Ann Kiernan finds her subjects in the brief moments of the everyday, like this woman and her disgruntled Chihuahua spotted on a rainy Berlin tram. Painted in gouache, the scene is layered over the architectural plans of a Bristol school, salvaged from a 1941 book of building plans found on the street. The rigid, technical lines of the historical document provide a structured backdrop for the soft, expressive forms of the figures, grounding a modern observation in a discarded fragment of history.

There is a subtle comedy in the dog’s expression—a look of deep-seated resentment that might be directed at the weather or the indignity of being carried. Kiernan uses the contrast between the woman’s calm demeanor and the animal’s piercing stare to explore the complex realities of shared urban spaces. The result is a whimsical character study that feels both intimate and slightly surreal, turning a brief public transit sighting into a lasting narrative.