Moving countries with a dog: A full account of the trip from Helsinki to Bath

It's almost exactly a month since we moved, and I think I've just about recovered enough to tell you all about what turned out to be quite an ordeal. 

Having thoroughly planned, packed, and panicked, we set off to Helsinki the night before our flight to Brussels. I doubt anybody slept that night, including the dogs. Mum and I were very nervous about Kara's weight - Finnair allows dogs in the cabin if they, with their bag, weigh 8kg or under, and the previous day Kara weighed just under 7kg without the bag. Here I must mention that the information given on flying with pets varies depending on the source, and though I did do a lot of googling to check every single little detail prior to the flight, I can't say I was particularly confident about how we'd manage.
As it turned out, Kara weighed 7.9kg with her bag, and gleefully we dashed through the terminal, both dogs in tow, with none too many minutes to spare at the departure gate. Next it was time to worry about Freija - how on earth would she stay put under the seat in front of mine for the full two and a half hours? More importantly, at this point I kept all my fingers and toes crossed that she wouldn't panic and start screaming bloody murder as she can sometimes do in nervous situations...
So on we went, our seats being the very last at the back of the plane. The space under the seats in front of ours was cramped to say the least, though thankfully the soft Trixie bags we'd bought solely for the flight did squash down somewhat and both doggies were lodged reasonably comfortably in their places for the duration of the flight. As we set off, Freija was nervous as I'd expected, and whined from the runway till we got above the clouds - happily a bit of soothing rocking her bag on my part seemed to help, and she settled down eventually. In fact, the flight from there on out was incredibly peaceful with both dogs sleeping most of the time.

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 22, 2015 at 1:41am PDT

When we landed (and breathed for the first time in 24 hours, I feel) Kara had a bit of a Bambi moment - somebody hadn't moved a muscle for over two hours and ended up with paws of spaghetti! What a laugh we had at that, while simultaneously dashing to collect our luggage and meet the pet taxi who would be collecting us for the trip from Brussels to Folkestone...
It was a short and peaceful drive across the border. Our driver amused us with stories of other pets they'd traveled with, and said how surprisingly many of them got stopped at the pet passport check in Calais due to a multitude of ridiculous reasons - we chuckled and said how glad we were our passports had been checked by our vet just days before departure to ensure we'd be safe to travel.
Oh how wrong we were.
Upon entering the pet reception building, one of the personnel pounced at Freija, who I was carrying, to check her microchip. Girly girl freaked out and I ended up with a pee-covered shirt - the least of my worries towards the end of the night. With both of the dogs microchips found, they started looking through the pet passports. Kara's went through no problem, she was cleared to travel. Then things went very, very wrong. The ladies behind the desk gathered round Freija's passport, shaking their heads and muttering in French. My heart sank - something was obviously amiss. To sum up (and leave out hours of exasperation, tears, negotiation, and fear), here's what was wrong:

• Instead of the issue date of the microchip, ours had the reading date of the microchip. This was very obviously bad because the microchip has to be inserted BEFORE the rabies vaccination is given, and of course these were in the wrong order as Freija received her passport in January. 
• The vet had not stamped the passport, neither on the main page or on the vaccination pages.
• The rabies vaccination had not been laminated.

We spent that night in Calais, not sleeping a wink. All kinds of backup plans were running through our minds, from flying back to Finland, to getting a new rabies vaccination and passport and staying the mandatory quarantine period in France... It was a real waking nightmare. The pet reception ladies told us to visit a vet first thing in the morning who would "help" (there were mentions of paying in cash and "he'll sort it out for a price"), and so we made our way to there at eight the next day. We were greeted by a secretary who promptly declared she couldn't do anything for us without correct documentation from our own vet in Finland - which we obviously didn't have with us since we'd thought we wouldn't need anything apart from the "approved" passports we'd bought. Cue frenzied, expensive international calls to Finland. First none of the many vets we've visited with Freija answered, all calls going straight to answerphone. Then the phone rang - our little local vet had heard our voicemail and said they'd fax over Freija's records (which were actually missing the microchip number, but the vet understood our situation and added it on since all the other details including the microchip insertion date were correct). As soon as that fax came through, the secretary whipped out a new blank passport and started scribbling away - Freija was saved (although now a French national and pronounced "Frejah") and we could officially continue our journey, PHEW!

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 22, 2015 at 12:48am PDT

Our driver from the night before kindly came back for us, and we whizzed past the traffic (you'll all know about the migrant crisis in Calais this summer), through the pet passport check and border control. We got through to the tunnel rather quickly, with just enough time to spare for a quick wee for the dogs before loading up the pet taxi into the sweltering hot train. It was an uncomfortable journey in the heat, but short - withing 45 minutes we were in Folkestone, apologising profusely to my granddad who had come to meet us the night before, only to have to turn back home and come again that day.

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 22, 2015 at 12:40pm PDT

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 22, 2015 at 12:52pm PDT

After a blissful night of sleep in Eastbourne we were thoroughly prepared for the drive to Somerset. Granddad had borrowed a minibus from work, which easily accommodated three large suitcases, a few bits and pieces of furniture, three people, and two small dogs - so off we set just after five in the morning. There are few things as beautiful as the English countryside at dawn, especially that drive from East Sussex through to the West, onto Hampshire, Wiltshire, and eventually Somerset and Avon. It's especially delightful after the ordeal of the previous couple of days, I must say.
We arrived in Bath around ten that morning, via a quick brekkie stop at Wetherspoons in Warminster,
and spent the day buying furniture, kitchenware, and other immediate essentials, and setting up my and Freija's new flat. It's a gorgeous flat, in a gorgeous area, and that night I think we couldn't have felt any happier to be home.

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 26, 2015 at 4:54am PDT

Moving countries with a dog: a long post about packing!

