MAIDEN Voyage

Maiden Voyage (Various sizes) Prints and Greeting Cards Available

This painting is a tribute to my dog Zoey. And since today is International Dog Day, I thought I'd lead with this one to celebrate her. I have several other new dog portraits below also.

Zoey had a pair of "Doggles" that I loved and she technically hated, but wore grudgingly. It was the only way I'd let her hang her head out the window while driving, only when I was holding her tight. It was her favorite thing. For those who knew her, she passed June 1st at the ripe old age of 17.

She was such a little character. All business, all the time. Always acting like it was her job to save us from something horrible only she knew about. She was part Chihuahua. A bit tightly wound. It seems like all of my dogs and cats have been so completely different.

Henry our Golden Retriever would fetch an invisible ball all day long, it didn't even have to be a real ball. He didn't even care. While Lucy our other Golden would watch, obviously embarrassed for all of dog-kind. Her philosophy was more akin to, if you wait long enough to go get the ball the human will go get it for you, trust me. It works. And the human will actually think that YOU are the dumb one. My husband called her a Golden Just-Leave-There.

The only time Lucy (right) would fetch was to take a stick away from Henry in the water. Here, they're waiting for Mark to throw one.

I like picturing Zoey as a steampunk space explorer. It suits her. She was intrepid. Always the boss in every situation, afraid of nothing but the occasional tall man in a uniform and usually he was more afraid of her. Oh right, doors. She was also afraid of doors. Hated them. She just never knew what was going to come through next. She didn't love the bathroom, baths happen in there, but that's understandable.

Unless you believe certain tv shows from the 60s, (and that little George Lucas franchise) there are no strange, tall men in space, not a lot of doors and bathrooms have to be limited as well - it seems like her kind of place.

This one's for you, Zoey!

Okay, now I remember something that all of our dogs had in common, they usually had wet (or dried) paint on them somewhere.

Available for purchase as prints and greeting cards, here