"Storm Door September", & Other Dogs Making Art

Summer has been a slack time for us, artistically. The weather has been so strange that I think it's affecting the wildlife, and they're evidently hanging out somewhere else. Either that or the predator population (coyotes and hawks) is increasing and scaring the bunnies and deer off! Whatever it is, Cassie's main thrill these days is barking at my brother-in-law's old hound "Miss Red" when she moseys into the yard, so we don't have a lot of fresh "nose art" to work with. It has given me time to look back at former efforts (we've come a long way from Creature From the Green Lagoon, for sure!) and play with some of them. This one is a new color version of the first Storm Door. Never being one to write down steps, I'm not sure what filters were used in the first one, so I haven't figured out yet why the image is so obviously "pixelated" - got to work on that. The temptation to translate some of these images into paintings is growing, especially when the colors are so appealing. Then pixels will be no problem at all!

Now, about other dogs making art: I just read an article about a dog in Texas "making art" to sell for the humane society. It really disturbed me, because the dog wasn't a willing participant. His paws were dipped in paint and more or less used as "brushes" while he tried to get away, and his tail was also painted so he'd wag it against the canvas. That's certainly not the way we do things around here! There is no forcing or coaching or anything else, other than Cassie's uninhibited reaction to life, that starts every "PiCassieO". We wouldn't have it any other way!

Too many people think of "abstract" art as just a bunch of paint thrown randomly at a canvas and labeled "art". It can be done that way (by animals or humans) but it's not necessarily good art! Composition and color sense are prerequisites for any kind of art in order for it to work. There - enough pontificating for one day!