As of late there seems to be a fad consisting of art studios
for amateurs such as the chain “Muse” that feature one-shot painting classes
reminiscent of what was done in grammar school fifty years ago: “class, draw the
sky (everyone colors the top half of their paper blue) now draw the grass
(everyone colors the bottom of their paper green) now draw Little Red Riding
Hood (everyone draws Little Red Riding Hood, facing the same way, wearing the
same dress, etc. etc.)”. The main difference between these new classes and what
I did fifty+ years ago is that now we get to buy an overpriced glass of wine to
drink during class. Actually, back in Sister Delores’ fourth grade art class
was when I really could have used the wine, but I digress.
The local “Muse” franchise offered a “draw your pet” night.
I cannot draw or paint to save my own life (thanks, Sister Delores); after some
cajoling, however, my sister talked me into going with her. She would paint her
daughter’s schnauzer while I would attempt to paint Olive. My sister made the arrangements, reserving
two spots and submitting photos of the two dogs.
Upon arriving at the studio, we were invited to get wine at
the bar (naturally) and find our canvases. Someone had lightly sketched some
pencil guidelines for each of the pets on the canvases. Our first task was to
choose a background color (since we were each painting our own pets, there was
more room for individuality than the “Little Red Riding Hood” format). I had in
mind a mint green close to what my living room is painted; when I mixed up the
colors that an instructor suggested I got a bluish color that I thought was
acceptable even if not what I had envisioned. The next step was to paint the
area outside the penciled outline on the canvas.
Next we were given some guidelines on how to paint the eyes
and nose. By some fortunate accident my eyes came out fairly well using brown
and black paint with a bit of mixing. The paints were water-soluble acrylics
that were reasonably easy to mix and paint over, the latter being a godsend for
me. I had less success with the nose, though with some repainting and blending
I got mine to look something like a dog’s nose.
One of the harder parts of painting is mixing the colors
right. Since Olive is all black and white I had an easier time with that than
most of the other participants. A few different shades of grey so as to not
look too cartoony, otherwise I used mostly pure black and pure white. By this
time, to my surprise, my work actually started to somewhat resemble a border
collie. At an instructor’s suggestion I mixed a little of a mustard colored
paint with white to create a bit of shading so that Olive’s chest wouldn’t look
pure white.
Below are the painting and the photograph that the painting
is theoretically made from. Hardly worthy of Leonardo da Vinci or any other of
the great renaissance masters, but not as embarrassing as I had feared.
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Olive and I are still attending the “disk dog” classes. One
basic move for the dog is that the dog should chase after one disk that I throw
(perhaps a yellow one) then after catching (or missing) it I should be able to
thrown a different disk (say the blue one) and Olive would immediately chase
the blue one. Olive seems to focus on one disk until I physically pick it up.
If I throw the yellow disk, she will stay focused on that yellow disk and
ignore the blue one. Once I pick up the yellow disk, I can then throw either
one and she will chase it. I tried standing on the yellow disk and throwing the
blue one, but Olive stubbornly refuses to take her eyes off the yellow disk
until I pick it up with my hands.
The instructor watched me work with Olive a bit, trying to
get her to focus on whichever disk I threw, then told me that Olive has ME
trained to play the game HER way. Thinking about it, that is likely true. She
likes to be the one who decides where I have to go to pick up the disk. She
will drop the yellow one and wait for me to pick it up; game is not over until
I pick up the yellow disk where SHE dropped it.
The instructor suggested that I convey to Olive that we are
playing a new game. That means me ignoring the yellow disk until she picks up
the blue one and vice versa. I have been working on that. Olive can be
stubborn, but I think we are making some progress. I praise her when she
finally gives in and goes for the “live” disk. She still wants to steer me back
to playing the old game. It may take a while.
