The Movie Star

Do you have someone famous in the your family?  Someone who has been in the movies?  I can tell you that I do!  Her name was Brandy and she was a beautiful Golden Retriever who was owned and trained by Pat Strang, a family member who lives in BC. 

Brandy was one of 3 golden retrievers who played "Buddy" in the 5th movie in the Disney franchise "Air Bud: Spikes Back".  When we first found out about Brandy's stardom my daughter was around 9 or 10 at the time and I tell you, we were sure excited.  Pat sent my daughter an autographed photo of "Buddy" from the movie and it became a prized possession.

A few months back when covid first became part of our lives, my friend and co-producer of Mural Mosaics, Phil Alain asked me if I would be interested in participating in a new mural about man's best friend. After all, in this crazy world we live in right now, these wonderful 4 legged family members have brought so much comfort to so many of us, what a great idea to celebrate them.

This mural was going to be a bit different than the Mural the team usually does, rather than each painting becoming one large mural that is displayed somewhere, it would instead be turned into a print mural and the original paintings would be auctioned off.  Also, this mural would be an international mural because he was inviting artists from all over the world to participate.  Of course I was game and started to think about which pup I would draw.  Of course my own lovely little dog Stella was top of my list, but then my good friend and artist extraordinaire, Jori Warren came up with a brilliant idea of painting celebrity dogs.  She had one in mind, one that she was following on social media "Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund"; she just loved this little guy.  I told her about Brandy being in the movie and she convinced me I should contact Pat.  Luckily, Pat was game and sent me a bunch of photos.  I couldn't use any that were actually from the movie since getting permission would have been difficult, but I was able to find one that spoke to me.

Painting Brandy was a joy and I spent many hours working on her.  Part of the challenge with painting for the mural is that the painting has to fit into the mural in a particular way.  We are first given a tile that has been painted with colours and values that we have to try to paint something that fits.  

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My tile (see right side) was shades of different colours but what was more important was the values, the dark mark along the right and the light along the side had to be there as they may represent lines in the mural.  It's always a challenge and I enjoy to painting for Mural Mosaic.

Now that the painting is done and up for auction I invite everyone to have a look, check out the Mural Mosaic's website and also put a bid on the painting if you are interested.  

I'm excited to be part of this, along with over 80 Canadian and international artists.  What a joy to celebrate our best friends!

The Movie Star
8" x 8"
Oil on Metal
Starting Bid $150 US
Bid at:  https://www.muralmosaic.com/product/130dog/
Auction closes on November 21, at 6:30 pm

https://www.muralmosaic.com/gallery/fine-art/dog/
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