Buddah Boy Portrait Painting

I had one person comment that the look on the face of the Pekingese in the painting was that of distain .... and I replied "Perhaps, Ian Arthur Ison, but distain is not what I see or painted but perceive instead a comprehending mind and visual facial expression evidence of his thoughtful awareness of what he sees and experiences not only in this life but also possessing hindsight, a legacy of prior generations of his ancestral accumulated human interactions where Pekingese have been the breed of choice by those who value beauty and art . Pekingese are not by any metric simple or superficial life beings. They have a centuries long history of relationships with humans, mankind's cultural conflicts, and have inherited their diverse roles in today's modern life. Once protected and valuable prized pets of Chinese royalty given the duty of being guardians of the courts ancestral spirits, they were brought (as stolen loot) to the Western world, they have changed with the times and countries creating what we see now in a variety of coat colors, textures, and individualities making each a valued pet Pekingese, the object of his owner's love and affection. To me they are living works of art created by man's love of beauty and art since the beginning of time."