Sophie and her Pink Piggy
12″ x 9″, acrylic on canvas
prints available in the shop
With swine flu hysteria making headlines, Sophie decided to step up to my canvas with her very own pink piggy sweetness, ready to defend those snuffling snouts and squealingly cute curly tails.
From Wilbur to Babe, pigs have long been one of the most popular barnyard critters – as long as they stay small and cute, that is. Like the puppies that become dogs and get sent to the pound, we prefer to anthropomorphize piglets, not their grown-up counterparts (we prefer to enjoy those as bacon!).
When I was 7 or 8 years old, my dad brought a baby pig home from work. I got to keep him for the weekend, wrapped up in my fuzzy yellow baby blanket, cradled like a doll. There’s a very cute (and now faded) picture of us probably languishing in a shoebox somewhere that I would love to unearth and scan.
Of course it didn’t occur to me until much later that my dad? Worked at a slaughterhouse back then. My very own Weekend With Wilbur was probably just a preview of what would end up on my plate later on.
I should probably note for the record here that I’m not vegan or even vegetarian. In fact, it’s highly dubious that I get anywhere near my 3 to 5 recommended daily servings of vegetables. I like me a bacon-wrapped Twinkie as much as the next gal, but I can’t help thinking that pigs are getting a bad rap these days (pun TOTALLY intended). So, I put my brush where my mouth usually is and Sophie sprang to life.
I need to shoot some pics of the canvas before I list the original for sale, but she’ll be looking for a new home soon enough!
Too cute!