Pekingese Painter
At three years old, he’s already an accomplished painter. Ziggy, a pekingese owned by Elizabeth Monacelli of Fallbrook, CA will sometimes paint for nearly an hour at a time.
“Ziggy is a ‘true’ artist,” said Ms. Monacelli via an e-mail. “On some days, he paints so beautifully. He rushes over to the paint box, anxiously waiting to paint. Afterward, he will sit in front of his painting, wagging his tail, as if he were admiring his completed work.”
How did the furry Picasso get his start? “I like to do fun things with my dogs – keep them active,” she wrote. Taking advantage of Ziggy’s interest in empty paper towel rolls, Monacelli taped a paintbrush to a 3-inch piece of paper towel roll. Art was created!
Monacelli places a dark gray dropcloth on the ground at home, then props an 8-by-10-inch canvas against a wall. She tapes the paintbrush to a piece of paper towel roll, puts some acrylic paint on the brush, says “Let’s paint!” and helps Ziggy grab the roll with his mouth. The roll perches on his bottom jaw, and he clasps it with his upper teeth. To paint, Ziggy jabs the brush against the canvas, creating strokes by moving his head in various directions.
Ziggy is more than a painter, but a renaissance dog. He also appreciates music. ”I play qigong (an ancient form of Chinese exercise) music while he paints. I have observed differences in his paintings created with music as opposed to without music,” Monacelli wrote.
Ziggy’s original paintings sell for $20 to $50. Postcard copies of the works are 50 cents each. Monacelli donates 10 percent of all sales to Forget-Me-Not Rescue. Forget-Me-Not Rescue adopts Pekingese dogs from shelters in Southern California which were considered unadoptable due to medical or behavioral problems. The organization then rehabilitates the dogs and places them in new homes.
An original Ziggy painting will be auctioned off July 19 at Bow Wow Wow, a fundraiser for Los Angeles-based Much Love Animal Rescue. Blank canvases will also be auctioned, and the winners of those can pick their own colors for Ziggy to paint, Monacelli said.
Source: The Orange County Register
P&A News @ July 5, 2008