Shelties have beautiful, lush coats that come in a variety of colors. This painting is of a Sable Sheltie, and sable itself has lots of variations. A sable Shetland Sheepdog can be red-gold, pale blond, a warm sandy brown or a dark, rich mahogany, all with a snowy ruff and the darker ones usually have lighter blond on their faces and legs. We've had several Sable Shelties over the years, and each one has been different in color.
Shelties are herding dogs, and as such, they have an instinct to act as gentle guardians of their "flock", whatever that flock may be comprised of (from sheep to humans). We have found that some of ours have had a more pronounced sense of guardianship than others. Piper was one of them. He always felt he knew best, and the really irritating thing was, that he was often right! I've based this painting, "GUARDIAN" on his sense of confidence and assurance. He was a wonderful, faithful, and reliable dog and we miss him every day. His wonderful memory lives on in our present Shelties.
"GUARDIAN", an 11 x 14 watercolor on Arches 300 hot press. Original available ~ $625. Small prints ($38) and note cards ($14 for 6) also available.
Heather Anderson
www.heatheranderson-animalart.com
anderson.animalart@sympatico.ca
Early last Spring, I was counting my many blessing and as a Thank You to the Universe, I vowed I was going to post one "Happy" thing a day on Facebook. A week later, one of our beloved Shelties was diagnosed with his second go round with cancer, and suddenly, it became very difficult to find a happy thing each or any day. The saga went on for many months, with the darkest day being the morning last summer when I lay flat out on the floor of the emergency Vet hospital, face to face with our fragil dog, pleading with him to keep fighting to stay with us. (It delights me to be able to tell you that this same little Sheltie was out chasing squirrels this morning!)
I still felt I had to honour my committment to post about happy things, so despite the ongoing fatigue and sometimes absolute terror we felt most days at that time, I tried to find happy things to post. And you know what? There was always something. Maybe it was only looking at the amazing, endless blue of the sky, or a hummingbird hovering, serenading us with the low hum of his wings, but there was something. As Sara Teasdale said, "Look for a lovely thing and you will find it." It helped us through the year, and looking back, I see that we have changed. The future might be bright, it might be scary, but today is good. So we have learned to let go of small annoyances, small worries, and focus on the good of today. I wish you all the blessings of "the good of today."
It's been a while since I've done a blog post, although I've composed a number of them in my mind. But somehow, they just didn't get written. Since the last time, we've lost one of our fur-family and even though he was an older dog and not in good health, it is never easy to say goodbye to a loved one. In the wake of that, I've found myself with a decided lack of energy and a tendency to feel not quite up to par, although that's improving steadily.
Maybe that's why I've been thinking in very gentle images these past few weeks. With Halloween coming up, that can be difficult, because everywhere you look, you see goth and gore and horror movies/costumes. I started to think back to when I was a kid. Halloween was fun, spooky, and silly, and a that's where the emphasis lay. People decorated with pumpkins, jolly or fierce, with maybe a ghost or two blowing from a tree. Dry leaves skittering down the street, a cold, sneaky wind blowing down your neck, and pumpkin-light were the main spooky effects. Costumes ran the gamut from little witches, princesses, pirates, and cowboys/girls to polite vampires, skeletons and ghosts. Boys and girls had wonderful costumes (mostly Mom-made) to match interests or fantasies that did not include chain-saw murders. Makes me wish we could bring back more of the fun of the occasion instead of focusing so much on the darker side of things.
With these things in mind, my new painting is based on a memory of going Trick-Or-Treating with my dog. It is an 11 x 14 watercolor on Arches Hot Press. I love the porch-light and pumpkin-light shining out of this one, and the body language of the Sheltie. "The things I do for my kid!" EXPECTATIONS is an original watercolor and is available at $400.
