No. 468: That What Is Not

No. 468, "Son Flower" by Tom Wills, July 2020, ink and watercolor.

I was thinking, while painting a dog, about how people need to look past first appearances and see "that what is not."
Here we have the German Shepherd, a formidable animal, smelling a sunflower -- nose deep in a bloom.
Would you imagine such gentle inquisitiveness from the police dog, catcher of criminals, watcher of prisons?

It's a favorite image of my own dog, Corleone, and it does capture his nature. On the outside he is a domesticated wolf but his innards are all cotton candy.

This may not be the permanent frame. It seems there is a frame shortage during this pandemic.

The painting is based upon a favorite picture, from Corly's younger days, when he liked to eat bees -- and before he learned not to.  Sometimes it stings to learn things.

Right now Americans are at each other's throats, worrying through a pandemic, all keyed up. There's an ongoing heat wave. People are ventilating in all sorts of ways, not really going anywhere or getting anything done. These are ugly times.

So, I sat down for four days during my pandemic vacation and painted a pretty picture of a dog and a sunflower. What does a dog pollinating his snout have to do with any of 2020's nastiness?

Perhaps it's that we need to be more thoughtful about what we think we know, and how we imprint that upon those around us. We might get through this changed for the better if we look closer at ourselves and at least try to get past "that what is not."

Here's how the painting developed. The dark black is ink.