Wag the Dog 26-09-21, Drawing, Pencil/Colored Pencil on Paper, 2021

Corné Akkers  

Art Deco Feel. Wag the dog was the first title that came to mind when I saw this beautiful photo. It stems from the 1930s I think. It has this incredible art deco feel about it. However, this was not the first thing that struck me. It was the little dog lingering about her shoulder blades. It was some time ago I did my last pareidolia drawing so it was time to do another one. Last one was my graphite pencil drawing The Venus of The Hague 09-07-21 by the way. Deviation In the drawing I kept the lower part lighter than the top section. I felt I had to put the stress there. Beside that, I like these soft gradients from dark to light. It also contasts the abrupt tonal value shifts from the arms to the dark negative space around them quite nicely. Another reason for these gradients was the possibility to embed the female figure into the negative space. This way her contour delineations are cancelled in the mid section, giving full attention to the german shepherd puppy. Dog's Breed. The dog's breed was not evident at first sight though. The black spot in his belly directly to the right of her spine came as a natural association. The black snout was all the more reason to turn it into a german shepherd. A striking feature might be the tail. It is a bit fluffy for such a dog. Evidentially I could not narrow the section of her deltoid muscle too much. One Aninal Only Unlike the aforesaid drawing I tucked in a single animal. I saw some more. There was another puppy and a head of an owl for that matter. Somehow I thought only a single animal was enough to get the best of both worlds: art deco chiaroscuro lighting with a mild surrealist touch. Wufff! Graphite pencil drawing (Sakura 0.5 mm, 4B) on Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm) - A4 format)