Hi, everyone. Ella writing here. Currently on a flight to Tokyo. Hoping that some of Julia’s younger followers will enjoy this post. First, let’s clear up some misconceptions. One, I write all of my posts and handle all of my correspondence. The idea that Julia edits anything is preposterous! She is too busy and I am often lecturing in other countries so we aren’t even in the same place! You might say, “But Ella, you are a golden retriever, you don’t have fingers or opposable thumbs! How can you type this out?” Well, obviously I have an iPaw™ which allows me to communicate in this digital universe of ours. It’s like a gigantic keyboard, and it allows me to type using my four paws. It’s a delicate dance prancing about to string together words and sentences, but then again writing itself is a delicate dance. I do agility exercises (such as jumping up to kitchen counters when there’s like a roast chicken up there, or, say, sautéed fish with lemon and herbs, or a grilled rib eye that has just been … wait, I am getting distracted here) to improve my dexterity. And anyone who knows me knows I am an excellent dancer. I am pretty sure one of Beyonce’s people was trying to contact one of my people to see if I could be a backup dancer for one of her tours. But alas the negotiations got too complex. Beyonce and I are still friends though.
 
Let’s see what else? Oh, for all of you asking, no I am not single. I am flattered by all of the attention but I have to be honest with you. I have had two long time companions since I was little. They are both smaller and darker than me. One is a half lab/half retriever and one is a black curly-haired mutt. The boy is named Rugby, the girl is named Lola. I love that they play tag with me and don’t resent my success. We try to be active politically and currently we are organizing a petition to allow dogs to vote. Sometimes when we see what politicians you humans are electing we think it’s crazy that we aren’t allowed to vote but you are. I have some advice for those of you old enough to vote: care about the environment, care about your fellow humans, care about animals, and try to be kind every day. And for those of you who can’t vote yet: the second you can vote, make sure you do!
 
Another misconception is that because I am a dog, I can’t see color. Colorblind doesn’t mean dogs can’t see color. I see blues and purples and violets and greens and yellows. I do not see reds and oranges, they appear sort of greyish to me. But Julia doesn’t use a lot of red and orange (obviously for my benefit) so it doesn’t matter.
 
You might not know this, but just like Julia, I am self-taught. I didn’t even graduate from puppy kindergarten because the entire dog training center closed down in the middle of my class. The owner lady had a falling out with the trainer lady. I would like to say that I was a top student but the truth is, I was middle of the road. We had a midterm exam and I completely bombed it. We had to walk through this obstacle course and follow commands given to us by our human owners. So Julia would say things like “sit” “wait” “come” and “down” and I guess I was supposed to do those things. But here’s the thing: at every twist and turn in the exercise, there was food. Bacon bits, slices of cheese, even carrot sticks (which I avoided at all costs). I guess the point of the exam was to do all the commands and not eat any of the bacon and cheese. But that seems like a silly exam, doesn’t it? Absolutely no fun at all! So I raced through (super fast, I might add, I was probably the fastest in the class) and ate every single piece of cheese and bacon I could find. I vaguely remember in the background Julia yelling “no, Ella, no!” but I had to find every treat I could quickly and some were hidden! Eventually the trainer lady ran into the obstacle course and yanked my collar and pulled me out. She told Julia I had to do that exercise again or I couldn’t pass the class. But then the entire training center closed. So that’s basically a summary of my school experience.
 
In my opinion, which on the scale of opinions is very important (in my opinion), I don’t think you need a lot of education to appreciate art. Art is about a feeling inside you. Does something make you happy or sad, calm or energized, thoughtful or cleared of all thoughts? People write to Julia all the time and say, almost like they are ashamed or embarrassed, “I don’t know anything about art but I like your art”. Look, you can still appreciate what you appreciate even if you don’t know everything about art. My aunt Hadley is an art advisor (http://www.powellfineartadvisory.com) and she knows more about art than anyone I know. But she is always like “Ella, you like what you like, it’s okay that you didn’t graduate from college with a degree in art history and then work at Christie’s in New York. It’s okay. You do you Ella.” I think someday she and I might lecture together. If our schedules align and all.
 
That’s all for today folks. I’m currently reading a research paper about quantum mechanics and I have to focus on it because some of it is a bit complicated. I’m also wondering what to eat for second lunch. But I’ll figure it out, guys, don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.
 
Love,
 
Ella

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Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. Anyone who knows me knows that I have lots of thoughts and feelings about many, many different things! Some of it is art focused and some of it is just random reflections about life and the world. My aim is to make us all think and also maybe to add some light humor to the day. Ella has recently received an iPaw (an iPad designed for golden retrievers) and is also very excited to write guest posts (when she can fit them into her busy schedule).

I am hoping the blog can be somewhat interactive ... I am looking forward to answering questions that you guys ask and/or posing questions to you and posting those answers.

Before I became a professional artist, I went to law school and practiced law. So the US criminal justice system and politics interests me a lot. I also was a pretty serious athlete when I was younger and so sports also interests me. Luckily I was born and raised just outside of Boston so we are always winning something (sorry New York! Sorry LA! But don’t worry you guys are better at almost everything else! So relax!).

One thing I think a lot about with ART is the visual aesthetics of it all. When people invest in art for their own use, they often think about these essential questions: “do I like looking at this“ and “does this make the room more beautiful or interesting”. When museums invest in art these days are they asking the same questions? Or is it more: “does this make me think even if I hate looking at it”. Because making people uncomfortable is certainly one of art’s goals. But is that compatible with installation in homes? And therefore is there a fundamental disconnect between what museums are looking for and what individual collectors are looking for? Should painters take this into account? How hard is it to be a marketable artist who sells well AND is also accepted by the art/curatorial establishment? 

​Anyway. This is just one of my thoughts about art – especially painting. What are you thoughts? Happy Monday! ​

Last Saturday, I had been working all day on a large-scale oil painting. It was the kind of piece that gets me very excited because it involves several layers of paint and the use of different tools (two kinds of brushes, a palette knife, paper towels, my fingers, and a printing roller) and different blended colors and I don’t know where it is even going. Because I paint from my mind and not from photos (or looking outside), my oil paintings can pivot in different directions throughout the painting process, particularly my abstract sea/sky horizon landscapes. 

I had just worked in a series of thin and delicate lines and the studio was starting to get a little stifling with all the oil paints. So I took a break to do some serious Easter egg dyeing. When I was in my twenties, I was a little bit of a crazy person about Easter eggs. I needed between twenty and twenty-five Easter eggs for my own personal use and then the rest of my family could do what they wanted with other Easter eggs. I’ve mellowed in my thirties, but tonight it seemed like the time to raise my game and create a bit of a competition where my followers on Instagram could decide which egg was the best. What I loved about the competition was how seriously people took it. I got messages like “it’s insane to me that anyone would choose anything besides Egg 1. It’s clearly the best one and it’s killing me that it’s losing. WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING?” and “Are you RIGGING the votes? Egg four should be destroying the competition??” and “Personally I feel like number six has no business being there. It’s an outlier. How in god’s name is it in even in the running?”