Dog Portrait - Neptune

"Neptune"
11x14
oil on canvas
private commission

Another Christmas portrait under my belt. I wish I could be there to hear the comments of Neptune's "mommy" when she receives her gift. Much of the process for me is about getting to know the humans as much as my animal subjects. Sometimes it is difficult to get a feel for a piece without that contact. Hopefully this is where my years of experience come in being able to guess at what the recipient is looking for in a portrait.

I've blown my candles out on yet another birthday cake. Things were much different for me this year. My ice cream cake wasn't tainted with the flavor of chemo on my tongue and I could enjoy a few "toasts" on my special day. As the weeks march on, the experience of last year has less of a grip on me. I still make comparisons and get choked up about things that touch my heart but the ache and pain is fading. I'm also starting to think of things as what they will be instead of as what they were. More than that, I'm much more in the moment and just enjoying things as they are this very second. For instance, I'm listening to Gracie complain that she wants to go out in the yard instead of working in the studio. (She works very hard.) I'm not giving in though because we've played the "in and out" game now for an hour. Things like this used to annoy me and now they just make me laugh.