Artists and Their Pets

Ode to our four-legged, finned and feathered best friends

Suso says hi.

Hello GUT friends!

As always, if you are new here, go check out the inaugural GUT post where I explain what the heck we are doing here every week, and our Intro page to see who else is sitting at the Grown-Ups Table and please do introduce yourself, too. Also, some good news for folks who want to share artwork and chat with GUT community: as of a few days ago, all subscribers to the GUT can now participate in the chat on the Substack app. This is where we share drawings and suggestions and encouragement with each other. I’m still pushing for a desktop version, but at least now there is no more “iPhone only” BS. I hope you can join us over in the chat. It’s quickly becoming the best creative community on the internet.

For the past two weeks we’ve focused on Gratitude - first with a week of Gratitude Drawings, next by creating a zine. So many great, personal drawings came from these assignments. If you haven’t done these assignments yet - or any of them, really - it’s never too late. You can return to any of the now 17 (17!) assignments anytime, and share drawings in their respective chats anytime you want.

New Very Serious Assignment

If you’ve been sitting with me at the Grown-Ups Table a while (we’re coming up on 5 months!) you might be expecting something like a lesson on light and shadow, or drawing faces, or a visual exploration into silence or the connection between music and art, or a visiting artist… well today, we are doing something far more heady.

David Hockey with Stanley and Boogie and the paintings they inspired.

We are drawing our PETS.

The drawing at the top of this dispatch is Suso. If you did DrawTogether videos, you probably recognize her. During peak DT-Kids days, she used to get stopped on the street for photos. Caroline and I have Suso and two cats: Mia and Maxine. Truth be known, Caroline is the true caregiver. I am what we call “fun mom.”

“It seems to be my mission in life to wait on a dog” – Georgia O’Keeffe, with her dogs Bo and Chia. O’Keefe didn’t paint her dogs like Hockey did, but they were constant presences in her studio and daily life.

That’s right, GUT friends. I want to see your four-legged studio assistants, and hear about them too. I bet we ALL do. Why? Because we love them. And what fun to train our attention and art eyes than focus on our most beloved little creatures. It’s also a fun way to get to know each other a bit more - we can learn a lot about someone by their pets. And if you don’t have a four-legged or finned pet per say, I bet you have some other sort of living creature you care for. Plants count! Can kids or grandkids be a pets? Why not! Whatever creature you adore and dote on, that’s what we’re drawing this week.

Turns out there is a long history of artists immortalizing their beloved animals. I did some deep digging and put together a collection of photos of artists with their animals and the artwork those pets inspired. Get ready for a heart explosion: