Chapter 6: Two Artists Are Better Than One

Da Vinci's POV

My body was quivering in both anxiety and excitement as I watched one of the contestants of the art show I was participating in the National Gallery of London. The work of art the contestant on stage was representing was rather impressive, at best it must've been a year long progress. That does sound long for a painting, but you'd be surprised on how long the Mona Lisa took to complete. The contestant's work in question was a detailed scene of a run down castle on top of some hills with a sunset, giving the scenery a nice orange glow. The contestant artist took a bow to the applauding crowd before leaving the stage with his art work.

"Thank you, Mr. Caprio. And now, ladies and gentleman, we have have one more artist joining us for this event and she's a young artist at twelve years old. Please make a round of applause for Da Vinci Dalmatian from Camden!" I grinned eagerly as the announcer mentioned my name, followed by claps from the audience while I carried my entry covered in a tarp, standing it up before starting my speech.

"T-Thank you, everyone. It's always been a passion of mine to make a name for myself in the world of art and it's a real honour to have come here to this exhibition. And I really hope you all like what I'd like to call "Moonlight Barks"." I announced before pulling away the tarp, revealing my work of art. A heavily detailed portrait of me and a few of my siblings including DJ, Dawkins and Dylan sat at a grass hill and looking up at the night sky. I had used an oil on canvas for the sky, stars and moon similar to what Vincent Van Gogh would've used when he was painting Starry Night with the stars and clouds being composed to streaks of oil paint. Mum and a few siblings of mine said that this would be the perfect one to show the gallery.

...But when I revealed the painting to everyone, the whole gallery was silent. Wondering if I had left the crowd speechless, I turned to face them but all of their faces bore a look of indifference but that expression didn't last long until some of their faces slowly turned to that of disgust when one of them finally spoke out. "Ugh, what is that hideous splat of mess on a canvas?!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing, I had worked on this one painting for several months and none of the crowd had any looks or words of interest for it. The rest of the crowd started to join in with pelting me with nasty feedback, some of them even booing me harshly as their disgusted faces were now warped into cold malice. I was on the verge of tearing up and hiding myself until I felt something hit me on my arm and found that it was a splattered tomato. This was followed by the rest lobbing their trash at me, the booing getting louder and louder as I clasped my hands over my ears to try and block it out, tears finally running down my cheeks as I silently begged. "P-Please stop…!" The trash and tomato throwing just increased until I ended up slipping on some of the splattered fruit on the floor under me and fell onto my side, before finally letting out a wail of despair.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

I snapped awake and was panting harder than I ever had in a lifetime, beads of sweat running down the fur of my head as I immediately looked at my surroundings. Even in darkness, I slowly recognised it as one of the many bedrooms I slept in with some of my brothers and sisters, one of them being Cody. I tried to relax my breathing as I realised that my bout of humiliation in the Gallery was only a nightmare, but it just felt so real and scary. I brought my knees up to my face and hugged them, still feeling my heart pounding in my chest, sniffling as I was still unnerved by what I just experienced.

"Da Vinci…?" A tired voice caught my attention as I looked to see Cody beside my bed, looking like he had just woken up. "You okay? I saw you tossing and turning in your bed." I wiped a single tear from my eye before quietly answering. "S-Sorry Cody, I… I just had a bad dream..." Cody sat on the end of my bed after I told him this and put a hand on my shoulder. "Oh… You want to talk about it?" I hesitated whether or not I should answer his question until I remembered earlier today when I had ended up uncomfortably make him talk about his dead mum, I guess I kinda owed him one. So I told him the whole story as he listened intently to every word I said, his face slowly falling into a look of sympathy the more I explained until I had finished. "Da Vinci, that… that sounds horrible." He commented, that worried look still not leaving his face. "It felt so real..." I sniffled, this was why I was often shy with anyone besides my family, especially humans, I was worried that they would only see a horrible mess on a piece of paper, but I remembered Cody's kind words about them when he and I first met. The human brother of mine in question suddenly pulled me into a gentle hug which I didn't hesitate to return. Cody was perhaps the only human I felt safe with since he was a part of our family.

"My mom would always comfort me when I had scary dreams. Sometimes they were the usual like being chased by an ugly monster. She always stayed with me until I fell back asleep safely, she'd even sing a little song to me to help me sleep." He reminisced, even if it had been six years ago, there must've been many things he remembered fondly of his mum. "How did it go?" My post-dream fear was slowly being replaced with curiosity and as softly as possible, he sung into my ear.