Packing up your entire life in a couple of suitcases is a challenge to say the least, especially when you're taking your full art studio and everything your dog owns with you. Here's how I packed for my move from Finland to the UK. :)

• Start planning your packing well in advance: I wrote my list two weeks before the move, and added to it almost daily since I'd forgotten everything important, as you do. You'll also need to check how much luggage you can bring - if you're flying it's generally around 20kg per suitcase, and if you're bringing your pet on board you have to make sure it weighs no more than 8kg (or 6kg for some airlines) including the weight of it's bag. The pet's bag has to fit under the seat in front of you and should be a soft one so you can slightly squash the fabric to fit if it's not the exact size, bearing in mind your pet should be able to spend the entirety of the flight in it comfortably. You're also allowed a little carry-on bag in addition to your pet, so pack all your travel essentials in that. Before packing make sure to check what you cannot bring on the plane! If you're flying to the UK you can bring your printer ink, for example, but you couldn't if you are flying to the USA as they have very strict rules in regards to ink cartridges.

Helping @liserichardsonart pack up her art studio for our big move 🎨🐾 #etsy #etsycards #etsyart #shopsmall #cutedog #crossbreed #dog #doodle #doglover #dogsofig #dogsofinstagram #dogs_of_instagram #doodlesofinstagram #freija #instadog #instapet #instacute #instamutt #ilovemydog #mutt #pet #poodlemix #terrier #terriermix #terriersofinstagram #yorkiemix #yorkiepoo #yorkiepoosofinstagram #movingwithpets #movingcountries

A photo posted by Freija (@freijatheyorkiepoo) on Jul 16, 2015 at 12:29pm PDT

• Make a list: This seems like the most obvious tip ever, and if you've ever moved house you'll know how to do this in a way that works for you. However, moving from country to country you'll have to trim the list down a little unless you're prepared to dish out for a removal company (which is dead expensive if you're going on a student budget!), and consider what you can replace once you've moved or bring along later if you're able to leave things behind in storage or with family. Here's my list: 

• Paperwork:
• travel documents (pop them in a plastic wallet so they're all in one place for you to grab when you need to.)
• passports (for people and pets alike - make sure they're up to date and that the pets have all the correct vaccination details marked in there.)
• tenancy paperwork (everything to do with your rented flat that you'll need.)
• university paperwork (you'll need it to set up a bank account if you don't have one already, among other things!)
• medical records and prescriptions (although you won't be able to use them abroad as such, you may find them useful when going to your new doctor - also if you have a national insurance card bring that along too!)
• any other identification and legal paperwork
• a map or list of important addresses in your new hometown (because you'll need to know where the bank, GP, post office supermarket, and many other places are located practically as soon as you arrive, and that means before the broadband is set up.)
• Clothes: 
• two or three weeks worth of t-shirts/tops
• plenty of underclothes and socks (these can be used to protect fragile items in your suitcase, such as ornaments if you're a hoarder like me and can't bear to part with your collection)
• three or four pairs of trousers
• warm clothes just in case (that is if you're moving in the summer, in the winter this one is obvious!)
• a pair or two of thick or woolly socks (for cold evenings and wellies if you're moving to the UK!)
• jim jams (warm and cold weather ones)
• a pair of boots, a pair of nice shoes, crocs or sandals (wear trainers when you move!)
• at least one pair of gloves, hat and scarf
• jean jacket, sports coat, raincoat, warm autumn coat (I don't know whether I'll need a full-on winter coat in the UK, I may buy one later - but I've got a winter gilet which can be chucked on top of the autumn coat for added warmth).
• Dog clothes: 
•  two warm jumpers
• two raincoats (because on rainy days you really don't want to do two to three walks with a soggy coat)
• a set of booties
• lifevest
• hi-vis jacket
• spare leash, harness and collar.
• Soft furnishings and decorations: 
•  a quilt (I'm talking about a crocheted little quilt, not a duvet, you can buy one when you arrive!)
• a couple of throw pillow cases (if you have nice ones you don't want to leave behind that is, don't even think about taking the actual pillows for goodness sake - those are easily and affordably replaceable)
• a stuffed toy (if you're sentimental like me!)
• a few SMALL ornaments (I collect dog figurines, art, and prints, I'll pick and choose the best ones to bring with me).
• Books and DVDS: 
• any dvds you want to bring, packed in storage cases (I have A LOT of videos because I've always got something on whenever I paint, but instead of bringing all those boxes with me I've grudgingly agreed to pop all the disks into those big folder things - much easier to move with)
• a few important art and reference books I'll definitely need
• a couple of fictional ones to last the initial week or two (I may eventually have my collection shipped over, but for now there's simply too much to bring along)
• recipe book (I've got a homemade one with all my favourite recipes jotted down in it)
• Dog supplies:  
• food and water bowls plus the plastic mat they go on (if your dog is anything like mine, there's NO WAY they'll agree to eat and drink in a new enviroment from brand new set of bowls)
• brush
• nail clippers
• fur scissors
• heat pants (for intact girly girls)
• paw balm (only if you've already got a tin open!)
• frisbees (or any other sports equipment your dog may use that costs a pretty penny)
• one or two balls
• a soft toy or two
• Art stuff:  
• Printer (I'm shipping mine separately since it's MASSIVE - I'm using sendmybag.com which seems to be the best and most affordable option - just be aware that you cannot ship the ink cartridges along with the printer, so either use them up or pack them in your suitcase. I managed to pack all my paper and packaging supplies as well as some other studio bits and bobs in my printer's box too, since I paid for 30kg and my printer only weighed 16kg on it's own. I'll update this post once I've moved and let you know how that's worked out!)
• portfolio (only the best work from the past year or so - if you can leave your older work with family or in storage then do that because if you're like me and have accumulated an absolute mountain of originals, it's doesn't make sense to bring it all with you.)
• laptop and charger
• external hard drive
• painting supplies (for me it's a tin of gouaches, a watercolour set, any salvageable paintbrushes since I've not replaced most of mine for ages, pencil case with the most used pens and pencils, one full pad of good paper and all remaining painting boards, one or two of these fab clay yoghurt pots I use for watercolours, and two little palettes)
• wacom board and pen
• scissors (you'll probably need them during the move too!)
• In addition to all this, I've also listed my meds and makeup, a hair dryer (I've got a REALLY nice one), a few choice pieces of jewellery, a couple of my nicer bags, maybe one set of sheets and a towel or two. Basically make sure you bring things you're sure you'll need, and store everything else with family or with a storage service, and brin
• g it over in little batches when you can or sell it at a flea market or garage sale. 

