If You're Going to San Joseeeee...

Well, my wonderful wife and I are off to San Jose for a few days. I will be adding artwork to the walls of a great new animal community center there. For more details on this building, which is the first green building of its kind, check out their website, www.hssv.org. Hopefully, I will soon have some pictures and maybe even some video to share with you all of the adventure!

25 Things about My Dogs

The newest thing on Facebook is to write 25 things about yourself, but I'm really not that interesting, so I had "my girls" (AKA my dogs Emma and Logan) tell you 25 things about themselves. Trust me, it is WAY more interesting than I could ever be. To check them out, visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ron-Burns/50976005714. And, let me know about the funny things your dog does!

My First Painting for Sale

Once upon a sunny day, I found a dog abandoned on a lonely Sedona ranch. This dog was a playful puppy that saw me and instantly knew he could realize his life’s purpose – to inspire and ultimately save me. My wife Buff and I had never shared our lives with a male dog before, but this goofy dufus easily won us over and we called him Rufus.

While secluded in our Sedona get-away, I was surrounded by traditional Southwest inspiration, but nothing filled my heart. Until that is… I looked down at my sweet new puppy Rufus. As I looked down at him, I thought, “If I can transform onto canvas the feeling I get from looking into the eyes of this pup, I think I may have something.” It turns out that I did find something special that day, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Many moons ago, Buff and I decided to make limited edition lithographs of my first Rufus painting. Although successful, we decided to stop selling them as Rufus declined in health. Now, in memory of him, the best animal friend I have ever known, gone for almost two years, we are bringing them “out of the vault” for sale again. There are only about 80 editions left, and all are hand-signed and numbered by me.

They retail for $149.99 plus shipping and handling. To purchase, please visit http://ronburns.com/fromthevault/rufus/rufus.html and thank-you for sharing in our special connection - our otherworldly human/animal bond.

Doing What I Can, By Using What I Do Best

It's been an ongoing commitment for me to do whatever I can to help shelter animals find loving furever homes. From my beginnings, when I traveled the country, photographing animals behind cages waiting for their perfect person to come walking through the door, to now seeing all the animals up for adoption because of housing foreclosures or with owners who can simply no longer afford to keep them, I have wanted to help these animals, because they simply cannot help themselves.

In the beginning, I would photograph animals at shelters, go to my studio, paint them, and when the piece sold, I would donate a percentage from the sale back to that shelter so that they may continue to save more animal lives and continue to house my inspirations. Now, my schedule does not allow me to travel the country and help out individual shelters all across this great nation, which is a source of much sorrow for me.

No longer, though, because I have developed programs that will help any non-profit animal welfare organization raise money through my artwork. These programs are outlined on a page on my website, http://ronburns.com/philanthropy/requestsupport/index.html. It's the introduction to a whole website designed for shelters.

I am sure this program will help shelters across the country save lives, and continue my dedication to finding all animals their perfect Furever Homes!

Slum DOG Millionaire

Buff and I love going to the movies. This past weekend, we went out and saw Slumdog Millionaire. It's Buff's pick for best movie of the year. I thought it was really great too. Of course having the word dog in the title automatically makes my ears perk! The rags to riches story reminded me a lot of so many dogs in shelters across the country. They go from wandering the streets, to being rich in love when they find their furever homes. Great movie and I definitely give it two paws up!