silky terrier

The piece you see here is for a dog show, of a sort. Jason Sturgill of the super great wurst gallery will be presenting the Wurstminster show next February, featuring the work of many artists, each doing a piece representing one of the dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. He asked me to be involved, which pleased me greatly. I picked the Silky Terrier, a nice little fellow with long, shiny, tan and blue-gray hair.

It's a toy, of course, a depiction of the Silky giving a ride to one of my odd generic animal figures. I loved doing a more realistic animal, since my dudes tend to be slightly strange human/animal hybrids. Because that's just what I do. I can't wait to see the way other artists depicted their breeds!

Since I have your ear (eye?), and since I have the AKC website up, I thought I'd share my favorite dog breeds with you. I love mutts best of all, but pedigreed dogs are such little lovelies, aren't they? Anyway, here are my faves:

Schipperke - Rain introduced me to this breed, I think it's her favorite. I just love that they look like the weird wolf dogs in the movie Willow. Don't they? Just much smaller?

Papillon - I love them for their ears, and for their name. "Papillon" is a fun word to say with an exaggerated French accent.

Japanese Chin - Some friends of mine have one of these, and I almost started weeping when I first saw it. It's just such a heartbreakingly sweet little dog.

Boston Terrier - Probably my fave of all time. I just adore these guys. I think my love affair started when I saw one whose owner had left him (her?) in front of a convenience store, with his leash tied to a parking meter. As I walked by I said (respectfully) "hey little dude" and he just sat there staring forward, all vigilant and proud, waiting for his human companion. He didn't even look up at me. I was in love.

Oh, and Silky Terriers. After doing all the preparatory research and drawings of these little guys, I've become a big fan. All that silky hair!

Can you tell I watch the dog shows on Animal Planet? And that I fast forward to the Toy dogs? I do love the big guys but the little ones just kill me. I should also mention that I don't have a dog (Chuy is our only pet), I'm just a fan. So if you see a red-haired gal looking down at your Pomeranian with a goofy, love-struck look on her face - that would be me.