Until We Meet Again...

I had to say goodbye to my most awesome canine muse in 2013 - Finn was the hero of a number of paintings, though that job was only one in a list of many he performed around here.  It can be very hard to admit how much our old friends are deteriorating as they age - no one likes to make that decision.  On October 15th, 2013, our very kind small animal vet came to the house to help the Finn-man on his way.  No matter how much it was the right thing to do, it was still heartbreaking.  He was 16, which is in itself an accomplishment.  That's two dogs in a row that I've had who have been so long-lived - I still miss my Maggie every single day.

Finn came to me as a young dog - I'm not sure of his age, as he was a rescue, and I was hired to train him so that his benefactor could find him a new home.  I think all along she intended that I should keep him myself, but I'd just lost my Brittany, Zen (OTCh Casey's Don't Blame Em Trainem) and I was determined that it should be just me and Mags.  It was too hard to think of having another dog.  After two years of not finding "just the right home," I admitted Finn had decided where that right home was.

My web designer friend put together a little website of photos of Finny that he'd taken - I have yet to gather some of my own to add to the mix.  Finn will definitely live on in memories and paintings, with the other awesome fur-family members that have gone on before. 

Speak Now, Or...

It was a busy day, spending the morning holding eight horses for trims, and the afternoon mucking nine stalls, which naturally took a bit longer as everyone had been in for half the day. There was no opting out of painting tonight, however, as that deadline is getting closer. Time for the 'reveal' of the mystery WIP, haha. This is an 8 x 10 oil on Raphael linen panel. It's my canine muse, Finn, caught napping on the couch one night. Just something about the way he was sleeping next to the coffee cup made me laugh. I was thinking of calling it "Old Man and a Cup of Coffee" but Finn refuses to act old, though he's now eleven. Because he was a rescue, and I don't know his actual birthdate, I just let him celebrate the same day as the horses.

Sometimes I never quite find the perfect name for a painting, but this one hit me walking out to the barn the other night after working on it, and I had to laugh out loud because I really should have thought of it sooner. So the official title of this one will be "Counting Sheep." Really, what else could it be?


The Brittany painting is nearing completion as well, though it's not beyond tweaking. This one is 11 x 14 oil on Raphael. The dog in this painting is my Brittany, Zen, who I lost almost eleven years ago now. As I mentioned, I had the sketch for this painting in my book for ages. Zen - OTCh Casey's Don't Blame Em Trainem - was an incredible dog, and twice was Canada's top obedience Brittany. I have a more traditional oil pastel portrait of Zen, but something about this pose always appealed to me. I still need to do some work on the trees, and probably the grasses.

I think I've settled on a title for this one as well. I played with the idea of some that were symbolic, or significant, but decided I would be the only one to understand, so I'm calling this "Intuitive." Zen never hunted, but that drive was innate. He would often point when we would go for walks through the fields, and anything in the sky was worth chasing - including airplanes!

So it looks as if I will pull off two entries again this year for the Art Show at the Dog Show. We'll see how they do!