Australian shepherd portraits in Aquarelle Wash

A Basque herder named for the wrong continent

The Australian shepherd is not an Australian breed. The AKC traces it to the Pyrenean Shepherd, the herding dog of the Basque shepherds in the borderlands between France and Spain. Basques who went to Australia in the 1800s took their dogs with them and crossed them with British imports, collies and Border collies among them, then sailed on to California. Ranchers there took the dogs for an Australian breed, and the name stuck. Refined in America, the Aussie became part of cowboy and rodeo life, and it entered the AKC Herding Group in 1993.

The coat is where no two Aussies look alike. The standard allows four colors with no order of preference: blue merle, black, red merle and red, each with or without white markings and copper points. Merle is a mottled pattern in contrasting shades of blue or of red, and the standard notes that merles grow darker as they age. White may run around the neck as a collar, down the chest and legs, and up the face as a blaze, but the eyes must be fully ringed with color.

The eyes vary as much as the coat. The standard allows brown, blue or amber eyes, or any mix of them, flecks and marbling included, so one blue eye and one brown is correct for the breed. It asks for a keen but friendly gaze, triangular ears that break forward or to the side, and a docked or natural bobbed tail. The AKC sums up the temperament as smart, work-oriented and exuberant: a dog with an urge to herd anything, birds and children included, and the stamina to work all day.

Aquarelle Wash on an Aussie coat

Aquarelle Wash is a watercolor style by the artist Millie. It shows the dog full length or nearly, in the pose of its photo, on bare white paper. The color goes on in loose, wet washes that run into each other and stop in soft, uneven edges, and the white of the paper stands in for white fur. A pale pool of color hints at the floor or the ground under the dog, and the rest of the sheet stays empty.

A merle coat suits it. On a blue merle the merle goes in as broken patches of slate blue and black that bleed at their edges, and on a red merle it uses rust, fawn and cream. Copper points go on in warm ocher on the brows, the cheeks and the legs. Where an Aussie has a white collar, blaze or legs, the paper is simply left bare.

Solid coats work as well. A red tricolor keeps a deep rust coat, with the darker blooms that watercolor makes where wet paint pools, and its white collar stays paper. The eyes get the most care: a blue eye stays a clear, pale blue against the merle, and amber eyes keep their warmth. The coat, the markings and the eyes come from your photo; the washes and the white paper come from Aquarelle Wash.

A gift for an Aussie's people

The AKC says Aussies bond strongly with their families. They are the dog at the door, at the foot of the bed, and beside you on a bad day. Aquarelle Wash is meant for that dog: a portrait as gentle as one that lies down beside you when you are sad. A merle's coat darkens with age, so a painting from this year's photo keeps the coat as it is now.

It suits a birthday, a new puppy, a dog retired from the ranch or from sport, or an Aussie that has died, painted from an old photo. One photo can hold more than one pet, so two Aussies who share a couch can share a painting.