dog peace

image copyright serendipityartist/Annette Haines

and appears by kind permission of the artist

Her name is Shanti, or Peace. She is a stray dog wandering the streets of Pune, India. And to Annette Haines, who saw many like her on travels through that country, "These strays embody the often difficult, but beautiful world of India." Two other strays - Love and Light - round out Haines' trilogy of lives.

I was drawn to this image because to me the color and treatment so perfectly matched its subject: the dry ochre of Indian soil, the brown/tan fur of the dog packs who have run on their own for enough generations that they have reverted to the basic breed. Not only that, but the elegance and wistfulness of this creature called strongly to my sympathies. I think the understatement of this work - as indeed in all of Haines' work that I've seen so far - lends itself perfectly to paper, which though light and fragile can carry messages across time and space much more readily than the physicality of canvas or wood panel. Haines does write about her own attraction to paper in her work (all her work; she's also a librarian). You should read about that here at her blog.

She is also known as serendipityartist, and you can check out her Etsy shop of that name here.