Jingle Belle

This is Belle. Her full name was Jingle Belle. She was a Christmas present to a young Georgia Family.
I was contacted by the wife to paint Belle. She wanted an anniversary present for her husband.
Belle had been in Dog Heaven for five years when I painted her portrait. The husband had grieved so hard for her, he never wanted another dog. She had lived to 17 years old.
I painted Belle.
The wife called me and asked if she could pick her up. She told me her husband would be with her.  She also told me that the painting was a surprise. She wanted to give her husband the portrait in my studio where I had created it.
They walked into my studio and I excused myself.
The wife called me back into the room in a few minutes.
The husband had been crying.

He said, "you don't know what this dog meant to us. She rode in the front seat while my kids were learning to drive. Her favorite thing was to ride in the front of our boat. You painted her there didn't you?"
The wife had the most beautiful smile on her face.
They have a new puppy.

Doc

This is Doc. I painted him for an old friend. Sometimes my friend will call me out of the blue. We talk about Doc, our Families, then back to Doc. Doc gave my friend and I a wonderful gift. We got a reason for two old friends to reconnect.

Daisy

This is Miss Daisy when she was a little girl. Daisey had a wonderful life. She lived to be an old lady, surrounded by humans that loved her. She now lives in Heaven, playing in fields of daisies. 

Sugar and Saint Frances

 I love the stories that I hear from the folks that ask me to paint their animals.
Sometimes I get to meet the animals, sometimes they are already in Heaven.
I have a prayer from Saint Frances of Assisi that I always hand  the person, picking up the completed portrait.
 I love this prayer because I love the thought of this good Saintly Man caring for our animals while waiting for us.
This happy, tennis ball loving girl was a very beloved member of her family.
Her name was Sugar. It was the perfect name for her.
She slept with and guarded her person, all night long.
She loved to swim in the pool and would often mistake happy splashing for the "need to rescue"!

I love to think of Sugar splashing happily in Heaven, while St. Frances laughs.dottiebassett8152@gmail.com

Dog Heaven

I love boys. I love old boys and young boys and boys in the middle.
Don't get me wrong, I love girls also~I am one!
But oh how I love a male child. They remind me of puppies, no matter how old they are.
They step in their food, turn over drinks and like to tee-tee outside. All men are big puppies.
I feel sorry for women that have a grudge against men. It makes me wonder who taught them that or what happened to them.
Little boys, after they have run real hard, have a little boy smell to them that I think is wonderful. It reminds me of baseball, dirt, fishing poles, and bubble gum.
Have you ever listened to two little boys talking? They just have a scaled down big boy conversation.
Oh how bragadocious! And the laughing! You will have to hold your breath so that you don't laugh!
Their first loves are usually fat little puppies that have four left feet.
This little girl's name was Sally. She was the beloved dog of one of these "boys in the middle".

Yes, I  love boys! 

The Gift Of Snow

I felt myself sliding right around the beginning of December. I tried to find a handhold, there didn't seem to be one. I took my medicine, played with my Grandchildren, made and froze sugar cookies, but nothing was working.
I was slipping faster and faster. A Hallmark movie sent me over the edge. How long could I hide my sadness that Christmas was here again? I couldn't and wouldn't tell anyone, not even my Beloved.
I had a stack of ironing in the back seat of my car that I needed to drop off to be pressed. I ran all my errands and saved the ironing drop off till the end of the day.
It was twilight and I couldn't wait to get home, away from colored lights and carols.
The Ironing Lady works hard for her money. She has a grown daughter that is hearing and speech impaired. Her daughter is shy and has her own little ironing corner.
As I dropped my load of shirts and pants in a basket, I saw a framed photo of a white German Shepard. The frame was covered in silver crosses. I asked, "whose beautiful dog is this?" The older Lady shook her head and looked at her daughter. The daughter put her head down. She tried to talk to me. Her dog's name was Snow. He was fifteen years old when he died the week before. I asked to borrow the picture.
I drove home thinking about Snow.
I had eight animals to paint before Christmas Eve, now I had added another.
I started painting and painting and painting. People started picking up paintings and I started hearing stories.
I heard about women giving husbands a gift of love in old hunting dog paintings, Mothers giving grown children a family dog painting to make up for not being and animal lovers and children honoring a parents cat.
My mood was lifting. I turned soft carols on in my studio.
The painting of Snow was finished and ready to be delivered.
I took the painting to the little ironing shop.
When I walked in, the Mother saw me first and grabbed me. The daughter didn't see the painting and I think she was scared.  -  Then she saw the painting. The three of us held on  to each other and cried.
Those two women will never know the Gift they gave me.
They gave me back Christmas.

