“Griffen, A Havanese”

Day 164 of my artwork retrospective

“Griffen” ink drawing on paper © Donna McVicar Kazo

There’s just something about cute little dogs, isn’t there? Especially white ones? And not just recently; paintings of royalty and of the noble class often have the well-dressed portrait subject with a charming toy dog close by. Sometimes not painted too well, which always puzzles me. I mean, it’s one thing to be a painter in the 17th century and have to imagine what a lion or elephant looks like, but if the dog is RIGHT THERE…

The small owner of dark endearing eyes and nose above a little pink tongue in a sweet pure white fuzzy face has proved irresistible for centuries. When my daughters were little, they enjoyed playing with a mechanical, wind-up white puppy with black button eyes. So cute. And since we eventually had four cats, a bunny and a guinea pig, a mechanical dog was sufficient.

I did not get to meet Griffen in the flesh, as the pastel portrait was a surprise gift from a father to his son and his son’s family. This ink drawing was something I did for myself from the reference photos my client gave me.

One advantage of painting or drawing a purebred dog is being able to look up breed standards for comparison. Any information I can acquire before my painting begins is bound to be useful. For example, it was cool to learn that the Havanese is the national dog of Cuba, which explains its…