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this first
dog portrait on commission, I wasn't sure exactly what my client was expecting.
She had given me three photos of her pets, so I started with three small
portraits of the dog with the cat on the same picture. It wasn't a dog portrait
yet, more like a sketch
with a light and loose watercolor painting. The final dog portrait is at
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These
watercolor pet portraits are my first sketches painted from photos
that Veronique had taken of her pets.
At
that time, "Sir Macho", the parson Jack Russell terrier
had a friend whose name was: "Monsieur the Cat". As
they grew up together, they weren't allowed to lead a cat-and-dog
life. Veronique had decided that everyone would love each other
in her house: the dog had to love the cat and the cat had to be
kind with the parakeets, that were flying freely in the kitchen.
"What a woman has decided, God has decided." Don't you
agree ?
And so "Sir Macho" and "Monsieur the cat"
used to play together very often.
On the left, they are holding each other's paw, reciting romantic
fairy tales. In the center, they're sunbathing together on the
very fashionable "Ré Island". On the right, they're
playing tag . But here, the cat just lost. Too bad !
These watercolor post cards are cute, but Veronique was expecting
for more than pretty sketches. She wanted a portrait of her Jack
Russell in all its glory. As I could not ask the dog to stay still
for days and weeks in front of me, I decided to try to take pictures
of him.
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It was my first professional photo
reporting for a dog portrait. I still had far to go to learn the
art of dog portrait photography. I started out wasting a lot of
film because "Sir Macho", was only 18 months old and was
running all over the place. So on the first roll of film, I had
either a head or a tail, or even sometimes a white ghost crossing
the photo. In order to take a good snapshot, Veronique had to help
me by holding her dog's tail firmly to immobilize him.
Roll your "mouse" over the picture to see the detailed
dog's fur painted hair by hair, shadow by shadow.
Veronique was so delighted with her watercolor dog portrait, that
she organised a few dinners, inviting her most elegant friends owning
parson Jack Russell terriers to introduce them to the "great
dog portraitist". With such a fan, I started to make a name
for myself in the very aristocratic world of parson Jack Russell
owners around Paris.
Paris - France ! Not Paris-Texas of course !
A few months later, I printed this dog portrait on my invitation
card for the Paris Country-show and sent it to, at least, 100 parson
Jack Russell owners. That explains why I had so many dog portraits
on commissions with this breed.
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According to the legend, at the beginning
of the XXth century, the Baron de Rothschild brought a pair of parson
Jack russell terriers to France as his pets. When they had puppies,
the Baron de Rothschild gave them to their very close friends, Prince
and Princess of the Gotha and to other Kings of petrol. The puppies
had puppies and the parson Jack Russell family grew wider and wider
in the wealthiest European world. I know a few real Princess who actually
have parson Jack Russell terrier as pet dogs, but all the Jack Russell
terriers in Europe do not live in the Gotha's palaces. It is, nevertheless,
rather elegant among certain circles to own a Jack...
....and often very snobbish everywhere else... 
This explaining that ...
I had more luck finding art lovers in promoting my parson Jack Russell
portraits in the aristocrat world than with poodles or alsatian dogs.
If you know what I mean.... 
The next dog portrait on commission resulted directly from one of
these very "ouah-ouah"* dinners.
*translation :
"ouah-ouah" ... is the sound made
by a French dog barking...
"ouah-ouah" ... is the word very young French kids use to
designate a dog.
"ouah-ouah" ... curiously, in high society, could mean "toilets"
(water-closets.. wa-wa )
"ouah-ouah" ... means also elegant, chic, smart
Curious isn't it ... 
tell me, noble stranger, how German, Brazilian, Chinese or English
dogs bark? I will write a dictionary at the bottom of this page
give me your answers in my mail box by clicking
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The
dog barking international dictionary
These answers have been given by my friends
artists from around the world ..
Thanks to them
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| USA |
dogs
in American comics typically say "woof!" or "arf!" though some actually
say "bark!" :-)
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Mike |
| Japan |
dogs
in Japanese comics, dogs say "Wan Wan!"........ and roosters go "Kokeko-ko!"
;-)
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Rieko |
| Brazil |
dogs
in Brazilian portuguese comics do "au, au, au"
even when litle childrens are learning to talk, we say then that dogs
are "auau"
We use "uolf-uolf" for a very slowly bark
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Luno |
| Italy |
dogs in Italian
comics barks as "bau bau",
that's not a diphthong, just read b- a- u , "a" as U in "Hurry"
and u as oo in "soon" (hope to explain myself) ciao,
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rapolina. |
| Malaysia |
In
Chinese comics, dogs say "Wang Wang" or "Ou Ou" or "Wou Wou"
Roosters go "Kok Kok Kay"
Cats go "Mi Mi" or "Miao Miao"
Human beings say "Ni Hao Ma?" LOL >
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Marvin
Chew |
| Sweden |
In
Swedish comics, the dogs say "Vov Vov",
so children call them "vovvar" or "vovve"
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Sarad |
| NL |
In
Flemish comics, dear Cyrille it's WOEF WOEF (pronounce WOUF)....
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Gilberte |
| Germany |
In German
comics, it's "Wau wau" (pronounced like "vow" in English), or "Wuff!"
(like "voof")
and the children's name for a dog is a "Wauwau".
A cat says "Miau", a rooster "Kickeriki!".
And a sheep says "MŠh!", not "bah" like in English.
Incidentally, German has a word for the sound a cat makes when it's
angry (English people call it "hissing"): it's "fauchen"- and it sounds
just like what the cat does!
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Amo |
| Russia |
in Russian
comics, dogs don't bark, they bite ;-)
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Antov |
| Russia |
ok,
that«s not true, they bark, too and in Russian is sounds like "gav-gav"
or, in kids version, "av-av".
I can«t use cyrillic here to be more precise with how it looks on
paper hope that helps all the best Alyona
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Alyona |
| USA |
it depends on what part of
America the hound is from!!
The southern foxhounds sound different than the northern ones!!
woof woof arff arff bow wow...
.and the really cocky ones say cock-a-doodle-do!! LOL
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Dana |
| Iraq |
The
dogs barks but the caravan goes by
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Iznogood |
Corea
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In Corea, we are very
fond of hot dogs
Dogs usually lie. They used to bark" Kaï Kaï"
that means "cooked cooked"
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Sunday |
| Roumania |
Romanian
dogs say "hum-hum" |
Jessica |
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