Description
BJ was our 5 1/2 year old dog who we lost to an awful accident in April this year. I had drawn this painting a couple of weeks before he died. While I was drawing it, I had the thought that it would be interesting to paint it while he was alive, as I had painted our previous dog, Bud, after he’d died. I’m grateful for the innocence we have in the present, not knowing what will come in the future. It was a good and challenging process to make this painting. I vacillated between the craft of painting shapes and colors to realizing that I was painting my sweet puppy dog who was no longer here – at least on the physical plane – and I’d stop to cry and cry. This photo was taken when he was only about a year and a half old. We were on our first trip to Tahoe with him. This is a spot on the west side of the lake we’ve dubbed “Rib Eye Point.” It’s a cove with barbeque pits nearby. We’ve had evening dinners there with family-friends the Newmans and the Torresan family. It’s fitting that this is where BJ first touched Tahoe water, because this is the same cove where Bud took his last swim in Tahoe. We love our dogs. We miss BJ – terribly – and when the time is right another lab will join our lives.
May 2010
