My parents have a dog named Rouzic Argwellan, meaning “little redheaded one, the magnificent” in Breton (well, he is a Brittany, after all, and he does live with a half-Breton family). He’s also known as Roo or even “the Bug” for short.
He’s the light of my parents’ lives as well as being a big part of brightening up mine too.
As such, he’s used to being photographed. When I was shooting film, I would to finish almost every roll on the Bug, which I’m sure he felt was a rather tedious habit of mine. Now that I’ve gone digital, I have my camera pointed in his face every other minute, and he’s started to yawn a lot when I try to take pictures of him. No joke.
With so many images to choose from and with clear ideas about who Roo is both to me and to my parents (always crucial to painting a successful pet portrait) it’s hard to know where to begin when capturing his likeness. I chose this image in large part because he’s one of those dogs that makes sustained eye contact with people.
The portrait I painted from this source image is on a small pouch. The bag is for my mother to keep her cell phone in when she’s out and about.
Though my mother sews all of the canvas bags I paint on (from the full line of You Bags I’ve created so far to the less functional forms like this piece from my conceptual show Apple Pie), I’d never painted on a bag for her since she doesn’t dig the tote-style bag.
We’re used to collaborating in this way, my mother creating a useful three-dimensional object from my loosely scrawled plans. For the most part, I think she enjoys being involved in my work, but it is nice to be creating a bag for her for once.
In fact, there’s something especially rewarding about working with my mother in this way.
It reminds me of that time in the third grade when I decorated a pot with images of the family dog and then planted a flower in it for her for Mother’s Day, except that this time I got to make her something she will actually enjoy and use!
The Cow-spotted Dog
2008
acrylic on canvas pouch
9 x 5 inches
