Smart Felix

Felix

Oil on canvas, 12x12

101 Dogs commission

 A few months ago, a woman I'd met at the Paradise City Arts Festival decided to become a three-dog sponsor of the 101 Dogs project.  It took me a while to get to the paintings, but I did, and two of them - Hershey, the chocolate lab below, and Kody below him - worked well for her and for me. Alas, Felix did not. I redid the original painting, (you can see that one just to the left) but it still wasn't right, so I took a fresh start, made a new painting, and it was good for the buyer and for me.                                                                                                                       This is not a big deal. Usually, I get the dogs right off, but about one in 10 needs to be redone. Often it's because I don't like the painting, I don't think it captures the dog. Sometimes it's because it's a miss for the dog's human. It happens, and it's fine. I learn something from every one of these. But it means that I always have a few dog paintings floating around. With the 101 Dogs project, and the return of some very old sample dog paintings from a gallery, I have more than usual.                                                                                                                            I  like to give a painting away at every show, usually to a young person, and so these extra paintings often go that route. Groups often ask me for donations, and sometimes that's where they end up. But sometimes they just end up in the studio, watching me. A few weeks ago, I had a great idea! I'd put hats and glasses, scarves and ties, necklaces and who knows what else on these dogs, and price them low. So I took Kody, put him in glasses and a tie, and put him on my website, Jacobson Arts.

Remember my mentioning that the lovely Lulu ate my glasses? I went to my local optician to get new ones and since my prescription was old, the woman behind the desk suggested that I have him recheck my eyes. I really didn't want to spend the money, but my eyes are my life these days, and so I did. Dr. Keyes was such a nice man! We got to talking, about his life and mine, and of course I mentioned the website. After the exam (my eyes are worse, imagine that), one of the women was measuring something on my eyes when the doctor came out with his laptop. 

"Is this one available?" he asked, pointing to Smart Felix, with the glasses and tie. "I have to have him!" 

So Smart Felix has a new home, and is very much loved, and the sale helped defray the cost of the eye exam, and I met a bunch of nice people who live nearby and love my paintings. 

     Smart Felix

***

Yikes! Snow in Wachapreague! 

***

Dog of the Day

It's Koko, Doc and Lulu - Koko has seen snow before, but this is the puppies' first adventure, and they loved it. I froze myself, chasing them around to get them in! 

***

A Final Thought

"Simply put, making art is chancy - it doesn't mix well with predictability. Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding." 

- David Bayles and Ted Orland

 "Art & Fear / Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking"