Beagle Puppy Wearing A Boater Watercolor Painting Illustration
By Charlie

A Beagle In A Boater

Written by Charlie O'Shields

For our prompt of “Boater” today, I ended up with a beagle wearing one. Indeed, a boater could also be someone who travels in a boat for pleasure, but the classic flat-topped straw hat wins out for the number one definition. And, I like these hats, even though I’m not one to wear hats myself. They remind me of being serenaded by a barbershop quartet or enjoying a gondola ride in Venice, or I guess for some, even Vegas. In truth, I only watched people taking gondola rides the two times I was in Venice. I far preferred to roam the many winding streets and just hopped a water taxi when I wanted to seeing the glass blowers in Murano. Which is an astoundingly cool craft by the way! I was so mesmerized that I spent most of the day there watching artists work. The work itself was pricey so I only left with a small bauble, but it was absolutely brilliant! As for a boater, I would look rather ridiculous in one I think, but actually, I’ve never actually tried it so I’m not entirely sure.

There was only one type of hat that I ever wore with any consistency for a time, and it was a paddy cap. Perhaps because I actually am Irish, it felt somehow more appropriate. But also, it seemed to work better with my face than any other type of hat I had tried. Truly, when you’re younger, hats aren’t always a fashion statement so much as a necessity to hide the effects of the previous night’s frolicking. Philippe isn’t a fan of hats in any shape whatsoever. He deplores the fact that people who don’t actually play baseball where hats that make it look as if they do. This is likely because a love of baseball itself was as foreign to him when he arrived in the States as the hats people wore frivolously, in no attempt to actually honor the sport. Football was equally something new since the sport we call soccer is actually more appropriately named everywhere else in the world. When Philippe would spot someone wearing a baseball hat with an American football logo on it, I often thought his head might actually explode.

I’m actually not familiar with anyone who wears a boater today, outside of men who sing in four-part harmony and gondoliers. So, as ever, I looked it up and it appears to be something of a fashion statement. There are guides for men on how to wear one, which I didn’t read as being taught how to wear a simple hat is somehow just too patronizing to endure. Indeed, I imagine it was to demonstrate how to wear one so you looked totally amazing. This is equally unsettling as it’s just a hat, after all. I was left feeling like it’s a hat people wear to signal that they may or may not actually have a boat, but should they ever want to get one, they’d like you know that they can definitely afford it. Those are just the links that win the popularity game, of course, since I didn’t have time to dig further. I’d instead love to picture people wearing this hat simply because they adore it. Because it’s the very type of hat that makes them personally feel wonderful or harkens back to a bit of family history. And so, for my own part, I’m just going to make this very odd little fashion statement by pausing to sketch a beagle in a boater.

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.:  Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Turquoise, Ultramarine (Green Shade), Terra Cotta, and Indigo. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with black ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop!
 Beagle Puppy Wearing A Boater Watercolor Painting Illustration Sketchbook Detail

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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28 thoughts on “A Beagle In A Boater”

  1. I love hats, though not the big intricate ones that you see at weddings and the queen’s anniversaries. Unfortunately, I don’t look good in them at all. I still wear one once in a while anyway, just for me and who cares if anyone else likes it, lol.

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  3. Charlie, what a cute beagle! I didn’t know that was the name of that hat. I learned something today. I laughed at what you said about Philippe and baseball hats. I have never worn a hat. Too much curly hair. When I used to run during cold weather, I would wear like a knit cap. I could feel it slowly start to slide off of my head and pop right off. I could never keep it on. Big hair. Everything is bigger in Texas. haha haha haha 😂😂😂

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      1. Actually big hair is always a part of the joke about Texas and our bigger is better mantra. haha haha 😂 I guess we go big because we have the room. Mine is big because I have so much hair and then the curls. haha haha Because of our food we also have big butts. 😁😁😁 And why I HAD TO run. 😂

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  4. I like hats. I look good in a lot of them. Not all, mind you, but a lot. I’ve even made hats in a felting class. A friend stopped by today to drop off a couple of bales of straw for me for my gardens. She is a weaver and she brought me a scarf she made. Good thing, because I’m pretty sure that as weird as 2020 has been, we’re still going to have a winter. I don’t go out much in winter because I don’t have snow tires on my wheelchair, but when I do, I like to be bundled up like I’m in Antarctica! Yay hats and scarves and anything else that will keep jack frost at bay.

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  6. Hello Charlie,

    Do you know what a cool teacher you would make? Kids in any grade would love you coz they’d end up learning so much in such fun ways. I sure would love to be in your class with the amount of stuff I learn from you. The boater is yet another example. I didnt know it was a hat… I thought it was a person boating. And its funny how you found links that teach people how to wear a hat. If humans have to refer to a link to learn that, your little Beagle has proven to be far smarter than a lot of humans. 🙂

    Love,
    Mugdha

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    1. Aww thanks so much, Mugdha! 😃💕 Yeah, I would certainly be an unconventional teacher indeed! hehe And so true…. I’m amazed at what people have to be taught. One would think they couldn’t walk outdoors for fear of falling down! lol 😉

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    2. Hi, Mugdha! 💜 Thank you for your message a couple of days back. I left you a reply back on the Happy Impossible (baby elephant/giraffe/birthday party) painting. I hope things are better and that the sun is yet again shining in your heart and life. 🌞🌞🌻🌸💮💜

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  8. Love your boater wearing Beagle, Charlie! Saw a news report yesterday that featured beagle puppies being trained to detect the corona virus. I sure don’t want the virus and no thank you on a hat but I sure love a sweet Beagle pup.

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  10. Cute! I always manage to look silly in a hat, although some would argue I do a good job without them too. That said, if I’m ever lucky enough to meet Philippe, I will be sure to greet him wearing a baseball cap (backwards, of course) and football jersey. 😉

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  11. Love your beagle in a boater 😁 And I am a fan of baseball caps..and I collect them from all the places I visit..and I wear alot of them(bad hair days) Boaters though would not be my style and I also thought of a barbershop quartet..and forgot about the gondoliers that wear them…Another tidbit for my brain
    Thanks for a great painting!

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    1. Thanks so much, Priscilla! 😃💕 Yep! Bad hairs days were what lead me to paddy caps. But, I’m still not sure if I would have just looked even better with bad hair. Yeah, I’m convinced I’d look a fool in a boater for sure! hehe

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