Good afternoon! This is Steve Mayer, the guy behind the Bird Dog Bay brand! Frequently, the question I’m asked to field most when chatting with fans is “What’s your inspiration for your designs?” After years of our marketing manager hammering me to write a weekly blog describing my illustrations and the stories behind them, I’m now waving my white flag. Every week, I’ll provide fans with a bit of a glimpse into the hundred or so designs I create each year. I’m known among friends to be a story teller unafraid of a bit of embellishment, so bear with me: short and sweet is not the Mayer way! Anyway, I hope you find it interesting as the rest of my team thinks you will enjoy it…
SETTER SHEILD
Design #285, Portfolio Entry #1:
After years of living outside Chicago, my folks became snowbirds and began splitting time between my hometown, Sleepy Hollow, and Sarasota, FL. In late-October, I headed to the suburbs to help pack two cars to the brim before they headed South in another chapter of their always entertaining fifty year partnership. One thing that didn’t make the cut while packing? My dad’s mentally questionable English Setter, Prince the Dog.
Can you guess where Prince the Dog found his new digs? Pun intended.
Let’s just say having a untrained hunting dog in downtown Chicago is not all roses I’d hope it would be. Yeah, my Labrador and company mascot, Gus, has a new buddy at home. But, in all my years of never seeing an Irish or English Setter walking the streets of Chicago, I now know why…
Prince, or “Black and White Dog” as fans and foes now call him on the block, is a real piece of work. Already a staple in my West side neighborhood, Prince spends his days in the yard, barking at everyone and everything. A baby stroller? Bark. Stray cat? Bark. Snowblower? Bark. Pigeons and squirrels? Bark. Whether it’s a three ton V8 engine Uhaul or a floating plastic bag in the wind, everything that travels past my front wrought iron fence is fair game for Prince’s endless hollering. It’s as if coming up with new and inventive ways to scare the living daylights of all things on my block is his personal twisted game, considering he happily wags his tail in complete delight while doing so.
When not barking outside, Prince likes to stare at me while I work in my home studio. Always judging, endless staring… plotting my demise. I can feel it in my bones while he peers at me through absent, black doll eyes. Now, I know all those holes he’s dug in the front yard these past few months are most likely to dispose of my remains.
As I write this, he has finally taken a break from his terrifying ambitions and is fast asleep on my studio floor. His mouth gaping and his right paw, twitching; whether he is dreaming of sweeping open fields while flushing pheasants or my eventual demise, I’m not sure. At any rate, this design is a nod to Prince’s wistful sporting dreams and my hopes for the day I don’t need to lock my bedroom door when I sleep…