Unexpected Inspiration

 

"Tessa", 11x14" mixed media on wood panel. 

My sister paints animals. Her style is very different than mine... she paints realisitic acrylics, or etherial watercolours, always with the animal front and center. Not my thing, but it works for her, and she's quite good at it. She recently started this "a dog a day" project, intending to loosen up her brushwork. I've been watching her progression on Instagram. It's fun. 

My son's girlfriend has two lovely dogs that come to visit us now and then. We are huge dog people, but don't have one of our own right now. We had two, but their passing was very hard on us, so we decided to just take care of other people's dogs until we felt ready to get one of our own. That day may not come... we like having "loaner" dogs. No vet bills, we can take vacations without having to dig up someone willing to take them, no early morning runs in negative something temperatures in the winter, but we still get to have one visit from time to time. It's been working for us. 

When I asked my kid if he had any photos of his girlfriend's dogs around to send to my sister, he sent me a bunch. Tessa is a chocolate lab and is quite photogenic. One of those shots inspired me to paint. I thought about doing a copy of the photo, but decided to take the idea that inspired me... the flowers on her head... and another more portrait type of image and blend them together. It worked out great.

This is the first painting I've completed since my mother passed. It's a bit of a milestone for me... I haven't had even the slightest desire to paint in the better part of a year. It was one of those "I know I should do this for my own wellbeing" kind of things, that I just couldn't motivate myself to actually do. That this one really came out of nowhere was an unexpected gift. It got me over that initial hurdle. I think I'm finally ready to get back to some of the unfinished pieces I have lying around my studio. 

Now I just have to figure out how to post them without them being scraped and used to train some AI program.