drag it to my doggie bed in the middle of the night. Needless to say, the cotton quilt was an absolute comfy blankie to sleep on. Unfortunately, I had the quilt snatched out from under me...sheesh, I didn't know that was in a "hope chest." What's a hope chest anyhow? Looks more like a dog bed chest filled with soft blankies to nuzzle with and on and under.

Heirloom quilts. Ok, ok ok. Woof.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

P.S. No quilts were harmed in my attempt at doggie coziness. I didn't even chew on the edges, honest. Ok, so I slobbered a little. But I get a free "slobber pass" (like a Big Brother slop pass, only for dogs). :-)

Friday the 13th

Just to err on the side of caution, I suggest
all dogs stay away from the following:

black cats
sidewalk cracks
pennies
ladders
cars
the number 13
salt
mirrors
shadows
crossed knives
sparrows
umbrellas
...and gravediggers

Have a happy Friday the 13th all!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

The Places I've Been

I dip the tip of my round brush into a small mountain of acrylic blue cyan. One globule of blue hangs on to the hairs of the brush. For a moment, I am amazed at the little drop of sky I can see in the reflections cast from the wet surface of the paint. I guide the blue onto the gessoed canvas. The acrylic paint dances across the textured valley of cotton until no more white can be seen.

With the colors of Hawaiian Hibiscus flowers, catapillar eyes, and blacks as rich as the eyes of a Syrian Hamster, I paint without stopping. I hear the clock ticking on the wall behind me, but the hands fade to oblivion as I enter a tunnel to a far away place. I never know where I'll end up.

Sometimes, I find myself in strange lands with stranger creatures who paint themselves into my canvases. Other times, I find myself licking my dry lips, having forgotten to sip water for many hours. I'll discover when I lift my head and stretch my arms that the sun, once bursting through the panes of glass and onto my easel like warm hands, has long left the sky. In it's place, a sliver of silver white moon is peaking through the bay window of the studio, teasing me with winking stars far off.

It is at times like these that I rinse my brush, sit back, and wonder. Surely, I have travelled somewhere to not realize such things.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

Hedgehog and the 5th of July

I'm baacccckkk@!

Ok, so nobody noticed. I was away, and now, I am back. La tee da.

First, hedgehogs. There is something so cute about an animal that is covered in quills and yet remains huggable, isn't there? Now, being a dog, I stay far far (FAR!) away from quills, spines, needle sharp spiney anything animals. I mean, I have to protect my nose. Those spines hurt! That is why I won't visit the desert. Come on, it's covered in all sorts of ouchie animals, ouchie plants and just plain ouchies. Plus, hot sand and paws are not fun.

Now, the 5th of July. I guess I've had my head buried in the sand (which is not a good thing, as you will read) about the day after Independence Day. It appears (some) people celebrating the 4th end up trashing our beaches up and down the coast. Go on, Google it. The photos are horrible. As a dog, I walk on those beaches and the fact that so much trash covered places like Newport Beach, Dana Point, and Huntington Beach is just plain...sad. It looked like a landfill. From styrofoam coolers to water bottles and worse, the sand was literally (or should I say LITTERly) covered from shore to sand. The clean-up had to stop once the tide went out (along with tons of trash which will hurt animals) and start again once the tide came in (washing the same trash back on shore).

The epidemic of litter has also hit our national parks. Come on! Pick up that trash. I don't want to see chip bags and empty water bottles littering the side of Yosemite hiking trails, do you? That's dog gone yucky.

Ok, I'm off the dog soap box (it looks a little like the "Red Baron").

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Happy 4th of July!

--- God Bless America ---
Here's to a wonderful 4th of July!

May you have a happy day filled with family, friends, and yummy foods!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

I'm off to the beach to watch some nifty fireworks and eat some tofurkey dogs. Woof woof! Oh, and homemade lemon meringue pie. Yum to my tum.

Zombie + Robot = Fun!

I am a huge horror flick fan! And what inspired this latest art (I often woof into M's ear at night to give her artistic inspiration) was a combination of films.

Some film I remember with the actor who played Albert Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie) had a creepy yellow robot named "Bee-Bee." What made it creepy was the way the robot said it's name and the eyes. The voice stayed with me.

I also recently watched Resident Evil I and II (music is great), Return of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead(remake and original--both are wicked), Shaun of the Dead (hilarious and makes me laugh out loud every time when he wakes up and goes to the little grocery store and is totally oblivious), and 28 Days Later (the speed of the infected is...unnerving). Of course I watched all of these over the course of two weeks (but I have done the horror weekend marathon before, lol).

After watching so many horror flicks about zombies, the undead, the walking dead and flesh eaters, I finally got M to make some more zombie art (she did a piece with a robot bird that could turn cannibalistic, but that's just not the same, you know?).

