(Click to Enlarge)
Commissioned painting by Annie Salness, 36x48
Last year the Oregonian ran this article about how Annie Salness continued to paint despite having suffered a debilitating stroke two years ago. The story put Annie in touch with someone with an unusual commission request...could Dogs playing Poker be painted with specific dogs? Annie has a sense of humor and a great work ethic, so she took the job.
The original Dogs Playing Poker is regarded as kitschy, but this painting qualifies as something different. The idea was to depict all the dogs that were owned throughout the lifetime of the person who commissioned the painting. Annie had to work from an assortment of blurry photo references and convincingly fashion the individual dogs into the scene and let's not forget....this is all painted with her non-dominant ("off" hand) as she calls it!
Any of Annie's astonishingly beautiful paintings could warrant a special post, but I think you'll agree, this painting serves up a message for all of us: keep going and, oh yeah, don't take yourself too seriously!
Postscript: (Is this art? If you've ever loved a dog...you're going to say yes).
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Annie Salness: Blog
Annie Salness Daily Paintworks
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I've recently had the pleasure of meeting and painting en plein air with Annie. She's a remarkable person with an inspiring story. Thank you, Celeste, for the thought-provoking blog post.
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