The other night, dear as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you, in my arms

When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken

So I hung my head and I cried

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know, dear how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy

And nothing else could come between
But if you leave me to allow another

You'll have shattered all of my dreams

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know, dear how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

After Cody finished, he let me go as I wiped some more tears off my face with a smile. "That was beautiful, Cody..." He returned the smile before rubbing my shoulder. "If you still feel scared, I could sleep with you for the night if you wanted." He suggested. Even though I felt better from him being there for me, the warmth of a human did feel nice and it might stop anymore nightmares from disturbing my sleep. I shuffled back a little to give Cody some as he got in and draped the blanket over us before I cuddled him in one arm. "Thanks, Cody. ...I'm glad I have you as a brother." I said before letting out a yawn, as Cody nodded and fell right to sleep as I did.

Cody's POV

Me and Da Vinci were on our way to the London Art Shop after having been served a nice breakfast of pancakes and syrup. She definitely had a bit of a happy stride in her step, whether it be because she was excited for the shop or me sleeping with her made her feel better, I was glad she was happy. We soon stopped at the front doors to which I opened the door for her. "Ladies first!" I remarked, making Da Vinci snicker a little as she straightened the pink bandanna on her neck and walked in with me behind her. The inside itself was like a full-fledged dreamland for even the most skilled artists. Shelves upon shelves of fabric rolls, probably over a hundred rows of different paint colours and various art tools of all shapes and sizes. Da Vinci meanwhile was in absolute awe of it all, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. I had to gently poke her arm to bring her back to her senses, which she did so before blushing from the trance she had been in. She quickly headed to the paint shelves and scanned the many colours on offer whilst I stood nearby and looked around. The store itself looked a little archaic, almost as if it had been in business for many years. I wonder if any known artists of London ever got their supplies here.

"Hey Cody, I just had a thought." Da Vinci started. "They've got some professional artist pencils that you could use to make your sketches finer and sharper. I could get you a pack if you help me with a painting I have planned for today." She suggested. I quite liked the idea of having some new pencils, the one I've been using was pretty old and could only handle a few more sharpens before becoming unusable after all. "Sounds good to me!" I accepted the deal as she smiled before picking up some tubes of paint before leading me to the cash register where a man possibly in his mid-thirties was at.

"Ah, Da Vinci, long time no see!" The man greeted her with a smile who returned with her own, seems like she was a regular here. "Hey, Mr. Hanworth! It'll just be these today." She put the items on the counter as Mr. Hanworth totalled up the price until he noticed the pack of pencils. "Hm, getting in the mood for some drawing Da Vinci?" The artist puppy smirked before shaking her head. "Nah, those are for my brother." She gestured to me as my gaze now met his. "Why hello there, young man! I never knew a human would be living with the Dalmatian family, my how times have changed." I smiled and waved to him in response as he resumed totalling the amount. "Your total is thirty-five pounds and ninety pence." Da Vinci opened her zipper pouch and pulled out a forty pound note, handing it to Mr. Hanworth and getting her purchases along with her change and we were soon on our way back home.

After returning home, we went straight to Da Vinci's studio and looked at the blank canvas in the middle of the room. Both of us were in deep thought over what our team painting should as neither of us had actually planned on what it was going to be, until something crossed my mind.

"Hey Da Vinci, what did the painting look like in your dream?" I asked her as he thought back to the over night before remembering. "Oh! I think it was a painting of me and a few of my siblings looking up at the night sky." She recalled as I pictured that in my head before continuing. "What if we did something like that, but with us facing the front, kinda like a family photo?" Da Vinci immediately grinned from ear to ear at the sound of that idea before handing me one of the pencils from the pack she had bought. "Sketch away, David!" I gladly accepted the pencil got to work. The pencil was so much easier and more comfortable to hold in my fingers, not to mention the lead ran along the canvas much more smoothly. It wasn't until maybe an hour had passed until the sketch was finished. It was more like a group picture with me knelt down in the middle with Dylan and Dolly on either side of me, alongside Destiny, Dallas and Deja Vu at the left, middle and right respectively, DJ in between Destiny and Dallas and Dawkins between Deja Vu and the latter and finally, Da Vinci at the top, all of us smiling as if we were posting for a photograph. Da Vinci marvelled at the sketch and then to me which told me very clearly that I did an amazing job. She then pulled out a paintbrush and proceeded with the second half of our magnum opus.

It was maybe nearing afternoon when Da Vinci was finally done adding the details to the background, the sky of which was very well done with streaks of oil paint to resemble gusts of the nightly breeze and stars painting like glowing orbs in the distance. Needless to say, we were both proud at what we had created. "This is amazing. It's kind of a surprise why the whole street doesn't know of you and your skills, Da Vinci." The pup blushed at my feedback. "Oh, but I couldn't have done it without you, Cody. You were a great help to me." She walked over and wrapped an arm around me as I smiled in response and resumed looking at the painting with her as she chipped in once more. "I think there's possibly a saying for this." I replied with, "Oh, I think there is."

"Two artists are better than one."