•  Time your packing well: If you're moving with pets like me, do not pack their day-to-day belongings until right before you leave. This may not apply to every pet, but my dog will work herself into a panic if she sees me packing too early - when we go for holidays I try to pack and leave as quickly as possible so the trip will go as smoothly as possible, and that same idea will apply for moving too. Obviously everything else needs to be packed earlier, so what I've done is laid everything out into a couple of washing baskets ready to dump in the suitcases quickly and easily. I started really packing this weekend before the move begins on Monday evening.

• Set aside things to be moved at a later date: If you're moving countries and you've got friends or family who'll be visiting you after you've moved, it's a good idea to have them bring over some of your non-urgent belongings with them. Make sure these things will be easy to find - bag them up ready to be packed later!

That's about it, tomorrow (Monday) we head off to Helsinki for the night before flying out on Tuesday. If my blog goes back to radio silence, I can guarantee it's due to lack of internet connection in the new flat. But I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about after the move, so I'll write to you on the other side! :)

Getting out of a slump

Long time no motivational art blogging! Actually, this time I'm going off on a bit of a tangent, but it's all applicable to anything and everything that you might be working on a lot at any given time, plus it's a quick read so ho hum. ;)

Today hasn’t been great, I’ve been a bit off-colour in the art department (’scuse the pun) and things have been feeling a bit iffy with my webite, shop and general social media stuff, like I know there’s more I could do, and that I could do it all better, but something is holding me back. The thing is I’ve had this sort of crises with my work so often that I know it always inevitably precedes a kind of leap of progress, so I’m not getting too worked up about it (it also helps that one of my favourite video bloggers, Lachri Fine Art, mentioned having a similar sort of revelation with her work: a slump generally proceeds a big improvement). That’s not what inspired this blog post though, funnily enough – but it does involve the exact same thought/panic/revelation process as art!

See, it’s actually dog sports I wanted to talk about. My dog is fantastic, as I’ve mentioned many times before, she’s all you could wish for in a sports companion: endless motivation, enthusiasm, very fast and agile, is willing to work for toys and treats alike… So colour me surprised when every now and again (not frequently, thank goodness!) we have a really terrible training session.

Tonight it was frisbee. Freija girl LOVES those disks to bits, and usually I have no trouble getting her to at least attempt a catch (we’re not great at flying catches yet, not least because I am completely useless at throwing what is essentially a rubber pancake in such a way that it’ll fly smoothly). That was not the case this time, she wouldn’t go for the disks till they simply dropped in front of her to pick up. We wrapped up the training session fairly quickly when I realised things weren’t going to work, and left the little football pitch we practice on in a decidedly frustrated mood.

As a dog owner it can be difficult to hide that frustration, especially if it’s aimed at yourself (“why can’t I get this throw right?” “why am I not giving commands clearly enough?” etc.). What I try to do is take a deep breath, pause the training for a few minutes and figure out what’s going wrong while giving girly girl a chance to sniff around for a moment. If it seems like she’s too excited to focus on catching practice, I’ll let her chase a couple of rollers (where you throw the disk on it’s edge so it rolls instead of flying) and end the training there. If it seems like she’s getting irritated at not getting the catch right and receiving no praise, I’ll have her do a trick she knows and end the session on a happy note. And if it’s simply me being rubbish at throwing, I’ll go and practice that throw without Freija so I can get it right for her next time.

When we practice anything, whether it’s painting, crochet or even doggy tricks, there will be moments when it feels like we’re up against a brick wall. The first time (who am I kidding, the first ten times) this happens, we’ll get annoyed or even angry at ourselves for not being able to overcome the obstacle. That is not going to solve the problem – you have to make yourself take a step back, take a deep breath, and work out what’s going wrong. This can take a minute, a day, or several weeks, but you’ve got to let yourself get over that frustration and really focus on what you can fix in order to get better, and once you do you’ll soon forget that you had to go through that process in order to progress. That’s why I’ve written this post, as a little reminder that you’re capable of improving in whatever you’re working towards, as long as you give yourself a fair chance. :)

Moving countries with a dog: The paperwork bit

Long time no blog, eep! I've got a very good reason for the elongated silence though, I've spent the entire month of June emailing, working out, and generally just arranging the rental agreement. Turns out it's ridiculously difficult and bureaucratic renting a flat in England, who'd have thought it?

I'll keep this short and sweet, since I covered a lot of the arrangements in my previous post, but these are the complicated ins-and-outs that I've dealt with after that:

• Guarantors: As my grandad so aptly put it, unless you're a millionaire, no pensioner has enough yearly income to act as guarantor. No begging, pleading, or weeping will help with this, if your guarantor doesn't make 30x your rent, they won't be accepted, and that's a fact. The thing is, agencies may not tell you this before you've already paid for the guarantor check, so to avoid that extra £50 fee for a guarantor that won't make the cut, make absolutely sure that they're making enough each year to cover it. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful family friend who stepped in and helped me out, so make sure to explore all avenues before giving up.
• Tentant's and Landlord's rights: This is really easy to overlook when you're renting for the first time by yourself, but for goodness sake make sure you've read all the legal papers - there can be some really nasty surprises in store if you don't! Especially when you've got a dog in tow, there can be some clauses in the drafted agreement that you need to be VERY aware of, or even re-negotiate depending on the situation. But don't worry too much, because it's all in legal-speak and often isn't quite as strict as it seems - for example I didn't know that basically every rental in the UK says you aren't allowed to run a business solely from the apartment, which scared me since I have my own online business, but as it turns out that only means you can't run, say, a brothel! :D
• Paperwork: Things I requested before signing the tenancy agreement included the following; landlord's insurance documents, gas and electric safety checks, lease documents, and the deed of guarantee. You'll also want to hold onto all the invoices you've been sent, just in case!
• Signing the agreement from overseas: It seems pretty obvious, but if you're based abroad like me, it works like this; the agent sends you the drafted tenancy agreement which you need to approve, then they get the landlord's and guarantor's approval. Then the agent sends you the final version of the agreement to print, sign (you also need a witness to sign it, and make sure to add your initials on each page - they do require this sometimes!), scan, and send back to them via email. They then fill it out at their end, email it back, and that's that. When you move in you'll exchange the original documents. 
• Furniture: If you're buying any of the furniture left in the apartment by the landlord, make sure you have it on paper that you've paid - and invoice is good to keep for this, so you can avoid any confusion to the ownership of bits and bobs at the end of your tenancy.
• Visitors: I'm moving in with help from my mum and granddad, with our older dog (hopefully!) in tow. This may not be the case with all rentals, but my landlord does require me to inform them of visitors staying more than a few days, especially if there are pets involved. Since I already had approval for my own dog, negotiating about my mum's dog didn't prove too difficult - but definitely ask permission before booking any tickets!!
• Travel arrangements: This can be a bit of a nightmare - England is NOT an easy place to move to with pets, especially if you're not willing to fly with them in the hold, which we are most certainly not. It seems impossible, but with a bit of working out it's doable. I suggest flying to Brussels or Paris CDG airport, then making your way up to Calais (please note that Eurostar does not accept pets in any shape or form, so avoid them at all costs!) via train, bus, rental car, or taxi. We opted for taxi to avoid any additional panic in renting and returning cars and driving in Belgium - eep!  Then get on the Eurotunnel shuttle with your taxi (you can't rent a car from the continent to drop off in the UK, it's all to do with driving on the wrong side etc.) to Folkestone, the price of which can vary from around £100 to over £1000 - do your research!! Once you're in the UK, getting to where you need to go is fairly easy, trains generally allow pets free of charge (South East trains do, and that's where you're setting off from), and if you can rent a car or have relatives in the area it's a piece of cake. :)

