Borzoi Portrait

This is a painting I did of one of the borzoi's owned by a friend of mine. They're beautiful dogs, I think. I have another photo she sent me that I'll be doing before too long of one of her other pups, who's standing in a pond - a very elegant pose. I think it'll be on a large canvas, though.

Today I'm working on another cat: My cat, actually, whose name is Eliza Doolittle. She's a beautiful and very, very sweet slightly plump calico kitty, who's about five years old now. We adopted her when she was one, and she was so overweight at the time that when she lay on her side, her legs stuck out in the air. She's still "big-boned" but a much more reasonable weight now. She and our three little dogs all get along very well, except our pomeranian/pekingese mix torments her mercilessly, and she just complains and jumps out of his reach. What a sweetheart she is.

Well, I got way off the topic of the borzoi painting, but it was at the same time a reasonable segue in tomorrow's (or the next day's) painting, anyway.

Shih Tzu Puppy Dog Painting

Awwww! Isn't this one cute? I just love it. And I didn't let myself work it to death, either! That's what I usually do, work one until it starts to lose life and spontaneity.

It's a new (old, rehashed?) promise I'm making to myself: I have one job and one job only, to do a single painting a day. It doesn't have to be good; it doesn't have to be elaborate or grand; it just has to be done! I've got to get over this fear of failure, and this has got to work! If they're too awful, I can throw them away. If they just don't look good enough that I would want anyone to see them but not awful enough to throw away, I can put them in a stack and maybe work on them again another day in the indefinite future.

But this little guy, I'm happy with him. I think he's fresh, pretty, and has lots of personality -- just like my Henry Higgins (my shih tzu who's lying underneath me as I write this) after whom he's modeled. I had to do some guessing, though, because I adopted Higgins when he was already around six years old. He's a ripe old 9 or 10 today and going strong, too, I might add. As with all my paintings, this one will be available on my website, www.dottiedracos.com, or www.wildwildthings.com (both addresses take you to the same place).