Just in time for John’s 27th birthday, Burger whipped up an original paw painting for his doting dad. He’s a regular Jackson Pawlock, I tell ya.
It was actually a cute little project that Burger and I took on together, and he had an inordinate amount of fun throughout the process (even afterwards at bathtime). I grabbed an 8.5×11 piece of white cardstock to serve as the canvas and some water based craft paint (which I squirted onto a plate). Then I just carefully dipped his front right paw into the paint puddle and let him dance it out on the cardstock.
The only important point to mention is to be sure you snatch up your pooch after his stompfest and thoroughly wash that paw before he scampers off onto the rug or the couch (we did the whole thing in the kitchen on the wood floor) and if you have a bigger pup you can always close doors or otherwise block off doorways to rooms that are less wipe-able in case puppy makes a break for it.
Slipped into a crisp white frame with a generously sized white mat (Target, $12) it actually looks like real art:
And although John adored his artful little puppy painted prezzie, I also got him a few practical and borderline professional (by our standards anyway) gifts for fun in the kitchen. The first being a 12″ Cuisinart Green Gourmet skillet coated with Ceramica, a new eco-friendly nonstick coating (similar to glass or ceramic) which keeps food sliding right off without any harmful off gassing or food leeching like Teflon. It certainly wasn’t cheap but as John’s mom so eloquently pointed out as I pondered whether I should spring for it, we’ll have it for years. And we love it. We’ve never had quality cookware before, so consider us smitten.
And along the same “quality cookware” theme I also bought two super sharp J. A Henckels knives and a nice little bamboo box for storing them (as opposed to those plastic knife sleeves- we’re on a BPA/plastic-free kick even when it comes to our knives). Contrary to popular belief, John’s actually the chef of our family and since unwrapping his new toys he’s been even more excited to slice, dice and saute. Which of course is fabulous news for me and Burger the begger.
Wes says
We may have one of the smartest dogs in the world, but I don’t even want to think about what it would take to get our Border Collie to do this.
Sarah says
I’ve been wanting to do something like this ever since our dog grabbed a (wet) paintbrush when we were getting ready to move in and carried it all the way from the living room to the basement (leaving a white trail the whole way of course). I’ve been wanting to give him a more “controlled” creative outlet ever since! hehe.
Cara Beth Buie says
OMG! I’m going to do this hopefully this weekend. I have three animals, a dog and two cats. I think I will do one animal at a time allowing each layer to dry in between and have each animals be a different color. Hopefully it will turn out as great as yours and not look like a sloppy mess. hehe. Thanks for the inspiration. I’ll let you know how it turns out! I am a new fan of your blog and I’m literally addicted.
megan says
Happy Birthday John!
I love the ‘pup art’. It may be hard to try this with a 100 pd chocolate lab, but it is worth a shot (we will have to wait to do it outdoors when it is warmer though). My husband is also the chef in the family and we got Henckels knives for a wedding gift and we love them. And thanks for sharing the eco-friendly cookware; it’s new to me.
Rachel says
Thank you for sharing the eco-skillet! This will make cooking SOOO much easier!
Casamacho says
I didn’t know about this eco-friendly cookware, thanks for posting.
The Pawlock painting is adorable… I don’t even want to think about what it would be like trying to get my cat to do something like that!
heather s. says
I am asking for that cookware for Christmas! I was just looking into the Stainless Steel that you recommended but this sounds better since I’m lazy when it comes to washing dishes. Thanks!
Rachel says
I love this so, SO much! I actually bought the book Why Cats Paint last year intending to do with with my cats then forgot all about it! Now I know what Lil can make for her Dad this year! Thanks tons. I’ll be linking.
Guin says
good call on the quality cookware — we bought a full set of surgical-quality stainless steel (it’s naturally nonstick with minimal oil because it doesn’t have the impurities of regular stainless steel – which is what your food sticks to). TOTALLY worth it. If you’re ever going to eat anything besides takeout, I thnk it’s a great investment.
I recently discovered your webpage and I just love it — we haven’t bought our first house yet, but I call my husband on a regular basis to talk abut my ideas for decorating the future house now! :)
Michelle@Everyday Celebrating says
Love the pup art idea!! So chic inside the white frame!
Laur says
I am so going to try this out with my pup
Richard says
What a nice house. And I like the cookware.
