Cynthia M. Green

~ Artist ~

Making - "Taters"

"Taters" History: Cindy started drawing "The Boys" in June of 2005 and completed the drawing in September 2005. She wanted to draw our Greyhounds Kona and Snowy so I would have something special to remember them by when they were gone. We took several photographs of Kona and Snowy separately as taking one of them together was almost impossible. They rarely laid close enough to each other to capture a photo. One day I walked through the bedroom and they both were laying on the bed..... What a rare sight. I just had to snap a photo. As Cindy and I continued our search for individual pictures for her to draw, I mentioned one day that the below photo would be a good one for her to draw as it really defines retirement for Greyhounds. I joked around that she should complete the piece and call it "Taters" for The 45 mph couch potato. As the piece progressed we discussed having it printed and selling it to help raise money for Greyhound adoption groups. 4 months later the piece was completed and the name "Taters" stuck.

Snowy has since crossed the bridge. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma just after Christmas 2005. He crossed the bridge on February 27th 2006. He will always be in our hearts and in "Taters"

Above: This is the original photograph of Kona and Snowy Cindy drew "Taters" from. Notice that both of their eyes had considerable "flash rash" from the flash. Cindy used other photographs of Kona and Snowy's eyes and applied them in her drawing.

Below are a few "in process" photographs of "Taters" showing the progression of Cindy's work.

Above: You can see the drawing of Kona's head and partial body. If you look closely, you can see rough shapes transferred to the illustration board. These rough shapes were merely guide points during the drawing process for Cindy to know where to shade the areas.

In this photo you can see Kona and Snowy completed. Cindy has started working on the blanket. If you compare this photo to the one above you can distinguish the guide shapes around Snowy's face that were eventually shaded to make the blanket.

Drawing is almost complete above. The detail of the blanket is quite evident. You can see the dimensional effect of the shading in the blanket detail as it appears to be rolling under Snowy and Kona.

The completed original drawing a few hours before it was taken to the lithographer for printing. The edges of the drawing are rough and not straightened out. The final details in the artwork have been added and all the finishing touches have been completed. The drawing was scanned electronically with a very high resolution digital scanner. We were provided a full page proof for review. After the proof was reviewed by Cindy and given the O.K. it was sent to high speed lithograph printing machines. The machines are capable of producing 10,000 prints an hour. It took longer to clean the presses than the actual print job. After scanning, Cindy signed the original and we had it framed. She presented the original as a late Birthday present to me and it now hangs in the living room as one of my most cherished posessions.

Above the print in it's final printed lithograph form. The edges are clean and crisp and the print title and other footer information are on the white border. All that is left to do.......individually sign and number 1000 copies!

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E-Mail: Cindy Green