For my final work in my Drawing and Imaging class, I wanted to expand on a prior assignment, our self-portrait study on Illustrator. I wanted to create another piece with a similar feeling, and in looking at my “Favorites” folder in my Photos app on my computer, I came across a video of my past dog, Walter. I watched it a couple of times and decided I wanted to recreate this on paper. I paused the video on a frame where he was looking at the sun in the clouds, and decided this was the piece.

I used graphite and charcoal to recreate this image on my 18”x24” Bristol pad. Both the beach and my dog are symbols and memories that surface when I picture “home”, and conveniently go hand-in-hand with each other. Every time I went down to the beach, I would take him, if he was willing, and I would either walk down to the end and back with him, or just sit and observe as he came and went, discovering the place for himself. For him, the beach was an ever-changing place. With every tide and storm that came through, the landscape would change in one way or another. Whether that be the smells on the shoreline, the pattern of rocks on the sand, or a marine animal washing up. There is a concept of time in this piece that I want to convey, where the landscape changes, but the memories I hold in my mind of me and my dog there don’t.