Once upon a time, my darling niece challenged me to draw a picture of my dog Max. Max was a 23 pound Parson Russell Terrier, white except for a spot on his tail and two tiny brown raindrops on his ear. He had eyes of ebony, a charcoal nose, and precious-dainty feet. Max was my little man. I had memorized his appearance, knowing that all too soon, he wouldn’t appear in my life at all. The monkey lived 13 years before lymphoma took him from me. Now, he resides in an urn in my living room. Yes, I am that kind of dog owner.

Thus, and morbidness aside, I have decided it is high time I do a sketch of Sadie. Sometimes these little drawings come out as cartoons, as it did in the case of Max’s drawing. Sometimes they land somewhere between realism and cartoon. Certainly, I’d love to paint and sketch like the realists you see in museums, but my style is my style. Sadie’s portrait lands firmly in the latter camp. I have so many photographs of her that a realistic sketch would seem redundant. I also have a couple photos that are frame worthy which are already up on my walls.

Sadie Sue is a very photogenic subject.

Without another moment’s hesitance, here is the sketch I rendered in February of Miss Shagbottom. I hope you do enjoy it’s quirkiness as much as you do her videos.

If you loved this article, subscribe to the blog to get more. Donate by buying a book.