There are very few things in life that are certain.... Birth and death are two of those certainties. We said "until we see you again" to my best friend who has been my constant for almost half of life. He was always trying to protect me, warn me when I had migraines before I knew they were coming, went on adventures and storm chased with me, put his paws over my leg after I developed RSD so that I was not accidentally bumped, comforted me when I was upset, loved the people in my life who loved and cared for me, watched the Husker games with me even when they lost, and stayed by my side even when he was hurting. He was so loved and appreciated.... even when he was annoyingly close as my shadow.
I struggled, and still do, with how to process and work through the grief I was feeling especially when I could not find words. I pulled out the iPad and opened procreate but nothing "came out." Eventually I pulled up a photo of his paws I took, at the time there was no purpose but I would rather have them and not need them instead of wishing I had in hindsight. After tracing his front paws, I created a brush that was his paw print.... soon that evolved into finally trying to learn how to make a digital brush that would give me a paw print trail. (Another thing on my ever growing to do list) I was lucky to have a friend offer to help me figure out what setting would create the paws to turn in response to the Apple Pencil.
It then led to me finally trying to make an animated GIF! (Another of the many things on my list....) I get to share the first 3 animations that were not the bouncing ball did before I lost all my procreate files on the old iPad. It definitely felt good to be able to do something constructive with the feelings I was experiencing.
Art really does have healing properties to it. I also made a plate today that is in the kiln getting cooked to almost 1500 degrees!
**UPDATE**
GIPHY approved the application so if you want to use these as stickers on your photos you can click the links for Rainbow Paws, White Paw Prints, or Black Paw Prints.... Tag me on instagram if you use them so I can see!