Brewster
By Carrie Jacobson
Oil on canvas, 12x12
A year and a half ago, an internet friend and I started the Art for Shelter Animals Project. In it, artists make portraits of animals in local shelters, or with rescue groups, and then donate the art directly to the shelter or rescue group.
The shelter or rescue group can do whatever it wants with the art. It can sell it, auction it, make it into T-shirts or calendars, offer it as an incentive for adoption or volunteerism or fund-raising, or simply use it to make their offices nicer.
The project has had donations from around the world. Painters from across America, from Canada, England and South Africa all have participated, and it's really a pretty cool thing. Art classes have made portraits, there have been mother-and-daughter projects; beginning artists and established ones all have made paintings for the project (
artforshelteranimals.blogspot.com).
One great thing about it, beyond the obvious, is how liberating it is to the artists. No matter what I do with my paintings for ASAP, they will be loved. I don't have to sell them, or have them judged or juried or critiqued. I'm going to give them away, plain and simple, and they will be cherished, whether I make a lavender-colored dog or a russet and tan one.
I'm donating this painting to the group that has Brewster. By the way, he is up for adoption. He's a Wheaten terrier/chow mix with a blue tongue. He is medium-sized and happy! Contact me for more information.
Carrie Jacobson