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Jessie - Forever in my Heart, acrylic, 16" x 20"
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Blog 1
2006 was our year of the dogs. On Friday, January 13, we were on our
way home after returning from Germany. Suddenly, we received a call
from the Humane Society to let us know that they had a
fourteen-month-old Golden Retriever named Coco for us. We were
ecstatic and decided to drive by right away. I told Dominic and
Christine that Coco might not be the right dog for us and that it
could be a while before we found our new companion. While I directed
the talk to my children, it was as much relevant for myself. The
closer we got, the more nervous I got. What can I say, we adopted
Coco right away. She was darker than Jessie. She was a beautiful
caramel colour with a bulkier build and a shorter snout.
From the beginning, Candy had health
problems. First, she got sick with diarrhea and vomiting. What was
very worrisome was that she had lost almost 5 kg within three weeks.
I was so scared. Luckily, after a couple of days, Candy was back to
normal. She either ate something that did not agree with her or was
stressed about her change of environment. Next, Candy had a reaction
to the anesthesia when she was spayed and needed an IV. But it got
even worse in the summer when she had wolfed down three wooden game
figures of 10cm in height. The ultrasound did not show any foreign
objects, but the vet cautioned that wood and certain plastics were
not visible. He was right. Candy needed an emergency operation.
At the end of January, I started the
portrait of our beloved Jessie from a photo taken on her last
birthday. It was the day before she died. While I worked on the
painting during studio time with the Blackburn Hamlet Arts Group, I
felt good and proud of all the compliments our beautiful dog got.
Once I was in my car, the tears came back. Candy was a lovely dog,
but not able to fill the hole Jessie had left.
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Princess Christine, acrylic, 14" x 11"
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Painting Jessie was very emotional. I
started a portrait of Christine, my daughter when the pain was too
overwhelming to continue painting. Even a look at the finished
painting, brought out the rawness of my grief.
Christine’s portrait was also not
without challenges. I was not happy with the face until I realized
that it was too long. Even though many people had told me that
Christine was the spitting image of myself, I disagreed. Therefore,
it was interesting to see that I felt like looking into my face at
one point.
I registered both paintings, “Princess
Christine” and “Jessie - Forever in my Heart” for the juried
Arteast Budding Artist Exhibition. When the organizer informed me
that my dog portrait had won an award for its expressiveness, I was
exhilarated, proud, and so emotional that I cried some tears. Both
paintings had received high marks for execution and artistic skills.
I was very touched that my work of love had also moved the jurors.
The news encouraged me to take my passion for painting past the hobby
stage. I considered concentrating on pet portraits even though nobody
in my family supported my vision.
The summer was busy with lots of
activities and the visit from one of my friends and her family, a
four-week stay of a Spanish exchange student, and the fostering of
eight-month-old Beagle Frankie. After Jessie had died, we had applied
as foster parents for BARK (Bytown Association for Rescued Kanines
(B.A.R.K.) Dog Rescue. Even though we had already adopted Candy, we
felt we should still foster a couple of dogs. Frankie came in
mid-July and was such a fun dog. He was much smaller than Candy but
believed he was the ruler of the pack. He stayed with us until Candy
needed her emergency operation.
On September 19, our life got even
abundant when I picked up a seventeen-month-old Australian Shepherd
called Alex. He had spent his young life in a cage in his owner’s
garage. It was love at first sight. It took me a week to convince my
husband that we should adopt him. Candy was only half a year younger
than Alex. There was a chance that we would have too old dogs and
possible high vet bills at the end of their lives. However, once I
saw Ingo and Alex playing together in the yard, I knew that my wish
would come true.
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Top: Coco, 11" x 14", Bottom: Frankie, 12" x 12" | |
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After I painted Jessie, I worked on
portraits of my sister’s dog Coco and of Frankie.
At the beginning of September, I
started again with life drawing classes and a painting course with
Patricia Savoie. A couple of months later, I was excited to see one
of my paintings together with my teacher’s artwork in the November
Awards Show of the Ottawa Arts Association at the Ottawa Little
Theatre.
Aside from creating pet portraits, I
still kept learning different painting styles. In November, I took
part in the “Naked in the Landscape” workshop at the National
Gallery. I created art inspired by Edwin Holgate.
I ended the year with work on a
painting of my in-law’s dachshunds Trixie and Wedel. With every
successful artwork, my confidence increased. Please join me again in
two weeks, when I will tell you about my creative endeavours of 2007.