Furry artists wag paint for creations
ST. LOUIS – You can tell by the way he applies paint to canvas: Buford is a natural. A true artist.
He might have been born a treeing Walker coonhound, but he’s a real Henri Maltese at heart.
The bulk of Buford’s talent resides in his tail. And all it took to put it in motion one sunny afternoon was a hot dog, some friendly ear scratches and a few high-pitched “wallah-wallah-wallah”s from April Vlcek.
Vlcek is the kennel supervisor of the Community Animal Protection Association of Bowling Green, Mo., where Buford has been waiting for someone to give him a home.
Happy-tailed hounds such as Buford are often Vincent van Doghs in disguise. They go undiscovered because they lack the opportunity to apply paint to canvas with their handy built-in brushes. (And that doesn’t take into account how many Rotty Warhols and other doggie Dalis have been lost to history because of tail docking.)
But Angela Bubolz was ready.
She had dipped Buford’s talented tail into nontoxic, watercolor paint. And as Vlcek “wallah-wallah”ed at the artist’s front, Bubolz braced herself at the back, canvas at the ready.
Buford did not disappoint. Happy tail wagging away, he colored the canvas with streaks of green and orange and brown (good woodsy hues for a hunting hound, wouldn’t you say?).
Buford was one of half a dozen animal artists at the painting party that Bubolz was orchestrating in her driveway that day. Their paintings will soon be auctioned off at the Arf Fair in St. Louis.
Bubolz, founder of Animal Shelters United, is coordinating the fund-raising and pet-adoption event with Beth Ruppel of Wolfgang’s Pet Stop, also in St. Louis.
Another doggie adding to the auction is Missy, a bull terrier mix found running loose in Bowling Green.
Missy was the traditionalist in the field of four-footed artists, and a reluctant one at that. Inspired primarily by pieces of roast turkey and chunks of string cheese, she preferred to paint with her paws — the canine equivalent of finger painting.
Missy did not appear to mind putting her paws into the violet, magenta and turquoise paint that helpers had picked for her.
And when it came time to transform the colorful goo into jewels that would make Jackson Pollock proud, Missy was more than happy to paint the plastic drop cloth, the grass, the driveway or any other surface she could get her paws on.
She just didn’t want to paint the canvas. Talk about temperamental artists.
Sheriff was just the opposite. The 6-month-old black and tan coonhound mix, found at the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, loved the canvas.
After brushing on streaks of blue, gold and orange a la Buford, this modern Michelangelo flattened himself on top of his creation. Then he wiggled around for a while.
The finished effect was oddly amusing, especially on Sheriff.
Misty employed some of the same affinity for the canvas as Sheriff, but for a different reason. One of the few felines at the art party, the tiny, 4-week-old representative of SNUGGLE (Special Needs Under Gentle Guided Love Everyday) was not always as sure-footed as her canine counterparts.
And when she was finished, there was not as much pink glitter paint on the canvas as there was on Misty.
Fortunately, water was all it took to wipe everyone clean.
Should you decide to try such zaniness at home – who knows, your canine could be a closet Picasso – here’s what you need:
• Nontoxic, wash-off, tempera watercolor paint. Bubolz used a tempera poster paint.
• Containers such as aluminum pie plates to pour paint into.
• Drop cloth.
• Weights to keep the drop cloth from blowing in the wind.
• Water – lots of it – for cleaning painted paws, tails, noses and other body parts.
• Collars and leashes for animal artists working outdoors in unfenced areas.
• Most important: a cooperative pet.
Remember, not every animal wants to be an artist.