I have been working on awards for the Podengo National to be held in April. When I was first contacted they asked if I could felt a wall hanging with Podengos chasing a rabbit through the Portugal countryside.
I hope I responded intelligently because inside I was laughing 🙂 I think I said something like “Um, sure I could probably put something together for you.”
Ok, I don’t know how confident she was that I could do it after that response, but to be honest I wasn’t really sure I could do it either. First of all – what does the Portugal countryside look like??? Second of all – every Podengo I have seen looks completely different from the next and I couldn’t find any pictures of them running. So, she very kindly offered to send me a video of Podengos chasing a rabbit through the countryside of their homeland.
Here is the logo from their organization…
and here is a brief description – The Portuguese Podengo is an ancient multi-sensory hound (sight and scent) breed of dog from Portugal. There are three sizes – small (Pequeno), medium (Médio), and large (Grande). Each size with two hair coats (smooth and wire) and its own unique temperament. All three sizes love to hunt in their native country.
At the end of the conversation I had committed to making a large wall hanging…
The overall size is 3′ x 4′. Here is a close-up of the dogs.
A medium wall hanging…
and two smaller wall hangings.
They wanted the smaller wall hangings to have the dog(s) standing with a rabbit. I think these were the hardest ones to do. Pretty plain with just dogs and a rabbit, so my mom helped me come up with the leaves and swirl idea – thanks mom!
I love working with dog clubs and the people are always so nice. This is what she had to say when I sent her pictures…
“Thank you SO much for your time, your work, and especially your creativity. Can’t wait to see the surprise on people’s faces!!!”
I wish I could be there!
I hope I did the Portugal countryside correctly because the judge is from Portugal!!!
A little note about my Studio blog – As much as I like the idea of having a blog for the studio, it just isn’t reality at the moment. So, I will be sharing studio news here again.
Stories from the Farm 
Shannon, your work ( art) is just , for lack of better adjectives, beautiful! I have never heard of that breed of dog and they look like corgis to me.
I think your Mom’s idea added to the design, but I very much like them all. I totally understand your decision to combine your blogs…
Beautiful!!!