Pet

"Pet"

Acrylics and dry media on reclaimed fibrous board

11x14 inches

I really had no strong plan when starting this piece. Well, I seldom do have strong plans when creating a piece except for what the subject might be and what color I use depending upon my mood. This piece just so happened to be a cat. The cat shape just sort of happened and so I followed through. I then became stuck. It was as if I could not bring myself to work on this piece any more so I set it to the side to work on other things needing to be done, like commission work!

When I found time, I came back to this piece with new eyes. I recommend this for others who are having trouble with working on a piece. Often looking at your work with new or fresh eyes can tell you what to next in the piece. So, with new eyes, I added a key to the cat painting and stewed over what to do next. The painting was set aside again.

Many days had passed when I found myself looking at this painting again. I was almost going to paint over the whole thing when I had the idea of adding a little bird. Then I had the idea of a pet. Which animal would be the pet? The bird? The cat? I like the idea of either one of the animals being the other's pet. I actually see this painting both ways, some days the bird is the pet and other days the cat is the pet of the bird.

 This also makes me think of people and their pets. Who is really in charge? Who is really the pet?