And the result if what you see above. I hope you like the final result.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

iPhone iPhone iPhone : Nifty Original Wallpapers for Your New Apple iPhone

Yippee! iPhone is launching tonight at midnight. And in celebration, we're offering three, yes that's three (more to come if you let us know you'd like some more), iPhone wallpapers with artwork by PeachPoPs! Exclusive!





The panda wallpaper is inspired by the warm fuzzy bears themselves. I just love 'em. The Black Phoebe Bird is an original artwork inspired by our love of backyard birds. Besides, you'll be tweeting a lot on that new iPhone of yours. Lastly, the zombie. Well, if you're standing in line and have been waiting and waiting and waiting for your iPhone, then you're probably a little like a zombie right now anyhow, right?

All three wallpapers ( desktops ) are available on our website www.peachpops.com or click here for a direct link to the wallpaper page.

And hey, if you happen to download one to use on your new fabulicious iPhone, please email me a photo with our artwork and I'll post it on our blog. I'd love to see how they look in action on the iPhone. Yippee!!!!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Birds on My Brain

So, I had an idea for M and she ran with it. I mean, I'm all paws, so it's a bit hard for me to execute the type of art I'd like to at times.

First, I had the idea of a retro-vintage-aged scrapbook page. I really like the aged look, mixed with faux textures and yummy geometric circles forming a subtle background. I also like fonts and lettering. I like how letters look when they are all jumbled up and bit wonky on the page. I suppose that's from watching too many Lifetime movies with ransom notes made from cut-up letters from magazines. Then again, there is something appealing about not being matchy-matchy all the time. Or maybe I'm just a tad wonky and so two wonks make a wight? :-)

The bird came from an original illustration by M. In fact, the patterns/textures are all original and created by M.

Here's the final result:



And just a little preview of what we'll be listing tomorrow:



Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

Willpower

As a dog, I often muster up a little willpower on my daily walks. I don't dare to sniff every Queen Elizabeth Rose as I pass by. Even if the rose is in full bloom, dangling above my head from the trellis at the Rathbone House, and the petals are that delicious shade of fuscia, I hold back and keep on the sidewalk.

I do my best to avert my eyes as we trot past the rainbows dancing above the grass. Even though the mist from the sprinklers tempts me so maliciously with it's spray, I don't run gleefully through the mushy wet grass. No, that would be bad.



I try to be a good dog. Honest.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Coffee, Coffee and More...Coffee

It's Sunday and we're all drinking coffee. Surprised?

I'm so excited about what M and M have going on in the studio. Shh, one is busy painting and the other...oOps, time to jump from M's lap and find a cozy place to take a mid day nap.

Coffee coffee.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging sleepy dog :-)

Wet Sand on a Wednesday

We spent the early morning at the beach. I must say, this is a wonderful way to begin a Wednesday. The waves rolled in and lapped at the shore (and my paws). I chased a few short birds who came a little too close for comfort (hey, they started it). M sketched in her notebook, while the other M played frisbee with me.

Guess what I got when we arrived home? A bath. Lol. Sheesh, don't they know I'd just going to take this freshly washed fur and go roll in the nice muddy garden under the peach tree? I mean, who can resist mud? Woof.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

The Iced Coffee Conspiracy

Ok, M stayed up quite late all weekend. This in turn kept me up. The cycle of insomnia is viscious, eh?

So, what kept her up? Iced coffee. Yes, it's a sickness. She discovered (actually, she rediscovered) a delicious iced coffee and had about six (don't fall off that seat, I said 6!) cups. Not just six on one day. But six for three days straight. And that's just the cups I kept count of. So, we're talking 18 plus cups.

Oh, and not regular sized cups (I'd show you a photo of the gigantic eNorMous mug, but my paw skills on taking photos is bad and her hands are still shaky from the caffeine). No, that would be too easy.

Her mug holds about 12 oz of coffee. How do I know the exact volume? Well, who do you think has their very own doggie mug? That would be moi. :-) But I digress.

Ok, so she drinks the coffee. I drink some coffee. We both get HUGE freezer headaches from the crushed ice and coffee combination. Then, we repeat. I think the definition of crazy is repeating irrational behaviour. I'm not sure. Does that sound right?

Then Matt comes over and it's like 2am and now they're both drinking coffee. It's clear what they were up to--they'd masterminded a plan to keep me awake and highly alert (I like to bark at shadows when I'm up past midnight). Why? Well, after checking to make sure I had at least two copies of Catcher in the Rye under my doggie bed, I thought about it.

Then, I thought some more. And here's the conclusion I have come to after sixty three hours without sleep.

I'm part of an underground scientific experiemental study where researchers want to know what kind of art can and will be created by an insomniac dog. This sounds completely reasonable. Doesn't it?

Oh boy! I hear my mug being put on the floor...

