January 2020 was grim: cold, dark, rainy, and locked down. I was struggling with a recent bereavement, and the frustration of a tight budget which made it hard to give the kind of generous donation I wanted to, following the funeral. I felt like making myself a duvet nest and taking a long hibernation. But… I have a dog, and he needs outdoor adventures three times a day, so I had to stay awake all month.
The next best thing to hibernation is sitting on our squishy sofa, drawing dogs. Frequently my own dog. Sometimes these end up on Instagram, and a smattering of people tap ‘like’. The brain usefully merged this information with the desire to raise money for animals, in memory of my lovely Nanna. And one evening it produced a helpful thought: maybe I could draw other people’s dogs in return for a few donations to Dogs Trust? So I put the idea out to my small band of followers, and… the owner of two gorgeous lurchers said yes! It turned out she actually owned four dogs, and they had just installed a custom-made Viking-inspired dog bed. I couldn’t have wished for a better commission! Thank you very much to @lurcher_floki for making the idea a reality!
Things snowballed, and I ended up with a flurry of requests from the owners and friends of a wonderful array of dogs. I set a limit of 15, and asked people to donate directly, giving whatever amount they felt they could – revealing the amount if they felt comfortable, in return for a high res image file of their pooch. At last count the total given was over £500 – far more than I was in a position to donate myself – and I’ve had the pleasure of winter evenings drawing all these lovely dogs.
Here are a selection… Thank you to everyone who got involved!
Lucy Jollow 