Art Student Taught Her Pet Rat To Paint With His Feet

AmyBrown

Sep 25, 2019 9:00 AM EDT

Amalie Markota Andersen has taught her pet rat, Darius, to do something quite extraordinary -- paint! Anderson herself is an animation and digital arts student and told The Insider that it only took Darius roughly 10 minutes to complete a masterpiece.

Darius used his feet to create his work and his painting have gone viral multiple times on Twitter and Tumblr. He's sold about 3 or 4 pieces.

Unfortunately, the talented Darius passed away earlier in 2019. Anderson says her and Darius had a special bond and we're 100% sure of that.

Darius and his paintings have been going viral on the internet since this past Saturday, when pictures of him and his work were shared by a now-private account.

Story via The Insider

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From Anderson's Tumblr post in 2018, "Darius painted his first art piece today"

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"When I had Darius, I got a non-toxic watercolor set, dipped his lil hands and feet in it and just let him walk back and forth on the paper until it started to look like something," Anderson told The Insider

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"A Rattie Dream"

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Darius posing beside his masterpiece!

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Anderson commissioned 3 to 4 Darius originals and used that money to bus Darius a harness so that he could explore the outdoors safety.

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"I do regret selling the original a little bit," Andersen said. "But it also makes me very happy thinking that his works are out there somewhere, hopefully still intact and well!"

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"I had him in a weird time of my life where I was trying to figure out who I was as a person, and also where I should be going in life. He was my light in the darkness, if you will. --

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And I'll be forever infinitely thankful for him, even if he never knew what kind of impact he had. Not only on me but the thousands of people who fell in love with him and his little painting."
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RIP Darius

via @nebulami