So that's as far as I've got in the past month. It's not been easy, but it's done! Next I'll tell you about the actual traveling bit, which is a bit nerve-wracking to say the least. :D

Moving countries with a dog: Flat hunting

Hello again pals, I've been away for just under three weeks looking for my new home in England.

It's just over that last hill, on the way down to Bath.

Finding a rental flat as a student with a dog is, predictably, not easy. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation, but I have to say at times it did feel as though it was completely impossible to find anywhere that would have both me and Freija. Here's how I eventually found the flat, and what it required on my part:

• Earlier in the year I joined a local dog group on FB, where I asked how I should go about looking for a rental flat which will allow pets. I got some very helpful replies, recommending agents in the area that had been accommodating to dog owners in the past. Although in the end none of the agencies recommended turned out to have a suitable flat, it's a good idea to ask locals beforehand, they might have some really useful inside knowledge, so to speak. 
• In March I booked my trip to England for the end of May, since websites like Lets with Pets suggest it's best to look well in advance to when you need to move if you're looking for somewhere that will allow a dog. Upon arriving in Bath, a lot of estate agents said I was searching too early. There's no real way around this, as properties that will allow the student-pet combination are few and far between - either you start looking early and find somewhere suitable on the off-chance, or you leave it till just before you need to move and there's a worrying possibility you'll find there's absolutely nothing on the market at that time.
• In the run up to the trip, I spent a lot of time browsing websites like Rightmove and Zoopla. Occasionally a listing would pop up that suited my needs, and I'd fire off an email immediately. About 98% of the replies I got were along the lines of "Thank you for your interest, but unfortunately pets/students are not permitted in this property". This is very disheartening, but if you're prepared, you can power through the negativity. Eventually I did get a promising reply, and put the wheels in motion immediately - I phoned, emailed and kept in contact with that agent up till the viewing we'd arranged. 

This was the first glimpse I had of my new home

• Before the viewing, I wrote up a list of things to ask about the flat, the contract, and all the little ins-and-outs that might occur. There are lots of tips on what to ask online, most of which I copied onto my list, but the ones specific to me as a mature student with a dog were these:

• First and foremost; are pets allowed, and if so, are there restrictions in size, age, breed or anything else?
• Are there quiet hours in the building?
• What is the policy on visitors?
• Who do I need to get in contact with if anything goes wrong, the landlord or the agent?
• Do I need a guarantor, and if I do what is required from them? (In most cases it has to be a UK resident, who earns 30x the amount of your rent per year)
• Do I need to pay a pet safety deposit?
• Can I pay the rent each month, or does it need to be paid in full for the agreed term in advance? (This was the case in my part, since as a student I don't have any income yet. My landlady required the full six months rent in advance, and is willing to negotiate on monthly payments after that provided I have a suitable guarantor)
• Will any furniture, lamps or appliances remain in the flat? Can I make an offer to buy certain items (lamps, tv, curtains etc.)?
• At the viewing, it's important to give a good and honest impression of yourself, your pet, and your circumstances. I got on very well with the agent, which helped a lot - the landlady hadn't initially wanted to let the property to students at all, but after having a good long chat with the agent, she was convinced I was a suitable tenant. I made sure to emphasize that I wanted a long-term rental for me and my small, trained, adult dog, basically focusing on what would make us a great choice, and it seemed to work - I was up against two professional couples, for heavens sake!
• As soon as the viewing was over and done with, I emailed the agent with an offer. The next day she phoned me to say we could start the application process as soon as I'd paid the holding fee (something you need to be prepared to pay with most UK agencies!), which involved filling out a fairly simple form with my details, providing identification for myself and my guarantor, and handing over my references. I had sought those out beforehand, including a character reference from a friend, and a reference for Freija from our trainer. I was also asked to provide an email address for my former employer, but a tutor would suffice too. I also needed to hand over copies of my student grant and loan letters, university acceptance letter, my dog's passport details, and a utility bill from my guarantor. It's best to have all this prepared even before viewing a potential flat, and it speeds the process along considerably.
•  Later I was sent another form to fill in, this time from Letsure, a company that deals with the referencing of potential tenants for landlords. Another form was sent to my granddad, who's acting as guarantor, and I know he had to scan and send in his pension details. Right now I'm waiting for them to finish their part of the job. UPDATE: As it turns out, granddad's pension wasn't enough for him to act as guarantor, so a family friend very kindly offered to do the job - always have a backup plan with all aspects of the rental process because things can go wrong!
• Fees that needed to be paid before the rent include: holding fee (a kind of initial deposit - this counts towards the actual rental deposit later), application/referencing fee, and guarantor fee. These tot up to around £500.
• The last thing that remains to be sorted is paying the deposit and rent in full. These will need to be paid around a week prior to the start of the tenancy in my case, as I'm transferring the money from my Finnish bank account and it can take several business days to arrive. 