Kyley says
I realize this post isn’t very recent, but I just had to comment. I stumbled across your blog recently and I think its great! This posting caught my eye because I’ve got a bunch of horses that I trick train, one in particular paints pictures. He recently created his first collaborative piece with my dachshund, Ammo. Reminds me of your Burger’s first work. Thought you might get a kick out of it. trickponies.wordpress.org or my boy’s website http://www.ponypaintings.com
as my husband and I are in the process of purchasing our first house we’re looking forward to decorating with lots of “Pony Paintings”. (I admittedly contemplated having the horse paint a few walls – probably will get very odd looks from the husband). Anyway keep up the good work – love reading!
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow (or horse)! That is soooo cool. Love it!
xo,
s
Destine says
Hey,
I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now, and you guys have inspired me to start going green! Taking baby steps right now, but we are getting married soon and I was going to put this cookware set on our registry, and wanted to know how you guys would rate it. Thanks so much!
YoungHouseLove says
Almost a year later we still love our green cookware and use it almost every day. Not so much as a scratch has occurred and we’re very happy with our choice. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Amanda says
I hadn’t seen the Burger art project before… cute idea, I’ll save it in my file. It reminds me when I used to intern in the events department at Toledo Zoo and Baby Louie the elephant did a painting with his trunk and a brush that we auctioned off. People paid thousands, you would have thought they were actually getting a real Jackson Pollack!! Unreal.
Blair says
I’ve been saving this idea forever, and I just copied you this weekend. Our 5 month old puppy was a little overzealous compared to Burger, but it still came out so so cute. Wish me luck that the husband appreciates the effort! (And if you want me to send pictures, I can do that as well.)
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! So glad you had some fun with your pup. Feel free to post a link to a picture or two (flickr or kodak gallery works really well for linking) so we can all enjoy your pooch’s masterpiece!
xo,
s
Jill says
Hi guys! I’m addicted to your blog and can’t wait until I get my own house and get out of the apartment so I can paint the walls and actually hang up artwork and things.
I have a question on Burger’s artwork – what kind of paint do you use? My cat is pretty laid back and I want to try something like this with her but I was worried about it being safe. I assume you just gave your chihuahua a bath after he was done.
Also – the smears crack me up. It looks like you were holding a very unwilling struggling pup to the canvas.
Tell him he did a great job though and I can’t wait to try my hand (er – my cat’s paws?) at custom-made pet art.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jill,
Anything water-based and non-toxic is totally pet safe. Although of course you want to wipe your cat or dog down (or fully bathe him or her) afterwards and be sure there’s no paw licking that goes on. We just had little 99 cent bottles of paint that we used (it’s basically kids finger paint) so that worked out well. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Lisa says
I just ran across this post, and it brought back such fond memories. When my dog was a puppy I did some “puppy art” with him (black paw prints on white paper). Unfortunately he passed away several months ago (at the ripe old age of 14), but his sweet little paw prints make me smile every time I see them. (And I always laugh remembering the huge MESS my apartment was after this little experiment!!)
This is a wonderful way to memorialize a special friend.
Melissa says
I love this idea…so much so that I did it with my 3.5 month old miniature schnauzer Sophie this evening. We had so much fun and made SUCH a mess in the bathroom–the paint came up so easily though with a little water. Thank you SO much for the wonderful idea–4 paws up!!
Here’s the little artist with her masterpiece: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/teh-VYwlUrGkvvCKjkN8Qg?feat=directlink
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- adorable! So glad you had such a good time making pooch art! Looks like Sophie enjoyed herself as well…
xo,
s
Lauren says
What a great idea! We have two crazy mutts – hopefully they’ll let us try this on them this summer!
Emily says
My 2 dachshunds and I did this for a doggie-daddy-fathers day gift. A good stompfest was had by all! Thanks for the idea!!
Fouzia says
AWEsome!! Cannot wait to try this with our beag! ;o)
Just wondering, where can I find these Cuisinart Green Gourmet Pans? We’re getting married soon and I have been trying to figure out where we could register for them. Hope you guys are enjoying your day!
-Fouzia
YoungHouseLove says
We got ours from Bed Bath & Beyond!
xo,
s
Emma says
I heard your blog from one of my friends.Your blog is really amazing and your ideas are so good! There must be a lot of fun in your life.
I love my dog and I will do this with him.Thank you for sharing.
JJ says
Haha.Your pet is an artist!
What a good idea!Thank you for sharing.