Paper dogs

Remember when you were a kid and spent hours playing with paper dolls? I know I did! I've been experimenting with different ways to put my love of dogs and watercolors together. I thought wouldn't it be cool to have a 12" paper doll of dogs I would love to own? I figure making them was so much cheaper and there's no maintenance required.

I first started out with a sketch on tracing paper. Then I transferred the sketch to watercolor paper, making sure I separated the head from the body. Once that was done I used Derwent Aquatone watercolor pencils to lay in color and used a damp watercolor brush to blend the color in. When the paper was dry, I cut out the head and then the body. I played around with the placement of the head and once I got the right angle, I used my tiny whole punch and punched a whole and then added mini brads.

So this is my brand new dog George. I love the look of bull dogs...they're so ugly that they are really cute. I would love to own one,but after doing a lot of research on the breed, I discovered that they have too many health issues and living in the high desert would probably be too hot for them.

Now George keeps me company in my studio over seeing all my works in progress. A funny thing happened when my dog Sophie noticed George. Sophie thought George was real and kept on using her deep voice bark. Even after re-assuring Sophie that she was my favorite, she still wouldn't stop barking at poor George.

Then I decided to make a paper dog for my sister Linda. She lost her two Cocker Spaniels last year and has been dog-less. She would like to own a Pug,but plans to wait until her husband retires.

I named him Baxter.