As I find it a shame when blogs I have followed fizzle out so I’m going to try again with a post of my Christmas card showing our whippets Tara and Millie shopping in Oxford Street on a new “Boris Bus” driven by our African Grey Parrot Anna. This picture made the Christmas edition of Dog Art Today. http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/art/ My elation at being there has an irony attached to it. When I was about 15 or 16 and still at school I had decided to become an Artist, a somewhat rash and questionable decision for my age. but there you go. I quite admired my Art teacher so when he derided Artists who painted dogs as one of the lowest forms of Sunday painter we all agreed like mad. Here I am some years later, I am an Artist but what would my then self say if he heard that I had included dogs in my last 4 or 5 pictures?
There are indeed some Dog Artists whose paintings lack style or substance but equally there are many who paint marvellous dog pictures, My wife Sophy’s family have a number of truly good Dog paintings including some by Landseer. Her interest persuaded me to look again. I think you could make an argument for Lucian Freud’s paintings of Whippets and other dogs to be some of his absolute best work.
Girl With A White Dog – Lucian Freud – To be seen at The Tate Britain
One of my best friends was the Artist Craigie Aitchison. He painted his Bedlington Terriers repeatedly. We have his painting of Sugarbush going to heaven hanging in our house right now.
Sugarbush Going to Heaven – Craigie Aitchison
My friend Sally Muir has been doing a picture of a dog every day for a while now. http://www.sallymuir.co.uk/?page_id=150 It’s worth a look for sure.
I hope I have, over time become more open minded about paintings, certainly I view paintings of dogs very differently today. In fact Dog Art is now one of my favourite genres.
Happy Christmas!
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