Muse of a Mutt pt 1 - diptich Div. V-H, Second place, Oil/Acrylic

The subject of this piece was inspired by my dog, “Chief,” who is a mutt. I have had Chief as my dog for years now, and he has always been my inspiration or my reference for my artwork. For years I have drawn him in crayons, pencils, chalk, etc., so I made this piece as a portrait of my dog, appreciating him as my muse in a more formal medium. Because he has been my muse for so long, it only felt right to recognise his importance to me in painting form. In history, portraits are generally reserved for the upper class and royalty, so I wanted to have a portrait for my dog who was the runt of his litter and mutt in the world of purebreds. Though my dog wouldn’t have been of high status in the dog world, to me he was deserving of recognition and adoration. The piece also highlights the uniqueness of him, because there will never be another “Chief” who is as perfect as a mutt as he is. The style of the painting was inspired by the famous Blue Dog paintings by George Rodrigue. I have taken inspiration from Rodrigue from a young age and aim to capture bold colours as he does in his Blue Dogs. For this work, I wanted to use complementary colours and a central composition to make the subject “pop” in a bold way. I wanted to contrast textures from reality to soft and more abstract textures. I chose to use this style, because I enjoy illustrating art that is a mixture of real subject matter and abstract design.

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