"God's Smile"

I am not much into forwarding e-mails, but received this from a friend and it's worth republishing.

The dog that launched a thousand products

You could say that the 2003 National Champion Patton helped launch the Sporting Artisans web site. I moved back home two years ago, and found that I was getting quite a few orders for Patton t-shirts. I thought to myself, "Self, why not offer more products that can be customized or commissioned?" I then decided to branch out from there - got a few artists to join the site- and here's where we are today - 50 artists and growing.

This month introduces the new Patton mug. This is the same painting that Ducks Unlimited used for the t-shirts and is the painting given to Patton's owner Deb Bredeson for Patton's 2003 National Open Championship win.

You can click here to see the details.

This year, hats off to a team effort at the Plantation Arts Festival

Four artists who grace the pages of the Sporting Artisans web site will be featured at this year's Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival in Thomasville, GA, November 21- 23.

These four artists make up two unique teams: Cindy Lewis and Mark Holland - two of the nation's leading wood sculptors, and Wes and Rachelle Siegrist, two of the nation's premier miniature painters. 

Cindy Lewis and Mark Holland's intricate wood sculptures of birds and flowers are lifelike - made all the more so because the pieces come to life as a result of their expeditions into the field. In fact, their mobility allows Cindy and Mark to create each piece in the field. A fine example of a piece features at Sporting Artisans is "Two Jewels," an original wood sculpture of a Carolina Wren and Hibiscus.

Wes and Rachelle Siegrist are a husband and wife team that started painting together in 1990. Seeing is believing, and you have to see the intricate detail and superb use of color an composition evident in paintings that measure 3 - 4 inches in length and height. Most of their subjects are wildlife, like this painting, "Cactus Camoflauge," now available at Sporting Artisans.

This year marks the thirteenth of the prestigious Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival, held every year at the Cultural Center in Thomasville, GA. Some of the country's best artists and artisans are featured here, and a myriad of supporting events, such as dog demonstrations and live animal encounters make it a perfect outing for the family and a perfect buying opportunity of all the latest works of art. For more information go to PWAF.org.

New Mugshots™ coming to Sporting Artisans

Recently, I've been creating paintings that focus pretty closely on a dog's head or face if you will - to get the expression in the eyes and the character behind them. And each dog has a distinct personality. Getting that right is the best part of doing the painting. Those expressions can often be hilarious, as in the case of Vet, aka "Moonpie" in the "Up Yours" mug soon to debut in about a week. The lab looking skyward in the other mug is my supermodel Libby, who is a Master Hunter and lives on a plantation in south Georgia. I think I've done at least four paintings of Libby so far.

The mugs come from Mug World, and they are considered among the best. The mugs are stout, heavy and are 15 oz. Sporting Artisans will also carry many more of their line of sporting-scene mugs. The mugs will retail at $11.95 each.

If you want to see more of these "mug shots" you can click here to see my original paintings at Chris Chantland.com. 

Getting started on a lighter note

Welcome to the Sporting Artisans blog. Here you will find all the latest news, events, new works of art, destinations and anything else that is directly related to the Sporting Artisans web site and the artists who grace the web site. But given the fact that this is election season and I am new to this sort of thing, I thought you might like to see this clip of one of the candidates - a year or so before the election got into high gear. Be sure to watch the whole clip - it's worth it.