>The Truth About Bailey
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A fellow bead artist, Robin Atkins, really got me thinking about art lately. In her latest posts, she questioned 'What is a Masterpiece?' and 'What is Truth in Art?'. I don't know if there really is an answer to the first question, but for me, the second question is an easy one. To me, truth in art is the depiction of a subject in such a way that it conveys realism and sincerity to the viewer. This could mean either my own truth or someone else's, and this will change from piece to piece. I prefer my beaded subjects to actually exist or have existed at one time. But most of all, I prefer them to have a true story behind them - a story that has touched my heart in such a way that I feel I should share it with the rest of the world.
That brings me to Bailey, the first dog on the left. Bailey's owner, Gigi sent me an email that told me all about her dogs. Gigi wrote, "Bailey was our first sheepdog. She was 8 weeks old when we got her in 1993. She was the Princess because she was very particular about how she ate her food--it had to be in bite size pieces, and she would always sample it before inhaling it. She reminded me of the story "The Princess and the Pea"--she had to be totally comfortable before she would settle down. She was also very headstrong--she tried really hard not to come when called. She could never be off-leash, because she was soooo stubborn...
"Once, at a dog show, we were waiting to go into the ring. I was in line behind two other sheepdogs and their handlers, and we started to go into the ring. There was a table just to our left that had all of the ribbons on it. As we walked by the table, Bailey jumped up on it, and posed! Just like she would do in the show ring, but on the table. She loved to hear the applause as she would go around the ring--the louder the applause, the higher she held her head. She definitely was a total ham! I even had a tiara for her. Bailey's show name was Stapleford's Wonderful Life. Stapleford was the name of the kennel, but she was named for George Bailey from "It's A Wonderful Life", and I think she had just that."
Hmmmm...perhaps a beaded tiara is in order here...
