Brown-eyed Handsome Dog

Brown-eyed Handsome Dog

not for sale

This is Smokey, one of our dogs. He's a chow-sharpei mix (we think) and is one of the sweetest dogs on the planet.

He is also one of the fiercest! He doesn't look it in this painting, but he would take your arm off if he thought you were going to hurt me, or any of the other dogs, or mess with our house. Every day, when I take the dogs out in the mornings, Smokey (who is always on a leash) stands at the edge of the deck and refuses to come in until all the others are in. He is guarding them.

I really love this painting. It's funny to me how my paintings are either loaded with paint, or have nearly no paint on them at all. There are few in the middle. This is one of the minimal ones, like my painting of Bert, and my painting of Gus, both from a while ago.

Nobody except my brother has ever asked me to paint one of these minimalist pieces - even though I think they are among my best animal portraits. But they are thin, and sketchy - they feel to me like thoughts snatched from a conversation, or ideas grabbed from a daydream.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these minimal paintings. Please be sure to click through to the Bert and Gus paintings and take a look at them!