A snap of Bath during all the running around various estate agents offices.

So that's the whole ordeal summed up. It's been exhausting to say the least, and I've not even started on the actual moving countries part! I shall be following up with the next steps of the move later on. :)

Preparing for flat hunting: budgeting, wardobe planning, and references.

  

Just over a week from now I’ll be heading over to England to find a flat. It’s all very exciting, and I don’t quite know what to expect, so I’ll not say much till after it’s all sorted, but I thought I’d write a bit about how I’m preparing for the trip.

First up, I’ve written up a slightly vague but reasonable budget for my living costs for when I move. As I’m lucky enough to be eligible for some student benefits from Finland, and indeed the usual student loan from both countries, I’ve got a good base for my monthly budget. I can also rely on help from family if worst comes to worst. Using an online student budget calculator (there are plenty to choose from!), I quickly figured out what things like food, dog supplies, transport and other important things would roughly cost. There are bound to be surprises, but it does help to know what you can and should be spending on these things, and what you could have left over. Anyway, the point of writing up a budget like this is to figure out how much I can use on rent each month. With that done, I’ve spent quite a bit of time since Christmas perusing the websites of local estate agents in Bath, and of course rightmove, to get some sort of picture of the going rates for the type of flat I’m looking for. Bath isn’t the cheapest place to live, but since my main requirements are that it's pet-friendly and has a washing machine, it's doable – the average price per month is around the £750 mark (at the time of writing, that is!), and I can stretch to that if need be.

Second on my list has been a bit of wardrobe planning. I wont go overboard with this and plan it all meticulously, but my rule of thumb for flat hunting is to look smart and presentable, even if you’re a bit of a artsy type like me. I’m a great believer in making good first impressions, especially when something as important as where you live is at stake. So no dog-walk trainers, no scruffy old t-shirts, no just-rolled-out-of-bed hair. For me, it's essential that I look responsible and... well, like a mature student, since that's the ace up my sleeve. Lots of landlords seem to be a bit worried about accepting undergrad students, and for good reason, so I've got to show that since I'm a little bit older, I'm fit to look after the place, myself and my dog.

These are my new flat-hunting shoes. Freija approves!

Lastly, references. What I’ve done is written up one in English for my dog trainer to approve and sign for Freija, as I’m more likely to actually get it done that way than if I asked them to write it up themselves – they’re very busy people, and not too keen on writing in English themselves! I don't know how common it is for people to provide references for their pets, but having discovered Lets with Pets, I decided I needed to get one for girly girl, especially since we're moving from abroad and the potential landlord wont be able to see her in person.
 I’ve also asked a friend of mine if I could jot down a character reference for myself for them to look over and sign, and they’ve very kindly agreed to do that. So although getting that paperwork sorted can feel like a bit of a drag, I’ve managed to sort it out reasonably well. My parents will be acting as guarantors for the rent, and they’ll be writing their own little references too.

So that’s what I’ve sorted out so far! We’ll see how my flat-hunting goes soon enough… :)

Painting my pooches

 

I draw and paint dogs all the time. I often take inspiration from Freija, she’s such a funny looking thing that I find it quite easy to get her characteristics down on paper or canvas. But oddly enough, I’ve never found it quite as simple to paint my older dog, Kara. I’ve given it a go many times before, and occasionally I’ve been fairly happy with the result, but mostly the portrait just looks a bit off. I’ve put it down to using the wrong colours, not putting in enough work with the initial sketch, basically just every reason in the book as to why it wasn’t looking a lot like her. I’m still not completely certain on some of the drawings, studies and painted portraits, whether I was just trying too hard to make it look like my idea of her, or was it down to not being quite there yet in the skill department (I’ll say right now that I’m not a great fan of straight-up realistic portraits, illustrations are more my thing). Whatever the case, I was not happy with most of the results.

"Quizzical" a painting of Kara from 2014

 Since I found out I was definitely going to be moving to Bath, I had this idea that I wanted a nice portrait of Kara to take with, something pretty to remind me of her and to brighten up the new flat (whatever that’s like – I’m going on a househunting trip to England mid-May, fingers crossed I find something really lovely!). It had to be larger than A4, but not huge so that it would be easy to frame and take along with the move – so it’s A3. It also had to be… well, not TOO colourful, in case it clashes with the décor of the flat – some of the potential ones in Bath have interesting colour schemes, so I was going to have to make it work with basically ANYTHING. So I decided on subtle pale pink on grey, with details in black and just a hint of brighter pink in the eyes and nose – I’ve used a similar palette in purple before with the splatter painting of Freija, but this had to be more “interior design-y”. With the style of the piece, I sort of wanted to hint at realism, especially round the darker detailed areas of the face, and leave the rest airy and light. Watercolour helps with this effect, just using light washes with a fairly large brush does the trick.

 
So the idea was all set, all I needed to do was find a reference photo, and in looking for that I sort of saw what had been going wrong in my earlier attempts at the grumpy old lady. The photos I loved, where she really looked like herself, weren’t particularly good – there was very little detail, they were often dark and grainy (an iphone camera with bad indoor lighting does not a good photograph make), just plain rubbish. I looked at the ones I’d used before and they were ALL like that. As it turns out, gorgeous though she is in real life, Kara just isn’t particularly photogenic. I eventually found ONE shot I’d taken on my actual camera that had real potential. It was from a hike last summer, and the lighting was really rather lovely, Kara was looking slightly off camera and it just had the feel of a good portrait. It’s the kind of photo I can snap easily of Freija since she’s essentially grown up as a photographer’s dog, she KNOWS to hold a pose and has the patience of a saint. Kara has never been this kind of dog.
Combining ALL of what I’ve talked about above, this is the result! I’m pleased with how it turned out, and will definitely be happy to pop it in a frame to spruce up that Bath flat later this year. :) 

 

Also if you're interested in my painting process, I actually recorded a very sped-up video of the portrait I did after this of Freija-girl. I think I'll record more painting videos from now on, this one was rather fun. :)

 

Tagging tips for Etsy

 

