Off-leash dog parks as training grounds for ----?

 

Training grounds for Summer Camp, maybe?  That was the plan for June 2025 – the "East Side Storeys" series was brought to conclusion in May, and then we'd head for the annual interval heralded by "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks…"  

 

But plans have often gone astray this year.  Certainly, the plans of my very close neighbours have been a jolt for me.   You can see here how close we are!

 

After my fairly successful painting of their old cat Linus, I decided to press on and try to paint their beloved pug dog Bugsy.  The promised photos from the couple's spokesman didn't materialize so I used my own.  Here's the most ambitious –  From a few years back, my camera had been allowed to capture only the dog, not the "Dad" holding him with another neighbour's pug.

 

As a Plan B back-up, I worked in parallel from a second photo.

But only the head, in a smaller square format.

 

Off-leash parks don't always operate on smooth terrain – and by golly, that gallant little Bugsy could not have offered more challenges in his closely packed folds, his fur texture, and the subtle near-monotones of his white-cream-tawny fur.  And there are off-leash rules, too – meant to be broken, like the old painter's rule to "never use black"?  Okay.  I didn't.  I used Payne's Grey with a bit of raw umber for the darks.

 

But long before that, I wrestled with all those folds in two early sketch layouts.

 

 

Okay – first one, first.  That's the one I really wanted to get right.  Here's an early lay-in when I still thought I could do something with the background image:

 

No good. I had to somehow keep the information that the dog was being held, but I simplified it for the final version - "Handful of Bugsy," copyright 2025.: 

 

And here's the final version of the smaller square portrait, "Bugsy - Best in Show" copyright 2025:

 

The two together seemed to make a pleasant Father's Day surprise when I delivered them this morning.

 

And NOW:  Summer camp is just around the corner.  No, you don't need to bring a mask.  No, it won't take place in Venice.  And no, we won't be reprising the Commedia dell'Arte – except for some unstructured high jinx.  But be there or be square – that's what summer camps and off-leash parks are all about!