Dingo Is Going Home

11239623Today was the big day. Dingo, my friend’s German Shepherd, who sadly passed away a few years ago, finally made it home, one last time. (See here the story of the painting)

Because I was asked a few times already about my friend’s reaction when he received my gift, with his approval, I’ve decided to share this special moment with you guys.

Liviu, my friend, got my painting today, and I was very moved to see him so touched by my gesture. When he said: “Can you paint something for me?” I’m sure he had no idea this is going to be the result.

dingogoinghomeI’m more than happy to see him so happy with having his pup back home, even if only in acrylics. Enjoy your painting! I hope it brought you some comfort!

The Challenge of a Bad Quality Picture

As a painter, I offered a few times already, some of my paintings, as a gift, to my loved ones. A few months ago, I painted for the first time one of my best friend’s dead pet, as a Christmas gift, and it was quite an experience. The pressure of getting it right, is always very high, when it comes to giving someone the chance of seeing their pet one last time, for the first time, through a picture.

Making a new friend who enjoys my work, I was asked recently to paint something for him. It was a hard decision to choose a theme for the painting, but knowing my friend’s German Shepherd died a few years ago, I’ve decided to take the challenge of painting his pet.

With only one very bad quality picture available, I struggled to make the dog look as close to reality as possible, and bring him back into my friend’s life. With the painting now completed, all I can hope for, is that I got it right 🙂

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Celebrating love … One day per year?!

grumpy-cat-valentineSo, it’s that time of the year, once again. Valentine’s day is coming! Oh yes, I am so excited! … I will just sit safely under my umbrella, until the atmosphere goes back to normal.

This is the time when people get depressed if they don’t have a date (like it matters more that you are single now, than being single in any other day of the year) and also the time when social networks are flooded with pictures of the perfect couples, celebrating with perfect gifts, their perfect relationships. Because if you don’t post it and brag about it, it doesn’t exist, right?

Love is the most wonderful feeling humans are capable of experiencing. Considering this, there’s nothing more beautiful than celebrating the special bond you have with your life partner. What’s really wrong about the ‘month of love’ is that if you love someone so much, you shouldn’t need a designated day of the year to remind yourself about your true feelings.

Love should be celebrated every moment of everyday, all year round. The little gestures, love, the care for one another, special moments should be present in the life of a couple on a daily basis, not only on February 14th. If you spoil your significant other only when you ‘have to’ because it’s dictated by the social conventions, then the gesture has no real meaning whatsoever.

Commercial aspect of the holiday – Happy Stores

What’s so romantic about Valentine’s Day? We basically celebrate the day when a priest was martyred for secretly performing marriage ceremonies, around year 207. Taking joy in someone’s misfortune….That’s a bit gruesome, don’t you think? This unfortunate event was turned, in time, into a commercial holiday, which is spreading all over the world, making people buy stuff, in order to nurture such a pure feeling.

Besides, are we the ones who celebrate it, or the store owners do the celebrating part, as sales go up considerably during the ‘season of love’? I think the ones who are truly in love, in February, are the ones selling the love tokens.

And we celebrate the holiday by giving to our partner our heart, but not metaphorically, as initially intended, but literally, sort of, represented by a horribly large stuffed heart, with their name on it (in case they forget their name – useful in case of amnesia, I guess) or with a printed messages like ‘I love you‘ (in case they forget you love them, I suppose you can ask them to go look for the heart, and read the message again. Like this you don’t have to prove it anymore, as it’s already written down somewhere) or ‘Be mine‘ ( um … didn’t you guys agreed on this one prior to starting dating? – just saying).

The new trend is to give a custom-made heart shaped pillow to your partner, with your face printed on it… ?! … Let’s not even go there, as I don’t think WordPress allows bloggers to write about such aspects 🙂

I don’t know about you, but for me, receiving a gift because that’s the social convention, doesn’t make it a gift from the heart, but a social obligation, bringing it down in value significantly. And giving as a gift a huge plush heart … I won’t ever be able to get the point of it. Don’t say ‘I love you’, prove it. Don’t give your partner a pillow with your picture on it, but be there for them!

We shouldn’t need plush hearts or heart-shaped anything for that matter, in order to prove our love to someone. And we definitely don’t need to prove our love to someone, on a specific day in a year. The real love token is found in your daily actions, and the real gifts come from our hearts. Nothing should be more precious than the gift of spending one more day together, loving and supporting each other, with every step taken into the world.

So, if your significant other is there, go and prove your love to them everyday, through every single one of your actions. Don’t wait for a day designated by society, in order to prove your feelings to someone, in front of the whole world. The events from behind the closed doors are more important than what we show to the world.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyday!

Painting My Best Friend’s Dead Pet

Ada, my best friend’s dog, passed away this year in January, after 15 wonderful years of life, spent together with her ‘pack’. This was especially hard on my friend, as she lost her companion from childhood.

Christmas is approaching and I’ve decided to give my friend the gift of being together with her pup, once again, on her favorite holiday. I can’t bring her dog back to life, but I can put them back together, through a painting.

This was the hardest thing I ever had to paint, because of the emotional involvement. I knew Ada, as I played with her a lot of times before, and I also know how much she’s missed.

Painting my best friend’s pet made me nervous, as I didn’t wanted to offend my friend, in case it doesn’t look real. As Ada was a dalmatian, every spot had to be just right. Very tricky, but definitely worth a shot.

The gift reached its owner, and I think I made my friend very happy! 🙂