No, this isn't Quinn the Eskimo, although her fur wrap might lead you to think so. This is Quinn the Cleveland bookseller. I previously "immortalized" her by painting a sweet moment between her and her dog, Cha Cha, but over the course of time I have discovered that Quinn is a mighty advocate for the downtrodden, in addition to being a poet, a storyteller, a deep thinker about ethics and equity, and a lover of costumery, for both her and her "supervisor," who owns more tutus than any little canine could wear in one lifetime. And despite some health and immune system issues, she has ridden out the pandemic by using grant money to employ a crew of 15 remote workers, taking them off the jobless roles and teaching them to catalog books. In short, Quinn is a badass.
At some point someone sufficiently recognized that as to do a photo shoot of an intense and somewhat barbaric-looking Quinn dressed in furs and staring out from the depths of the forest; I decided today to try taking that image into watercolor with the looser method I have lately cultivated, and here is the result. My only regret is that she had a cool nature-themed "fascinator" on her head, but I drew her too large on the page to have room to fit it in. I have to remember to use bigger paper than I think I will need!
"Mighty Quinn"—pencil and Paul Jackson watercolors on 140-lb. Strathmore coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.
