Our dogs and their "mini-me" felt pet portraits (by Amelia Makes Art)

Today the Salem Statesman Journal's "Pet Click" feature ran an adorable photo of our dogs, Zu Zu and Serena. 

Here is how they looked in the paper.

And here is the SJ web site version.

Laurel, my wife, posed them with their "mini-me's" -- felt art portraits/sculptures marvelousluy fashioned by Amelia, of Amelia Makes Art.

Interestingly, Amelia does her animal art thing (also cats, pigs, horses, maybe others) close-by, in northwest Portland. We can highly recommend her to anyone who wants a unique "portrait" of a pet. 

This was Laurel's birthday present.

She instantly fell in love with Amelia's work after she took a look at her web site. Amelia wanted photos of our dogs from as many angles as possible. Then she fashioned felt figures of Zu Zu and Serena and emailed us some photographs to review and comment on.

We thought she had Zu Zu with too much gray under her muzzle. Amelia made the change. Soon after we got mailed a box with the dog art. As I suspected, we couldn't wait for Laurel's birthday to open it. 

The felt figurines grace a shelf between our kitchen and living room. I'm still amazed at how well Amelia captured not only the appearance of our dogs, but also their personality. That's artistry!

Serena, on the right, is a 13 year old Shepherd/Lab/whatever mix. She usually doesn't prick her ears up, but Laurel managed to get a photo of her doing that. So now Serena is forever immortalized with alert ears.

With her German Shepherd'ness, Serena is more dignified and reserved than ebullient Zu Zu. Zu Zu is a three year old (probably) mutt of indeterminate breed origins. We got her from a Portland shelter after being brought to Oregon from eastern Washington.

They can almost be taken for a mother and daughter. We love them both -- the real live dogs and their wonderful mini-selves.

Thank you, Amelia. We know that Serena won't be with us physically for much longer. But your dog art will help keep her vividly alive in our minds. 

Check out the Amelia Makes Art page of Happy Client Photos -- of dogs with their dog art. We're going to take better photos of our dogs to send to her. This is one of my favorite Happy Client Photos: