For the Love of Dogs

As a compassionate lover of dogs and as an advocate of animal rescue I am constantly seeing animals who are saved by rescue organizations that are in heartbreaking physical condition from neglect and abuse and in dire need of veterinary care. Every time I see one, I want to respond with a donation to help the organization to save the dog. A couple years ago I decided that I would start doing portraits of dogs and that each time I did a portrait I would make a donation for a specific dog in need that had captured my heart.

Recently the timing of this was like clockwork. A dear friend asked me to paint a beautiful spaniel named Milo. It was to be a thank you gift for her close friends who live in Italy. Milo has the most glorious life a dog could imagine in a beautiful place, going out on boats regularly and playing on the beach. His owners love him deeply and take very good care of him. His coat shines, he is athletic and healthy and has a huge smile. It was a joy to paint such a happy dog and it was also a joy to paint his surroundings of blue sky and cobalt water with the Capri Faraglioni behind him on the horizon.  Just after I painted this little portrait, I heard about another dog- Griffin, who had just been rescued by Second Chance Rescue in NYC. When Griffin was found he was so emaciated he couldn't raise his head. He needed immediate and intensive vet care and Second Chance set up a fund for him- which I was able to contribute to because of the portrait of Milo. Two dogs worlds apart in their life situation and their health, but I truly believe that animals share souls and in some strange way Milo and Griffin's souls will always be connected.

A Room with a View, and a Family

I recently finished this portrait for a family. It is 44" x 64" oil on linen. The family lives on a lake and they asked that the landscape out the window  be painted in winter so that the lake would be visible through the trees. The room was yellow, so a relationship between the warm interior tones and the violet and blues in the winter landscape happened naturally. Various other elements note things from their personal and professional lives. The boy is an accomplished musician so I gave special attention to his beautiful hands and long fingers- in the painting he is playing Chinese Checkers, but in the painting within the painting, on the right- he is playing the piano. The painting now hangs in the same room that it depicts, so even at night when the sky is dark, they can still enjoy the view.

A Dog's Life and Lucky Dog Animal Rescue

This is a tiny painting I did of my dog Rembrandt who is actually rather large.  It is one of my "A Dog's Life" paintings in which I am trying to express how a dog enjoys a particular place or environment just as we do. In this painting Remy is lying in the field below the Spring House Hotel on Block Island. He has his head lifted slightly to catch the sea breeze. If you could get close enough you would see that his nose is twitching, taking in all the interesting smells that the breeze carries with it- at least for a dog.  Because I love dogs, and love looking at dogs, I have started fostering rescue dogs, until they get adopted. I am fostering for an amazing organization in DC called Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. They rescue dogs from high kill shelters in the south and bring them to the Washington area to find homes for them. Last week they found homes for fifty-four dogs. Seeing the dogs get lifted off the trucks into the arms of people waiting for them, is one of the most moving things I have ever witnessed. The dogs enter their new life looking a little timid. Some of them cower and crouch when their feet touch the ground. Then they look into the eyes of the human who is reaching for them and you can almost hear them sigh.  They know they have been saved and given a second chance at life. I am so moved by this endeavor that I have decided that part of the proceeds from all my A Dog's Life paintings will go to Lucky Dog Rescue so that more dogs can get lucky.

The First Mate

I finished this painting last Friday.

In August we spent a week, or almost a week because of Hurricane Irene, on a lake in the Berkshires. It was a very quiet lake with only a few canoes or kayaks gliding in and out of the coves. A man lived in the cabin next to ours. Every couple of hours he would come out of his cabin and get in his canoe with his dog. The dog would move gracefully to the front of the canoe and stand looking straight out with his legs up on the bow like a proud masthead. The man would then paddle him the full length of the lake and into the marshes beyond. One day we were out in our kayaks and paddled close to the dog in the canoe and the man told us his story. He had adopted the dog from a very rough urban kill shelter. The dog had been returned previously by three foster homes because he was aggressive. He had a number of scars from the fights and abuse he had suffered. The man adopted him and brought him to his home on the lake where he could live quietly and unthreatened. The canoe outings soon became the focus of the dog's (and the man's) day. The dog waited at the door of the cabin patiently until the man made a move as if it was time for a paddle. Then he would run to the dock and take his place. A magical relationship had formed for both of them. It was hard to imagine him as an aggressive dog, as we saw him gliding calmly, smoothly, elegantly across the lake, in his canoe with his man paddling soundlessly behind him.