The Real Sprocket
I was so unsure about telling this story because I was worried you'd all think I'm weird that I draw my dog that is no longer with us. I had a lovely conversation with the lovely Helen Redfern and she encouraged me to tell you all. I think if you work from home on your tod then self-doubt can easily creep in and having a monthly mentor session with Helen always leaves me buzzing and gives me the reassurance I need.
Anyway on with the story.....
I’ve wanted a Weimaraner for as long as I could remember, all through university I wanted one. I still can’t remember where I first spotted the breed but I’ve never been so adamant in my life about something. Then finally in the summer of 2007, this bundle of joy entered my life, nothing was ever the same again. It's hard to put into word what my four-legged friend meant to me. He was a goon, rough, gentle, fun and such a sweet boy. If he sensed any sadness he would trot over and give me the lean and those full-body leans meant he needed a cuddle. If I was stood he would gentle put his paw on my toes and lean. I'd give his velvety ears a rub and we'd both be good. It was our routine of love and reassurance.
It's fair to say I worshipped the ground he walked on and he was my shadow. As he grew old he never grew up, just wiser and more clingy. If I was in sight he was always a few inches away. He would often yawn loudly if I was in the garden and he wanted to be inside because he'd want me to go in with him. As he grew older I used to call him my old man and as he became weaker he couldn't climb steps into my studio, I'd find myself working downstairs so he wasn't on his own. In the twelve years, we were together the longest we were apart was sixteen days. When I went to pick him up he ignored me for an hour. he used to make me laugh a lot. He was a bit of a dick to be fair.
One day we had a supermarket delivery and as we were unloading we noticed the egg carton was damaged, the driver promised a refund. When we went into the kitchen we noticed drops of egg all over the floor and Sprocket had opened the egg box and ate all of the contents, shells and the lot. He had then gone on a rampage and ate two chocolate puddings, a packet of cat treats, all the dog treats then had proceeded to rampage in the living room and pulled off and ate all the polystyrene berries off my new Christmas wreath. He was pretty poorly
It's hard, to sum him up in the space of a few paragraphs really and maybe this is where I can share a few more stories of the real Sprocket but also of Edison my lovely collie dog who sadly passed away last year and my little spaniel Ted who is often on my Instagram stories. All my animals past and present have inspired my characters. These stories all come through in my illustrations and I'm utterly thankful that my boys have touched and inspired me.
Thank you for sharing my journey of dogs and art.
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