International Chihuahua Appreciation Day

I had already done my “day” sketch earlier of National Chicken Dance Day. (I sketched a chicken, dancing.

I have been going about my day working on some catching up, sketching and drawing away.  …listening to Zoom recordings either on repeat or ones that I missed.  Hoping to get to the juicy podcasts I was listening to….

As I am listening to the Zoom recording I was playing, an email pinged and I glanced up….wait, what’s this?  An email from AKC.org to alert me that it is International Chihuahua Appreciation Day?  How did I miss THAT?!  Damn I could have sketched Mack and Lucy this morning in my dailies!

I have tons to post about Lucy and Mack so I am prepared for this.  As I mentioned a few months back, we have a new addition to the family.  Lucy came into our lives a year ago, actually this week.  She was a Mother’s Day gift from my husband.  Which the joke is sort of on him, or maybe me, because Lucy thinks my husband walks on water and I am only good for a bed warmer. 

Last month I was making a lot of dog art for an event, and I was revisiting my tiny dog series, blowing some of those up or making all new new ones.  I did one portrait of Lucy and a new one of Mack.  Mack is Mr GQ.  If I need a reference photo, I just take it.  He’ll pose all day.  This portrait is from a recent photo.  You can see his eyes are getting a little bit cloudy but he’s still chugging along at 13. He’s a dashing long haired chihuahua.

Lucy on the other hand, John and I needed ID photos for AKC of her and I think all four of us were exhausted after that session. Mack was exhausted just watching the show.  And this is WITH the STAR Puppy training. At least I had few I could use for portraits after all of that struggling.  

Chihuahuas are probably one of the most MISunderstood breeds.  They are very intelligent.   Their Napoleon demeanor has a lot to do with self preservation in a world where something minor to a human or child could be fatal to a chihuahua.  Even when you have chihuahuas, you need to proceed with caution with other chihuahuas until they learn you aren’t going to hurt them or their owner.  They are fierce little watch dogs but they really are amazing little companions.

Both of these portraits are done on cradled wood boards with acrylic gouache, colored pencils, ink and whatever else I grabbed that was handy.

ENJOY and Happy International Chihuahua Appreciation Day