I’ve written up a few tips on improving your SEO today (two Etsy-themed posts within the last few days – guess who’s been tinkering with her shop this week?). I started my Etsy shop at the end of September last year, and had NO CLUE about search engine optimisation, or SEO for short. It’s all to do with relevancy and making it easier for people to find your shop. I thought because my listings are on this huge shopping website, people are automatically going to find them – that’s what it’s for, right? Not quite. The thing about Etsy is that the marketplace is SO saturated, you’ve got to be really quite specific about what it is you’re selling, but you also have to think like a buyer and avoid really technical terms that only you and fellow artists will ever think to use (surprisingly few people search for "archival 300gsm art print", as it turns out). Also if you're used to tagging on Instagram or Twitter, tagging on Etsy can be a bit irritating. Where on IG you've got around 30 tags to use as you like and you're guaranteed to be found with at least a handful of them, on Etsy you've only got 13 - so you have to use your tags wisely.
So here’s a little checklist for doing up your titles and tags on Etsy (please note that they do change their search algorithm every now and again, so although these tips may work now, check and see if there’s any new info in the Etsy forums about SEO).

• Match your titles and tags! The way Etsy works is that to consider something relevant to a search, not only does the title have to include the search term, the tags do too. This means that your listing will be more likely to be found nearer the first few pages of the search. 
• Avoid one word tags. Say you’re selling a really cute dog-themed greeting card, so you include the tag “cute”. At the time of writing this post, there are 596,498 results for that tag. It’s pretty unlikely your listing will be at the top of those results. Now switch that tag to “cute dog card”, and there’s just 2177 results – one of the first listings is one of my cards. It’s SO much more likely that something searching for your kind of product will use a more specific search term, and finding it will be a lot easier this way.  
• Don't include the name of your artwork. Us artists love using the name of our work in our titles. However, if that title isn’t along the lines of “sheepdog painting”, NOBODY is going to find it in a search. Instead of using the name in your title, why not pop it in the description? :)
• What are your buyers searching for? Try to think of potential uses for your product and include those in the title and tags. For example, people might be searching for “dog lover gift” or “farm animal décor” – if your art would be PERFECT for either of those uses, go ahead and tag it as such! 
• Use descriptive tags! What exactly is your product? If it's an A4 art print, tag it! If it's a kids birthday card, pop that in there too! Also with art it can be a bit difficult to pick out a single colour for your tags, but if you’ve got work where this is possible, definitely use tags like “purple dog art” or “blue cat painting” – I’ve had A LOT of people find my shop with colour-related tags. 
• Don’t tag everything exactly the same way. You're probably selling similar products - I sell dog art, cards and gifts, so it's all pretty much in the same niche. Experiment with different tags where you can – use “art for kids” on one listing, and “dog wall art” on another. The more searches come up with your items, the more people will see them and click through to see the rest of your shop! 
• Update your tags little by little. It’s easier to tell what’s working and what isn’t when you redo a few listings at a time. I did about ten a day, and since I saw immediate results, I had got through all my updates within a week. :)

Product photo tips for Etsy

Judging by the countless forum posts on the subject, one of the biggest pitfalls for an Etsy seller is photography. I’ve briefly mentioned this before, essentially saying you want your photos to be just as nice as the product you’re selling.
Now I’ll be the first to admit my listing photos aren’t the best in the world – if they were, I wouldn’t feel the need to change them ever few weeks or so! Honestly I must’ve spent more time changing, tweaking and updating my photos more than I’ve actually spent on making new items, eek! The thing is that when you’re putting a lot of time and effort into your shop, you do begin to notice things that could be improved a lot more than you would if you just set up shop and left it as is – it’s all about creating a beautiful brand to go with what you actually make, and it takes lots of work.
I’ve tried a number of different kinds of photos. Some have been pretty, some have been simple, and some have been downright terrible. Thankfully I usually notice the really bad ones quickly and spruce them up then and there – before eventually getting fed up with those photos and taking a whole bunch of new ones. What works and what doesn’t is really down to personal taste, but I thought I’d write down a few things that should be considered when taking and editing new listing photos.



 
What to include in the photo?

• I really love styled listing photos with the product shown in use or with other matching bits and bobs around it. One of my favourite kinds of photos for artwork is to show it on a gallery wall with other similar pieces, or perhaps on a mantelpiece with a vase of flowers and pretty decorative objects beside it. These sort of styled photos can be properly gorgeous, and work nicely in editorials and blogs – it’s all about creating really desirable scene built around your product. However, don’t go overboard. These photos can easily look cluttered and your product can get lost among all the props. Depending on what it is you’re taking the listing photo for, a plain background can be the best option to show it off beautifully. I’d suggest trying a bit of both kinds of photos to find what suits you best, and perhaps using the styled scenery shot for your second or third listing photo just to give your customers an idea of what it could look like at home, and also a sense of scale.

Party Westie print

White backgrounds – yay or nay?

• When browsing Etsy, you’ll notice A LOT of the listings have a plain white or off-white background. This is to highlight the product itself, and can give a professional, polished look to your shop. Generally speaking white does work well, and I’d suggest using it especially if your products are bright and colourful – my dog postcards and prints tend to fit into this category, so a white background helps them leap off the page. Where I don’t think this works, however, is with white items – specifically cards and prints. Firstly, taking a photo of white paper on a white background is a right old pain. Secondly, it can make your listing look washed out and easy to overlook in a search. At the moment I use a pastel pink background for my Terrier Love cards, for example – I’m bound to change this at some point, but generally speaking when you’ve got a white product, use simple coloured backgrounds to your advantage – make those photos really pop! 

Terrier Love: Border Terrier card

 Cohesiveness among your own listings

• I readily admit that I struggle with this one. When your products are multi-coloured artwork, it’s difficult to find a way to make it all match neatly. This can apply to lots of other products as well, so I’d say don’t worry too much if you’ve got a bit of a mixed bag in that department. What you can do is to rearrange your shop so that listings which complement each other are all in the same area. Also if you do use coloured backgrounds, make them the same colour or similar shades – and if you’ve got white backgrounds for most of the items but a few coloured ones here and there, I do recommend using pastel shades to keep it bright and fresh. This also applies to lighting – make sure your listing photos are ALL well lit, either photographed in natural light or using an adjustable flash gun (you don’t want full-on flash photos, they never look appealing). 

