How I remember you

After drawing those sketches of Dong- my dog, I went through my entire photo collection to look for something that would represent my memory of him. 

I'm not that familiar with watercolor, last time I had an lesson was probably when I was 7. But I had a few lessons few years back on Chinese painting. I thought the principle will be the same, however, unfortunately I find that it's more they both use water and color paint. 

I made quite a few attempts at first with my old watercolor paints I had, I could not get the color right. It's always a bit dirty and grey. Of course my skills and ability to sketch are partly to blame. ( I'll show you later in another post)

I used my Chinese painting paint instead, to find that it made a tremendous differences. Turns out they were artist grade watercolor. 

I'm still trying to capture him, so when I show my parents and my sister, they would say, " nawww~~that really him." 

Hopefully you are able to recognize that it's him after reading my last few post.

That's him questioning if the food is eatable for him. Head slightly tilt, food identifing, now he just have to pop the question. With this~ 

(Pretty please~~~~ MOM~~~ ) his head gets heavier the longer he waits, I don't know how he does it, because I don't think his head is actually that heavy!

This is his face when we say "No~~ sorry Dong, what we are having, you can't have!" ("你不能吃啦!") He understands in mandarin "不能吃", meaning it's not things he can have, it's either salty,  spicy or too oily. He just ages 10 years in a blink when he hears that and give you the face of disbelieve. Look at his cute sad face. 

However, I think there is nothing more fitting than our last walk at the park away from the city, this is how I remembered him. With the big huge smile on his face!

Quick sketches of my dog - Dong (冬）Part 2

I want to remember his happy face, as we last went to the large park away from the city. 

That's him grinning as he is about to get a treat.

Climbing on the sofa and rolling around because he is spoiled rotten. 

Giving me the look because he spotted my suit case.

One day I got up and didn't see him at my door. Looked around but he wasn't around, turn out he was upstairs, found himself a sunny spot to have a nap.

I hope he has found a sunny spot to rest.

Quick sketches of my dog - Dong (冬）Part 1

When I learned that my dog was ill, I began to do some quick sketches to capture the essence of him while I can. 

He is sitting by the table asking for treats. He was sitting on his leg, that's why it's missing from the drawing. 

Us out for a walk. He does his half wink with his right eyes, it is just so adorable.

Just happy to be around.

    

This is somethings we all do but don't say out loud to everyone, we talk to our dogs. I talked to him through FaceTime while on the call to my parents. Unfortunately Dong (冬) never quite understood the concept of video chat. How I know he knew it's me or that he heard me, is he when start looking around the house (we play hide and seek), or he would check the front door and my bedroom door, or he would bring the closest bath towel to the phone. 

When he responded, it's comforting. He sleeps a lot at the end, doesn't always come for the calls anymore. 

In memories of my beloved Dong Dong(冬冬)

He is named "Winter"(in Mandarin) as he came to us in the winter in 2001. It is our first large dog, at first we really didn't know how to handle him, it wasn't until we sent him to puppy school that we got really close afterwards. 

Dong became a very polite dog, he would stand at my bedroom door requesting for entry. It's hilarious to see a dog asking permission for entry. He makes minor noise by clicking his nails on the floor as he walks up to my bedroom door or knock the door with his head to get attention and uses his puppy eye technique, " May I enter your room? ". He waits patiently if I don't notice him, he will not enter without me giving him a look. 

One look he knows, we communicated without words.  

He does the same thing when he wants treats, we put the treats on top of the frig. If you have had a Labrador, you know what they can do if the treat is not high up. He would stare at us until he has our attention, and then look above the frig. 

As he grew older, he became more demanding. Still does the same thing but he gets inpatient from waiting for us to notice. He bark once, just once, not loud, just a "Hey, I been looking at you for a while, I think it's time for my treat.". 

What I really love about him is his character, he is not exactly the happy go lucky type of Labrador, he is particular and eccentric. He love crunchy lettuces and fruits - if it's not sour. Here is him grabbing a piece of lettuce. 

This next theme is dedicated to him, to some, this idea may be obscured but to the dog lovers, they are family and we hold them dear to our hearts. 

I still talk about him in present tense. I haven't tell anyone yet or speak about it till now, because I wasn't ready to let go, it feels as if it hasn't happen if I don't think or talk about it as I wasn't by his side.  My family was with him, but I was 7205km away and 2 months too late from my scheduled flight back to see him. The scheduled flight is coming up in a few weeks, hence it is becoming a reality. 

I will not be welcomed by him at the door. 

No one is going to sniff my suitcase with this intense interest of where it has been. 

Not going to be stared at for attention or be asked for treats by those eyes.