PiCassieO: Adventures in Interspecies Art

揚iCassieO? Adventures in Interspecies Art

Artists are known for looking at the world in unique ways, often choosing as subject matter what would normally be overlooked or not seen as 揳rt? In my case, it was my dog抯 window markings that triggered an 揳ha?moment which was the start of the largest body of work I抳e produced in my 30-year career as a painter. This 搃nterspecies?collaboration has produced dozens of wildly expressionistic, brilliantly colorful abstracts that I sign as 揚iCassieO? My dog抯 name is Cassie; doing yet another play on Picasso was irresistible! I figured Picasso could represent me, the human half of the team, with Cassie in her usual spot in the center of everything.

I confess that in the beginning I was like most people looking at non-representational art, searching in Cassie抯 marks for recognizable symbols ?like looking for cloud pictures. Some of the early ones are a little embarrassing now, but gradually I came to appreciate the beauty of the 揵rushwork?for itself and not for what it might seem to represent. I have come to regard my enthusiastic and totally uninhibited dog as my artistic alter ego ?the side that wants to cut loose and be spontaneous instead of meticulously planning and drawing and painting in 揾igh definition? That gets really old after a while, believe me. Cassie graciously lets me use her art as the basis for my own take on it. With the help of a digital camera, photo shop software, tablet and stylus, and a really good printing set-up, I am now producing art that I抦 proud to claim, and am having incredible fun making it! We probably have the 揹irtiest?windows around ?but there are such treasures to be discovered there.

My canine partner and I have a blog (http://www.airedale-art.blogspot.com ) where I post the latest works, and also opened an online store (http://www.cafepress.com/airedale_art ) where I抳e adapted some of our art for a number of items (including dog bowls!). Both the blog and the store are titled 揚iCassieO: Art With Love From Cassie And Beth? That says it all.