“Augustus, The Artist”

...that is what they will call me! I helped Mummy with a drawing today. She did not know about it until after; I waited until she left the room so as to surprise her on her return with my incredible sense of depth and perspective. She lays her charcoal drawings on the studio floor and sprays them with this stuff and says it has to dry before she puts the drawing away. Welllll...

I studied the drawing carefully, walking around and viewing it from all angles, and finally decided that what it needed was a great big fuzzy pawprint right slap in the middle. Of course, to get there I must add a few other prints as well but I knew that if I got them at just the right angle, they would probably lend that bit of dimension it needed; and I needed to work fast, before that stuff dried. I stepped gingerly onto the edge, and the paper settled a bit beneath my foot (there may have been a few creases but that sometimes happens when we artists really get into our work - can't be helped). Then I proceeded to step high, wide and plentiful - I was starting to get the hang of this! I envisioned scores of drawings hanging on the museum wall, each bearing my signature paw print, admirers moving in close to capture every detail in their memories...What was that noise? OOOPS! Mummy was coming 'round the corner and shouting my name - I must have gotten a telephone call or something. I scraped frantically across the rest of the drawing (would it never end??) and raced right beneath her feet, Mummy suddenly at a loss for words. I dashed off without waiting for accolades (didn't want to miss that call!).

Mummy has been a bit distant this evening; I am wondering if maybe I gave her food for thought - you know, the struggling artist discovering her weaknesses and what not. I am so glad I could help and can't wait until the next time we get to draw.

I just hate the cleanup - does anyone know how to get charcoal out of fur?