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

My Imaginary Best Friend

I have an imaginary best friend dog. His name is Griffon. I know, I'm a dog and it's probably not normal for my species to have an imaginary best dog friend. But I do. It's not something I share all the time, because Griff, as I like to call him, is a bit shy. He tolerates me hogging all the figs and he's willing to share the rope toys. All in all, he's the best dog friend a dog could ever have. Did I mention he's blue? Ok, so he's blue. Sometimes this becomes an issue when we're finger painting (he doesn't like to clash with the art), but for the most part, he's ok with being blue.

I can also see through him sometimes. It's kinda creepy when he's lapping up Dr.Pepper or drinking a rootbeer float. The icecream slides down his throat and suddenly I can see the brown soda foaming inside his tummy. After I laugh until the icecream shoots out through my nostrils, I forget that it's not exactly common to see someone become transparent right in front of you. It happens though.

Maybe he's a ghost dog. I hope not. He's awful nice and he loves running around the yard with me.

Hmm. I guess I could imagine an imaginary ghost hunter who could tell me. Then again, THAT would be weird, right?

Ok, I'm done rambling.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Robot Bird has Arrived!

So, as a huge sci-fi fan, M decided it was time to release a "Robot Bird" into the world. She created an original mechanical bird with a demented little twist to the robot angle. I, myself, am a bit scared after reading the warning label. Muhahahaha. Brains. Brains. Ok, I haven't had my third cup of coffee, so I'm feeling a bit wonky. Wonky. I like that word. Won. Key. Ok, time for a nap under the fig tree.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Pouting Peach

Brand new listing at Etsy, is "Pouting Peach." For some reason, we love peaches. Plus, M says there is something magical about a lone tree stump. Maybe it's the memory from reading the wonderful story "The Giving Tree.":-)

M and M are keeping busy painting (both digitally and with acrylics) and completing commissions.

Me? Well I got a rose thorn from the Queen Elizabeth down the block. Now, it festered and I had to go to the vet today. So, my leg hurts and I feel all yucky. M gave me some medication from the doctor (she thinks I don't know that they hide the icky tasting pills inside a treat...muhahaha) and then she gave me lots of lap time. So, my tummy is full and I'm a little sleepy. Time for some more tummy rubs and then I'm grabbing a spot on the couch.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-/

Tuesdays Taste a Little Like Mondays

Today, we went on a few errands. I got to go down to Newport Beach and play in the waves while M read a book (she's rereading Wuthering Heights and The Stand--didn't see which one she had because I had only one thing on my mind---FRISBEE!).

Then, we headed to the market for some pure can sugar soda. If you haven't tried a soda pop made from pure cane sugar...it's divine. The difference between corn syrup and cane can only be described as a crisp difference. Somehow using the cane, there is a refined taste. And since M doesn't drink soda that much (she's a water fan), it makes each sip all that better.

Off to the antique store downtown in Orange. M wanted to check if they had any victorian calling cards come in to the shop over the weekend. No luck this time. Calling cards are so cute, but I'm not allowed near them due to my tenacious need to rip through them like junk mail. Hey, it's not my fault. I just like the taste. :-)

Finally, we headed back to the beach for a quick hugello (fast hug and hello) for our friend Matt. He wanted to take me on another beach walk, but we had to decline. Time to get back to the studio for M.

It was a fine day. The kind that feels like the day after a long weekend.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by the super friendly Tiffany at
The Way I See It!!! and am supposed to list 7 weird things about myself (M or M):

1. One of the M's has super long hair (past the waist).
2. One of the M's has red hair.
3. Both M's love to stay up late for meteor showers.
4. Both M and M sometimes create art while "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakaiwiwo'ole plays.
5. One of the M's is a dedicated insomniac.
6. One of the M's likes to eat lemons.
and finally,
7. PJ likes figs and roses.

We've tagged Jennifer of
Stiletto Heights.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog ;-)

Listed at Etsy: Evil B9 ShelFuRR

I think this PeachPoP ShelFuRR is so quirky. I always like to have a little story in my head of the creatures or characters M and M create. This one in particular evokes the kind of half smile that has always given me the creeps. You don't know if it's a smile smile or a scary smile, or I've got deep dark secrets and "I'll never tell" grin plastered across the face to hide the truth.

Then again, maybe there is nothing evil lurking beneath the facade and I just have had to much coffee today. Yes, I think I'll go with that...

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

New Etsy Listing & Archival Canvas Paper

(Ouchie returns again! This is a close-up. There is a white border around the 8" x 10" image.)


(Isn't this texture just yummy? I love the look of textured canvas.)

Ok, so I have been busy busy busy. First, one of my M's, decided to alter a digital illustration. Ouchie needed a bigger branch and a nifty background. So, once that was done she decided to try archival matte paper. Oh my! This paper is a wonderful poly cotton blended canvas. There is a special coating to accept archival inks.

Seeing a print on this canvas paper is just beautiful, in my doggie opinion. Of course, I had to keep clear of all prints and artworks. I'm a good dog. I played outside the studio while she worked.

So, today is officially, we love canvas paper day!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)