Cats and Dogs

On my last trip to the car boot sale, before it closed for the cold weather, in October 2022, I bought four vintage chess pieces from a set that had been damaged. I wanted to buy them all but reigned myself in. I loved each piece’s expression. The cats are part of my ‘ceramic pets’ collection. I selected the persimmons because of their colour and their name. The set-up, including the colour felt a little awkward and I liked that. The painting is free floating in a limed white frame.

Cat People, egg tempera on panel, 20 x 28, January 2023

Although a ‘dog and pony show’ is ‘an elaborate display or presentation, especially as part of a promotional campaign’, the words evoke a three-ring circus for me. How do you create the feel of a three-ring circus with objects you have, including a bunch of dog figurines?

This painting is a response or a companion to Cat People. It is also a nod to one of my most recent Instagram followers, a photographer whose subject matter is remarkably like what interests me.

Dog and Pony Show, egg tempera on panel, 22 x 31, February 2023