The studio notebook.
A spiral notebook, an ink pen, one litter at a time. Here are a few pages, as they are — and the words of families who brought a Coups de Crayon puppy home.
Four weeks, four pages.
A glimpse of what fills the notebook between a litter's birth and the day they leave.
1
Eyes still closed
At birth, puppies can neither see nor hear — everything runs on smell and touch. I log each one's weight morning and night, and I already start sketching the colour markings, which shift almost daily.
3
First steps, first barks
Eyes are wide open, ears react to the slightest sound. The puppies wobble out of the nest to explore the room. This is when little personality traits first start to show, faintly.
5
The individual sketches
Play is in full swing, baby teeth are coming in, and each puppy now has their own way of sitting, listening, charging at their littermates. This is the week I draw each one separately for the first time.
8
The litter's last page
Final vet exam, last weigh-in, last sketch — the one that leaves framed with the family. The page closes on this litter; a blank page begins for the next.
You can't draw a puppy you haven't really watched.
A photo takes a fraction of a second. A sketch asks you to sit still for ten or fifteen minutes, watching how a puppy moves, where they look, what makes them react — the kind of attention we don't always take the time to give.
That habit, more than any tool, is what helps me know which puppy will thrive in which home. You don't guess a temperament: you watch long enough to see it.
What families write to us.
"We hung Gribouille's sketch in the entryway. Visitors always assume we commissioned an artist — technically, we did!"
The Bouchard family · Trois-Rivières"Rosalie told us plainly that a Jack Russell might not suit our schedule. We listened, adjusted our plans, and six months later we were ready."
Jonathan T. · Sherbrooke"Three visits before we reserved, and every time she showed us the litter's notebook. We knew exactly what we were getting into."
The Pelletier family · DrummondvilleWant to flip through the notebook in person?
By appointment, at the studio, even before a litter is born — or to see the puppies currently available.