American Bulldog, No. 12 in my 30 Daily Paintings

American Bulldog Painting by Dottie Dracos

With this painting, I decided to work in a larger format.  While I considered it to be one of my 30-day Daily Paintings, it was actually painted over about a three-day period.  The canvas size is 16x20x3/4", and as are all of my daily paintings so far at least, it is painted with acrylic paints.

I love the expression on the face of this big bully dog.  It reflects, in my opinion, the truly loving nature of these sometimes massive animals.  I can see the gentleness within all that power, and it is the gentleness that I know so well, having had a few of the "bully dogs" myself.  Yes, they're a bit pushy sometimes, and yes, they can be fierce in the wrong circumstances, so they should always be supervised.  But a big, big yes, they are sweet, gentle souls with hearts of gold.

I had one precious bully dog, a pit bull that we adopted as a small puppy.  When I would come back from errands, he would greet me with a huge smile, swinging his lash of a tail so wildly that it snaked his whole body into one big waving, happy greeting.  His tail was so muscular that it actually hurt when he would swing it against my legs.  And, the pushy part, he would try to guide me into where he wanted me to go by pushing against my legs as he was wagging wildly.  Yes, sometimes annoying, but at the same time, so sweet, too.  He just needed a bit firmer voice than my other dogs did to keep him from trying to take over the situation.  But other than one time when he was goaded on by another dog into chasing a cat, he never exhibited a moment of aggressiveness or meanness.  Unfortunately, he lived only five years due to an accidental kicking by a horse.  He was such a sweetheart, as have my other bully-type dogs always been.  It's all in the upbringing.

Anyway, to get back off my tangent, the original painting - and of course, prints - is available at my website, http://www.dottiedracos.com.  I feel I am finally starting to see some benefits to my self-enforced daily painting adventure.  Hope it continues.  With me, one never knows . . .