Good Thing She’s Cute

"My dog Maggie Mae is highly photogenic, with big captivating eyes. She is great at posing in very comfortable positions, like this one all cuddled up in a sheepskin throw.

While I was experimenting with using very colorful watercolors and letting them mix on the paper (vs. pre-mixing on my palette) I went into my comfort zone of painting a dog portrait, one of my favorite subjects. I used just the three primary colors of red, yellow and blue for this painting, letting the white of the paper show through which is the traditional way of painting with transparent watercolors. Maggie even liked the final results!

The title of this painting is a phase we coined when Maggie was a very difficult puppy. She would frequently make us very angry with her bad behavior, but we'd give her reprise and say "It's a good thing she's cute," and let her get away with more than she perhaps should have. Fortunately, we all survived her puppyhood and Maggie finally matured into a terrific, loving dog - sometimes getting into minor mischief but still softening us with her cuteness."