Art DogsMeet Gracie, my older Springer Spaniel.
Isn't she a sweetie?
She loves her soft beds. And rearranging her furniture.
(Hmmm. Decorator dog...)
Here is
another picture of Gracie, from when we first got her:She was hiding behind the chair from Halloween costumes.
Springer Spaniels are VERY visually oriented and sensitive.
She DID NOT like ghosts and ghouls.
(Or Snowman sleds either.)
Gracie was adopted.
This is her adoption story:
Our doggy, Isabelle, had just died. We were so sad. I was in graduate school so I couldn't look after a puppy during the day just yet (we waited for Lilly) and we were looking for a magic dog, a grown dog to adopt.
I had been haunting the humane society, but every dog that I had a connection with had another connection going.
Then I had to go to New York City on business.
While I was there, I went to a private art gallery and opening party in the East Village. While other artists seem to carry their slides with them. I also carry pictures of my family and my dogs. I showed my pictures of my dear Isabelle to my friends around the table while we were eating Chinese hors d'oeuvres.
Just then, a couple came into the party with a very pretty black and white dog all dressed up for the party with a red kerchief around her neck.
I leaned over to the woman I was talking to and said, "Now there's a dog I would adopt on first sight, if only she were available."
A short while later, I made my way over to the man who had the dog on a leash. Turns out, he was trying to find a home for her. Turns out, he was a film set maker from Philadelphia who had just relocated to New York. Turns out, since I learned he was a film set maker from Philadelphia that he not only knew my sister-in-law (who helped make film sets in Philadelphia), but was her best friend. Turns out he had no idea I was married to her brother-in-law.
"You'll never guess what I got at an art opening," I told my husband on the telephone that night form the Gramercy Park Hotel.
And so, a few days later, home in Michigan, we drove to Ohio, half-way from New York and rendezvoused to pick up Gracie. She climbed into the back seat of our car and sat down in our daughter's lap and never looked back.
She came home and ate pizza in the basement with our daughter and told us to stay away, this was her own child, but then agreed that we were pretty cool too. Since we were her third home, I taught her to sing Hank Williams and some Blues. We are an expressive clan and it seemed fair enough, given her history of broken homes, and she had a lot to express. Turns out she had a flair for music and she has never quite been quiet since.
Have you ever heard of a more magical dog!
Our daughter was very sensitive to Gracie's adaptation to her new home. As well, she has always been quite innovative and artistic. So, shortly after Gracie came to live with us, she studiously sat down and created a portrait of her doggy.
When she finished it, she hung it over her kitchen doggy bed, right at doggy height.
(Now you know where Gracie gets her decorating flair.)
This is the work of art, the picture my daughter drew, A Portrait of Gracie:
Now, is that Cool Dog Art or what???
We think so.
Send us in your dog art and stories too.
We would love to hear and see!
-Bobbi
