Suffering With Joy

Francie’s Story

July 2, 2010

This past week my digital art lesson has been to learn how to paint with the acrylic brushes.  I’ve been using Martin Addison’s Painter 11 for Photographers with its excellent tutorials. After many trials, I completed this portrait of Francie, our second rescue dog.

We got Francie from people down the street who were letting the puppies run loose.  Francie was one of five and they were starving and thirsty.  Every week various neighbors had their trash bags torn open because these dogs were so hungry.  Long story short, we got Francie at 5 months of age and she was a wild dog.  It took us 2 months to housebreak her and she had some medical problems which have since cleared up.

As she was maturing her ears became huge.  At times I thought this little part Boxer puppy would lift off as she sailed through the yard.  At about 9 months of age her left ear wouldn’t flop over like the other one, so she has this comical one-ear-up and one-ear-flopped look that adds to her mischievous personality.

In the fall of 2008 on a bright October afternoon Roger and I took our 3.5 megapixel digital camera that was a gift from a friend and went out to take some pictures of the dogs.  Photographers call the kind of lighting on Francie in this portrait “broad lighting”, which is not normally used for portraits, but under the circumstances we were lucky to get her settled down enough to snap this shot.

Painting animals with acrylic brushes is ideal and digital painting is a great advantage for those of us who have always wanted to paint but couldn’t for various reasons.  In this portrait, Francie’s fur came out well.  The photo background wasn’t attractive at all, so I painted in a more traditional studio type canvas.  The intense look in her eyes is typical of her when she is focused on something like a treat or toy.  Perhaps someday I will get good enough to offer painted portraits of pets to people from their own snapshots.

The original size of this one was about 12×12 inches after cropping, and I re-sized it to be about 5×5 to use less memory on the computer, and of course, this version here is much smaller.  The larger size really brings out the brush strokes and paper texture.

Francie has been a real gift from God because she makes us laugh and is such a happy, funny girl.  After four dogs I know that each one of them is as unique as every person, tree, rock and all the rest of what constitutes creation.  She is a vital part of my wellness program.

Tags: art, wellness

3 Comments to Francie’s Story

1. 

   Great shot. Looks like a very fun dog to have around. Animals tend to reflect their owners personality.
Doug on July 3rd, 2010
2. 

   I can certainly believe that she and your other doggies are a part of your wellness program! I miss having a dog… And alas, I’m in no position to get one right now.

   Great picture! And dogs can add so much joy to your life. It makes angry to hear about those jerks who wouldn’t take care of those poor little puppies.
Evan on July 4th, 2010
3. 

   Yes, I have a hard time with neglected and abused animals. People are the only cruel species in creation. After we took in Francie I told God He couldn’t show me any more desperate dogs because we just can’t afford to keep another. Either that or He has to get us the money to care for them.
barb on July 4th, 2010

Leave a comment

Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Message

CAPTCHA Code