Dogs Rock my World!

 

I adore dogs! I cannot remember a day in my life where a dog has not been in my household. I can be in the most foul of moods and catch a glimpse of a dog blissfully jutting his head out a car window and my temper is instantly lifted. It is like my insides smile! So being a pet artist among other things is a treat for me and one of the perks is spending time with a dog and taking reference photos for a portrait. The other day I met Gwen and her dog Coltrane at Greenlake in North Seattle for a session.

First off Greenlake is one of my VERY favorite haunts in Seattle. My mother and father met at 11 years old as neighbors a block from the lake and one of my grandmothers continued to live there into the early 1990's....so I have spent many a day there since birth. Best of all Greenlake is a doggy haven with a large percentage of walkers and joggers umbilically linked in exercise harmony.

Gwen is a professional dog walker who walks this beat with her charges Monday thru Friday and creates quite the stir. This particular day she had a dozen dogs in tow and at the end of the 3 mile loop it was Coltrane’s moment of paparazzi glory. With the other dogs safely tucked inside the truck Coltrane had his moment in the spotlight and we posed him in the warm afternoon light just off the path about 12 feet from the lake’s edge. He tolerated our commands initially but suddenly he bolted for the lake! Despite our calls of STOP and COME he was having none of it. He was thirsty after his trot around the lake and he had decided it was time for a drink!

Now these are the moments I live for! I tell my clients that we can have all sorts of ideas about how the dog should pose but it is essentially up to the beasts themselves. I give the dog latitude and they ultimately tell me how they want to be portrayed. Coltrane had a heyday in the shallows of Greenlake! He slurped and sloshed and romped and grinned his goofy delight at us. He was in HIS element and we were the lucky spectators. And I was the lucky recipient of his canine joy and over 100 shots of a gorgeous Golden Retriever!

Nostalgia

This year for Christmas some dear friends gave me a fabulous gift...the board game "Masterpiece: The Art Auction Game" which they have searched garage sales for 2 years before scoring a hit. My parents gave the very same game to me in 1970 the year it debuted. Even though I couldn't get any of my 4 siblings interested in playing it, I poured over the 24 color reproduced cards depicting historically grand paintings and became completely enchanted! Today I can still vividly recall how impressed I was! The full color reproductions from El Greco to Edward Hopper planted a sense of art history in my young little brain. I marveled over the differing styles, compositions and colors, not realizing the future impact this would generate. Leafing through them today I am struck by one thing in particular....Mary Cassatt was the only female artist represented. We've come a long way baby!! BTW....last week the 4 of us played the game and had a lot of fun bidding and buying masterpieces. My husband collected the most in value, but overall I think I am the winner!