While attempting to survive the demise of Western Civilization, there’s no reason not to keep busy.
Our New Pledge of Allegiance
As I busy myself trying to finalize a big poster, here’s a special note from The Ministry of Truth.
Brooks and Roscoe
A Christmas commission. Using separate photos as reference images can sometimes be a challenge.
Warning: Bonehead Move in Progress
After 35+ years in the industry, you’d think I’d be smart enough to avoid doing something this stupid. You’d be wrong.
Cole, a Curly Pet Portrait
This is Cole, a particularly curly – and happy – fellow. This regular commission came to me in late October, just before the Christmas rush, so I’m including it in my Christmas commissions list anyway because once I finished it, the orders came pouring in. The client only supplied one photo, not normally a good thing. But in this case it was a clear, well-lit photo that I was able to work with. In order …
Characteristics of an Initiation Ritual
It may sound esoteric and overly intellectual, but pay attention, because we’re living through it right now.Comments are open! Please add yours below. About the Authortopdog TwitterTopdog is Steve Merryman, an artist, writer, and dog lover. An accomplished traditional artist, Steve also accepts commissions for digital hand-painted pet portraits. In his spare time he enjoys the quiet of the forest, hikes with his dogs, reading actual books, and continuing his Don Quixote-like quest for the …
Pet Portrait of Bella, a Yellow Lab
Here’s a screen-capture of a recent pet portrait commission of Bella, a lovely yellow lab. The actual portrait took about six hours, but I’ve compressed it all down to a nifty three and a half minutes. I composed a special musical background for this piece using Apple’s Logic music creation software. I’m a musical imbecile, but the program has tons of loops to play with. The customer for this portrait found me via WilderWealthyWise, a …
Oregon Health Authorities: “Covid19 Is Serious!”
Comments are open! Please add yours below. About the Authortopdog TwitterTopdog is Steve Merryman, an artist, writer, and dog lover. An accomplished traditional artist, Steve also accepts commissions for digital hand-painted pet portraits. In his spare time he enjoys the quiet of the forest, hikes with his dogs, reading actual books, and continuing his Don Quixote-like quest for the perfect cheeseburger. Almost Dailies: Painting Dog Portraits at a Craft FairJune 17, 2026New Portraits Added to …
Falling Leaves and the Hazard of Experts
The Death Rattle of Western Civilization continues. As the foundations of our culture are being destroyed from within by means of 1) hysterical panic over a 99.9% survivable virus, and 2) spittle-flecked irrational hatred whipped up over a media-enabled fictionalized caricature of the President, it’s important to take time to appreciate the little things. It’s almost Halloween, and the leaves are still on the trees. This is unusual. Also, we were buried in eight inches …
Rejected by Shutterstock
Tonight I had a batch of cool photos rejected by Shutterstock, and I’m a little pissed off, to say the least. It’s certainly Shutterstock’s right to reject photos. As a new contributor, I’ve had a few photos rejected and it’s part of the learning process to find out what Shutterstock wants. In each case, I understood the reasons given for the rejection. But this is different. I shot a large collection of rose images using …