I’ll bet you didn’t know I was an artist as well as an animal advocate. I thought you might like to see what I do when I’m not working on Poisoned Pets. Sometimes when the work here gets to be too stressful – imagine that! – I take a break from it all and sit down for a while at my drafting table and draw. Hours pass and the stress melts away. There has never been a question as to what my subject matter would be – pets and the people who love them.

Another thing you probably don’t know about me is that long before I became a pet food safety advocate, I used to work in the rarified world of high fashion where I created illustrations for ad campaigns. Then one day, I left it all behind. But with it, I also left behind my fabulous salary. I’ve never been sorry that I left that world behind, because helping animals is work that, while at once heartbreaking and tragic, is profoundly meaningful. For that, I am honored, and blessed to be in a position where I can do great work in helping animals.

Although I love this work and I would never go back to the life I once knew, it is incredibly difficult to do this work effectively when I depend entirely on donations from individuals like you. While I’d like to say I get enough donations, truthfully I don’t.  As one of only two consumer advocates in the U.S. at AAFCO, it is essential that I attend the AAFCO conferences which occur twice a year. There are other important pet food and animal feed events that I would like to attend, but I simply cannot afford it. So, that’s when I decided to get back into my art to help fund my work.

Take some time and visit my store at Saatchi Art where you can see what I’ve been up to. The artwork is printed on natural white archival quality European paper and are high quality giclée reproductions. The illustration featured above is titled, appropriately, ‘Portrait of a lady with fabulous hair.’ Original works of art are also available for purchase.

And since you’re here…I have a small favor to ask. Since Poisoned Pets’ independent, investigative journalism takes an incredible amount of time, requiring hundreds of hours of research, and money to produce, I rely on support from people like you who care about animals as much as I do. If everyone who believes in my work on Poisoned Pets, who likes it, and helps fund it, the future of Poisoned Pets would be so much more secure. For as little as $1, you can support Poisoned Pets – and it only takes a minute. Please donate – even if it’s a small amount – to help Poisoned Pets. It means the world to me and pets all over the world.