Ignat Ignatov: Putting Art to Work

Erik
Artist: Ignat Ignatov

Last winter I was fortunate enough to attend Ignat Ignatov's portraiture workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona, and to get to know him as a person as well as an artist.  A remark that he made about no longer feeling comfortable eating meat since he'd adopted a little, street dog (because how different is a cow or a pig from my dog? - to paraphrase), stuck with me as showing real decency and a willingness to look at the big picture.
So it was no surprise to see that he's taken on a project to help the many dogs on death row in LA's animal shelters.  Overcrowding is such a problem there that over 200 animals are killed each day in Los Angeles shelters.  I have to say that again: 200 EACH DAY. 
Ignat is auctioning paintings like the one above on his Facebook page to raise money for the animals' care, and encouraging potential adoptive families to come forward to get these poor souls into homes where they belong.  
Erik, the little guy in the painting, didn't live to see a new home.  
I made a donation to the Calgary Humane Society last week, because this is not just an LA problem.  I hope you'll do the same or, better still, adopt an animal and save a life.