It is not easy being the dog of a journalist. All that running around after secret organisations of international drug smugglers, thugs and jewel thieves; being kidnapped, and held hostage by politically dubious, and sometimes incorrect characters, time after time; not to mention having to sit (or howl) through endless impromptu performances by that well known soprano Bianca Castafiore. Nope. Sometimes, a dog just needs some quiet time, stretched out on the sofa, with very little to distress or vex him.

Such a one is our Snowy, and here he is:

Well, the one pushed into the corner of the sofa by the limelight-stealing pup, is Snowy. Poor thing, he doesn’t even get the whole sofa. The other one has already had her own story on the blog (see La vie en rose), so shouldn’t really be here today. She had indeed been sewn when this photo for Snowy’s portrait arrived, although the expression on her face, nearly sent me back to my sewing room. If ever there was a dog ready to tear after a sinister-looking van, as it drove away at top speed with Captain Haddock knocked out cold inside, she might be the one. Snowy, in contrast, is a calmer chap – a serious old fellow, his owner wrote. Maybe this is a Snowy who has sniffed too many funny smelling cigars, and had too many of those tiny stars floating round his head. There he is without distractions (though I note he is still under her tail, if not under her thumb):

It was easy picking a background for this fellow – a classic Liberty Ianthe design, I thought. It is itself, something of a serious old fellow, having been designed at the turn of the last century, by the French Art Nouveau designer, R. Beauclair. It suited perfectly how I imagined this Snowy. Relaxing on the sofa, doing his best to ignore his younger colleague, putting his gun-fetching days behind him. Well, something like that.

Fabric chosen, it was plain sailing: the only potential problem was that I might have sewn Snowy to my skirt that day.

That and starting him too small, and it really not quite working, despite how long I kept at it ….

Next day, a fresh start, a larger scale, and things went swimmingly.

Ta da:

And that’s that. The End.

Or as Snowy would say

If you would like a bespoke portrait of your own pet have a look at the commissions page.