Category Archives: Quinn

Tell Me Again

Occasionally a poem is just right.
I eagerly recommend Mary Oliver’s 2013 compilation, Dog Songs, to any pooch lover — especially anyone who has had the honor of sharing their heart with a rescue.

Feb 23

Here the poet herself reads one of my favorites: Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night.

Which of course reminds me of our Quinn.

❖

I just discovered Hilary Pecis‘ work. Orchestrating the ordinary into the lyrical, her paintings are bouquets of pattern, color, and familiarity. Her work encourages a recognition of our own individual worlds through the expression of hers. To me, the unexpected prominence of books in many of her pieces, appearing in neat stacks or filling walls of shelves in the background, add to the comfortable sense of “home”. As Tamsin Smith and Matt Gonzalez wrote in their October 25, 2018 review of Pacis’ work for Juxtapoz “…beauty is a matter of looking closely. It is the eye, not the object, that holds the power.”
I couldn’t agree more.

Long Winter’s Nap

“…and mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled down for a long winter’s nap…”

Merry Christmas!

Dog Daze

Looking back over posts from the past couple of months, I see it’s been a while since Quinn has made an appearance here. Despite the regularity of my weekly life drawing sessions, she’s still my most faithful and readily available model. It is the rare week that I don’t try to capture her in at least one or two sketches.

©Elizabeth Fram, 11 x 8.5 inches, Pen & ink on paper. Other days she’s the cooperative one but I’m the problem, in need of many searching tries to get the lines where they should be.

Unsurprisingly, I tend to be drawn to work that includes a creature of some sort. If you are also a member of that camp, take a look at the art resources for animal lovers listed below.

Susan Hertel (1930-1993), an artist I had never heard of before coming across a retrospective catalogue of her paintings while vacationing in New Mexico years ago. I was immediately smitten with her compositions, her rich use of pattern, and her portrayal of her animals (horses, dogs & cats), an element integral to both her work and her life.
Lark Book’s 500 Animals in Clay is a delightful compendium of beautifully, and often humorously, crafted representations of the animal kingdom.
Mr. Finch, of Mr. Finch Textile Art, fabricates stunning pieces that are a combination of the magic of fairytales with a touch of Darwin.
BONUS: David Hockney’s paintings of his beloved dachshunds.