Top Dog Painting

When I was on an artist's residency in Macedonia, I stayed in a rural village which had a lively community of animals who interacted with each other in various ways. I was interested in this dog who seemed to be the top dog. I had noticed that he was quite vicious to other dogs and very territorial. But I caught his interaction one day, with this tiny cat, that held its ground and seemed to own the road. The dog, on the other hand, gave a sideways look of fear and respect. I hoped to capture this fleeting moment in this painting It displayed so much information through body language of the status of these two passing beings. The composition is predominantly the space of the road and the space between the two animals. There is humour too as the shadows add a cartoon element to the painting,