I was trying to think of things which remind me of spring. I think young animals is certainly one, so I chose to paint some Shiba-inu puppies simply because I felt like I wanted to paint something adorable, and they vaguely fall into my ‘spring’ category.
I’m very happy with this painting. I love the attentive quality of the little puppies, and I think adding the tennis ball works well because it helps the viewer to judge their size. My family was lucky enough to have two dogs while I was growing up, but sadly I can’t have a dog of my own right now. Here’s Jingo, our dog back in the UK, who I miss very much.
He’s a very happy dog, and very loved. Even in this muddy state he would happily jump up to sleep on the furniture, and was rarely pushed off when discovered. I think he has my family well trained! Since 2018 is the Year of the Dog according to the traditional Chinese calendar, I’m hoping to paint lots more dogs to come this year.
