Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/116

 CHAPTER IX

Drawing our Pets and other Animals

IDGETY-PHIL-WHO-WOULDN'T-SIT-STILL has a very serious rival in our feathered and four-footed friends.

We can reason with Fidgety Phil, but no power on earth can prevail if Timmy the cat, or Spot the terrier, wishes to alter his pose. It will signify nothing that we are in the middle of a masterpiece; and the fact that we and our models are well acquainted will not, by any means, ease the situation; the reverse will probably be the case.

My dog Prince always sat on my sketch-book when he spied on the face of his mistress a certain expression which conveyed to his mind that a sketch of himself was about to begin, instead of a sensible walk on the hills.

Dogs, cats, horses, and birds, especially birds, no sooner spy a pencil and piece of paper than up go their heads, away go hoofs, wings, paws, or tails.

In the first place, when we wish to draw our pets we must invest in a very large&mdash;we might also say inexhaustible&mdash;store of patience; in the second place, if we are wise we shall sketch our models when they are at rest; in the third, we must use a large sheet of paper. For our model will most assuredly move, and if we are properly equipped with paper, we can make a fresh start without any erasing or smudging.

We must also be thankful for small mercies. We must sketch an ear if we can't see a head, a fraction of a paw if the body is hidden, a comb or beak if that is all that meets the eye.

We must, in short, "take the current when it serves, or lose our venture."