Roy Hovey
Friday, January 9, 2015
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Painting with Light: a creative photography idea I've only approached once before. The trick is largely about long shutter exposure (5 to 30 seconds) with moving light or light introduced continually or intermittently from various angles. It was a lot of fun to paint with several photography friends for a couple hours, culminating in these 5 favorite images (made from 6 - one is a montage).
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday, September 30, 2013
Bigger Dogs
Well, on the heels of opening my big mouth and relating how I had given up larger dogs for life, I adopted one recently. Bentley is a floppy-eared, fuzzy-faced German Shepherd mix who is adorable and wonderful. I read of him in a small Morgan Hill newspaper - how sweet he was, and how his former owner sobbed as he gave him up to move away for a new job and rented house that did not allow dogs. Bentley looks older with his fuzzy beard, but he's just 1.8 years old. I take him to the dog park six days a week for up to an hour to exercise and play with him, and give him the outdoor activity he needs and deserves as a healthy young dog. He loves our two smaller dogs, but mostly loves hanging out with me all the time. I'm indeed beyond having beautiful German Shepherd show dogs, but having a dog that attaches himself to me as the alpha person and gives me so much love and dedication is once again very special and rewarding - for both of us. I saved his life in rescuing him from the shelter - and he saved mine in lifting my spirits and getting me back out to exercise and be active every day. Our connection is very special, and I so love this dog. More on him later, no doubt, down the road...
His colors blend nicely with the couch - uh,
till Marsha gets home (shhh!)
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Smaller Dogs
A few more thoughts and words on dogs, and some new renderings of Murphy and Scruffy - our two household K9 pals. I always loved the way German Shepherds were so loving and adopted me as the Alpha person with their loyalty. They were beautiful, fun, and gentle with kids and all my cats. There was, however, always an aloof trait to these dogs. They didn't often make eye contact, and I sometimes imagined them gazing off in a daydream, seeing their ancestors and imagining the days when they ran wild and hunted prey for survival. Furthermore, they have been so shamelessly inbred for dog shows in the last several decades that their bones and bodies have become brittle, and a purebred typically dies on you with one medical problem or another after 8 or 9 years - 10 or 11 if you're lucky. Recently, I'd had enough of losing great friends and companions so quickly, and began to think about trying out some other kind of dog. After decades of loving and living with the large German Shepherd breed, my wife and I rescued two small dogs three years ago. They have grown into "larger small" sized dogs, and have been been fun to raise and train.
I've newly discovered that small and medium/small dogs are quite different, yet at times marvelously engaging. My two are not Alpha-attaching dogs, and will instantly give their love and affection to whomever has dog biscuits or dinner bowls in their hands. Otherwise though, they generally love to hang with those who feed them most of the time and sometimes let them escape their crates and get up on the bed for a time. Moreover, they'll look you in the eye, cower at times if you look displeased, yet get highly excited over sundry moments of approval. They try to be lap dogs if you let them, then settle for sitting at your feet. While it was probably just less obvious with my German Shepherds - seemingly endlessly loving and dedicated - these smaller breed dogs seem to more openly read and dial into to us, and demonstrate their thoughts and feelings with great expression.
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