My current shopfront. Although the colours of the products themselves vary, there's a general theme of pale pink and bright white going on throughout my listings.

Thumbnails – to zoom or not to zoom?

• Another tricky one. What I’ve done is zoomed out on my cards, bags, notebooks and bookmarks, because the main listing photo in these includes a plain background. It gives a sense of these being tangible items, something you can pick up and use. This may be different for other kinds of products, jewellery for example can look a lot more exciting in a search when the thumbnail highlights the key features. On the flipside, I use zoomed in thumbnails for original art and prints. That’s because my main listing image for these is the full artwork with no border or background – I want the focus to be solely on the art. My second and third images show the tangible product, framed or on an easel, but I want that first impression to be of nothing but the painting itself. The thumbnails are zoomed in on the main feature of each painting – most of my work is vertical so it’s got to be cropped a bit for Etsy’s thumbnails anyway, so I try use that to my advantage.

Here's an example of how I use thumbnails for cards and prints differently.

Those are the key things I came up with, although of course there’s always hundreds of things that can go right or wrong with listing photos… Just do your best to show your lovely products as well as possible, and don’t be afraid to go back and redo a photo or several hundred. It’s all about trial and error with product photography, you wont find what works for you unless you give it a go. :)

Just a hint of courage and a yellow ribbon.

I’ve talked about Freija’s anxiety before, and how difficult it is for her to meet strangers. These past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a bit of a new development… Girly girl has been going up to people voluntarily to sniff, or even be petted! To put that into perspective, it took her over six months to build up the courage to happily sniff and follow our agility class trainer. Can you imagine my sheer surprise when girly girl goes and parks herself at a complete stranger’s feet, and is quite happy to be stroked and made a fuss of? Make that a tall male stranger, which has been her number one worst nightmare up till now?? That NEVER happens!

I’ve also noticed a little change in attitude from dog owners approaching us since I tied a yellow ribbon to Freija’s lead. They know not to let their dogs pounce up on her and to just take the meeting very slowly and peacefully, so none of the dogs involved have any cause to fear. Not everybody knows about the yellow dog scheme of course, but those that do are a great help to us. Basically if you see a dog with a yellow ribbon, or perhaps a special yellow vest or lead with a warning, you shouldn’t approach it without permission. There’s any number of reasons for using the yellow ribbon – we use it to signal that we’re still practicing our social skills and I tell other dog owners this so that we can make the encounter calm and not too frightening for girly girl, but some use it when their dog is in heat, ill, or on fear-aggressive dogs… It could be anything, so unless the owner gives you permission, stay away.

From the Yellow Dog UK website

Off-lead situations are another matter of course. I don’t let Freija go off lead during walkies, there’s no safe space to do so around where we live, it’s all busy roads - besides which, when I have let her go without a lead on special forest hikes and things before, she’s simply trotted along beside me so there’s hardly any point! But the one place she is let off lead is at agility class. We’ve just started our fourth course which has a couple of new members in the group, who aren’t familiar with us or know that Freija is still working on her socialization. One is a large, excitable short-haired collie. As we were about to do a run of the practice course, this cheerful big lad runs up to us for a sniff and tries to get girly girl to play. My heart does a leap at this point, usually I’d expect a snap and panic from Freija, she’s not great with surprises like that. That didn’t happen – instead she just watches the collie, has a bit of a sniff herself, and turns to me as if to say “let’s get on with training, shall we?”. My jaw could’ve dropped clean off.

Could it be that we’re really making progress? Will Freija be the perfect city-dog when we move to Bath? I wasn't too sure before now... But dare I say, I really think it could happen! :)

Finding the right kind of paint

I have a confession to make: painting was my least favourite part of making art up till late spring in 2014. I know, I know, how on earth did I survive art school without enjoying painting? It’s a real mystery, somehow the actual painting courses just whizzed by without me really noticing at all. In fact, considering I got into that school with an entrance exam that included me accidentally tipping water all over my nearly finished watercolour piece, effectively ruining it, I reckon I did quite well to pass any courses at all.

Over the years I’ve tried lots of different mediums, starting from kid’s poster paint to really rather professional oils. For years and years I struggled with watercolours, which I had convinced myself ruined all my work, since nothing turned out how I’d have liked. In art school I took up acrylics, and used them for everything imaginable – painting on canvas, wood, even handmade fimo pendants. Somehow I left that particular medium there and haven’t picked up my once-cherished plastic paints since. At school we slaved away with oils, starting from the gesso base on our handmade canvases, to the layers upon layers of colour applied with palette knives and all manner of non-brushy equipment which was simultaneously exciting and tedious. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s working on a painting for more than about a week – I get bored of looking at it and loose all motivation the longer it takes to complete. I gradually settled into working solely on my tablet in photoshop – no mess, I could pick it up where and when I liked, and it was heaps faster with no waiting for each layer to dry.

"Lewes Corgis", one of my first Scenic Dogs illustrations in watercolour.

So what changed? In early 2014 I was still sticking to my digital art like glue. Still, it did feel a bit odd not having anything physical to show for my hard work, after all no originals existed, if I wanted to display my art it had to be printed. I was longing for something tangible. I’d taken up crochet and it was SO fulfilling, and through that I sort of began to think about getting back into traditional art and painting. The watercolour set from before art school was still sitting in a cupboard, so I grabbed a brush and started experimenting. Turns out, after all that time, I just needed to WANT to paint, and the results were wonderful. It took effort, but since I had the motivation to keep at it, I was finally pleased with my painted work. Inspired by the first few successes, I took on a series of dog illustrations now known as Scenic Dogs, and haven’t looked back since – it’s all about the painting now! ;)

"Canis Major come out to play", one of my recent gouache paintings.

Recently I have of course been learning to use gouaches as well. I find they’re a happy middle ground between my usual watercolours (gouache is a type of watercolour, of course) and the acrylics I was so fond of in art school. They’re opaque but can be watered down well, and mix nicely. I adore the chalky matte effect the produce when dry, and I like that I can combine them with watercolours without fear of paint crumbling off or other mishaps later down the line (like mixing oils with acrylics had taught me).

So that’s how I discovered my favourite kind of paint! Brands are of course another matter all on their own (my rule of thumb is to stick with Winsor & Newton or Daler-Rowney when possible, but others can be good too). :)

Holiday with the doggies: A game of frisbee in Lapland

Most of my holidays away from home are the big seasonal family ones; Christmas, Easter, midsummer and Halloween. We pack up clothes to last for a good two weeks, all the dog supplies, my shop inventory and art bits and bobs (because I can't go shutting up shop altogether, and most of my products are fairly easy to lug around the country), and head up north to my grandparents in Rovaniemi. The trip up is long and can be stressful for the dogs, depending on how long it takes to pack up and leave - if they see us packing for most of the morning, it can lead to anxiety, especially on Freija's part. Sometimes we do get away with it, and the eight to nine hour drive is fairly smooth and panic-free.
Upon arrival, there's a lot of excitement both for us people and the pooches. New people, new environment, it all takes some getting used to. Girly girl does sometimes get a bit hyper at this stage and the only thing that'll calm her down is a good long walk and a night of sleep (which is my answer to any kind of problem or ailment whether human or canine, by the way!).
After the initial doggy culture shock, we all calm down and go about our daily routines as normal. Walkies, breakfast, nap, lunch, pee break, nap, walkies, sleep. That's what we base the day around at home and indeed on holiday. Although there may be additions of us people popping out or visitors arriving, it all fits in with the dog schedule.
The one big difference is no dog sports class during the holiday. Since this is such a major part of our week, I do try to think up ways in which to get some practice done on our own. Thankfully one of our new sports is perfect for this: frisbee!

So during our evening walk we diverted to an unused sports pitch near the path, doggy disk in tow (but well hidden, because if Freija had caught a glimpse of it, doing her business would've been categorically out of the question!). There are a few great open areas up here in Lapland, and since there's still snow on the ground we can do a bit of disc throwing without worrying about hurt paws on gravel or swallowed sand. It's quite hard to find a good place to practice otherwise, the only other really sensible type of surface would be an open grass field or an indoor sports hall.
I've only got the one disk, but ideally this kind of practice would include two, since it's a lot easier to gain the dog's attention when you've got a toy of equal value to swap with the one being fetched - I discovered this in flyball class, where a string ball will simply not be good enough to merit swapping for the tennis ball, it has to be an exact replica of that squeaky tennis ball Freija fetches from the box. Anyway, we got up onto the pitch and I got the frisbee out to excite girly girl into fetch-mode, then sent out a roller onto the snow. She goes to fetch it, and as I expected keeps it to herself for a bit of a chew. Since all I had to bargain with was a tug rope toy, I soon gave up on her returning the disk and went to pick it up myself... A grave mistake.

A word to the wise: if you're up in Lapland in April and the snow has just about started to melt, do not chance a walk across an unplowed pitch.

There I was, waist-high in the snow, very stuck and highly uncomfortable. After considerable wriggling, rolling, and heaving with the help of mum, I got out, grabbed the frisbee and we tried again, this time on firmer ground near the side of the pitch. We did get some good throws and fetches in, but oh my dear sweet lord it was difficult. At one point I was thrown flat on my back while Freija was some five to six meters away desperately pawing at the fribee which had turned upside-down (she's not mastered turning it yet). After about twenty minutes to half an hour of falling about and laughing ourselves silly, one soaked but happy terrier, one bruised and battered owner, one amused mother, and one disgruntled spaniel headed off back to grandma's to recover.

So that was our first go at what I've named snow frisbee. Onwards and upwards, eh? ;)

Scaling down: My thoughts on ACEO paintings

 I’ve recently been working on some original ACEO paintings, or artist trading cards as they're also known. Basically they’re teeny tiny paintings the size of a playing card. I’d bought one last year from one of my friends, who’s also an animal artist, and thought I’d find it difficult to work on such a small surface. After all, my earlier work had been close to 150cm on the longer side, and I'd found it difficult enough to work with HALF of that a couple of years ago! In 2014 I gradually learned to work back at the standard A4 size, and I still use that now to some extent since it’s easily frameable, scannable, and the most popular size among buyers. I do enjoy sizing up now and again, but no more than A3 – I’ve had more than enough of MASSIVE paintings that I lumber myself with, thank you very much!
But getting back to the ACEOs, I’d been wondering whether they’d be worth a go recently, as I kept seeing them posted by my arty friends on Facebook and Etsy. After a little bit of casual research (read: pouring over the response other artists had been getting from their followers), I found there’s quite a nice market for tiny originals, since they’re usually very affordable compared to full-sized paintings, and it’s a nice way for fans of artists to collect something unique and special. They’re also enormously cute - perfect for dog illustrations! ;)

Skye Terrier Puppy ACEO

I’ve done four dinky little doggy watercolour ACEOs in the past week to see how I’d fare, and I’ve discovered two things: They’re properly addictive to paint, and people really do seem to enjoy them! One’s already found it’s new home, and the other one I’ve popped in my Etsy shop has had A LOT of interest, much more than my A5 gouache originals or even A4. It also gives me a fab opportunity to try simplifying my paintings in a natural way - there's only so much you can fit on an ACEO after all!

Little Sealy has found his new home already!

So onto the practical side of working with 2.5 by 3.5 inches of painting surface. It’s initially quite off-putting to downscale SO much, I admit. For me it’s easier to work with a rough sketch in a larger sketchbook and then move onto the actual card, much like I would when scaling up onto larger surfaces. Painting on a little surface like this requires quite a lot of self-control and patience (if you're anything like me, shaky hands occur surprisingly often when concentrating on teeny tiny details!), plus a very small paintbrush. I use a set I picked up for a few quid that’s intended for use as nail art brushes, and they work like a charm. The great thing about a little painting is that it’s very quick to go from start to finish, so if you had a lot of ideas ready you could easily do a few in a day.

Smile! Yorkie ACEO

I do think they’re heaps of fun, so it’s nice to have an option for those days when I just can’t face starting a big painting but want to work on something new. And to all my artist friends, I really recommend giving ACEOs a go too. :)

Comfy Freija ACEO