Sister Sue and Mona Lisa

My younger sister, Sue, has schizophrenia. She is funny, bright, and very vocal. I never know what she will say.
A couple of days ago, as I was painting a portrait of a dog, Sue asked me if I had seen an article on Mona Lisa. She was puzzled over the numbers and letters that have just been found on the painted eyelids.
I was shocked and delighted. My surprise was because she usually can't focus long enough to listen to the news. My delight was because I got to talk to my sister about one of my favorite subjects~Art!
I was very surprised when I first saw the Mona Lisa as to how small it is. It only measures 30"x21".
Here are a few facts about The Mona Lisa:
Leonardo Da Vinci started painting Mona Lisa in 1503 and finally finished her in 1519.
She was stolen in 1911 and recovered in 1913.
She was damaged by an acid attack in 1956 and  a rock also in 1956. A bullet proof glass was put over her, thank goodness! In 1974 a woman tried to spray her with red paint and in 2009 a woman trew a tea cup at her.
She has no eyebrows and no eyebrows. This was thought to be because it was the style for women of the era to pluck their brows and lashes. Now it has just been discovered that she may have orignially had both, but over cleaning removed them.
She has the beautiful flawless skin, and  sensuous curves of her hair and clothing because of a technique called  sfumato. Sfumato is a blurring or softening of sharp lines. It is created by using thin glazes.
Now we get to the letters and numbers that Sister Sue is concerned about. There is a debate as to when they were painted on her eyelids and whether they exist at all. Some people think they may be cracks in the paint.
What ever the reason, I am grateful to The Mona Lisa {in Italian it is loosely translated to The Madame or The Lady, ie "Madonna"}. She is even more mysterious to me because she broke thru my sweet Sister's brain and gave me a few minutes to talk about something other than medicine. As Sue said, "that was a normal conversation wasn't it".  Yes it was Sister, yes it was.     

I am posting a photo of a painting that I painted several years ago. It is my version of "A Lady".

Blue dogs and green cats

I have been an artist since I was three. I am 58 years old so I have used my hands to create for a long time.
In October 2009 one of my closest friends asked me to paint her husband Gary's dog, Uncle Bob, for his birthday. Instantly I thought, "I wonder what color she wants him painted?" I had been thinking about George Rodrigue, an artist from New Iberia Louisiana that I used to watch paint in New Orleans. {more about George later}.
I painted a small oil of Uncle Bob on canvas. When Mary Anne tried to pay me I said, "Why don't you just donate something to the Animal Shelter in Bob or Gary's name. Our Shelter needed funds. She agreed and told some friends about it. Friends told friends. The movement has grown. I have reconnected with old friends after being away from Georgia for nearly 30 years, made new friends, stretched my painting abilities and have most importantly, taken care of animals.
I have recently agreed to paint animals for 100% donations until June 1,2011. After that I will have a set price and 10% will be donated to The Animal Shelter.
I still paint landscapes, still life's, and portraits that are for sale but this project was a little serendipity that fell out of the sky and into my lap.
I promised you a little story about George Rodrigue. George is the famous Cajun artist that created The Blue Dog. I lived in New Orleans for a long time, starting in 1972. I watched George grow as an artist as he first painted on the streets and then finally got a little studio in The French Quarter. I loved his little dog Tiffany that he described as his "loup garou". Loup Garou is an old cajun werewolf. It was always funny to me to thin of a werewolf named Tiffany. I always meant to pick up one of his paintings. The most expensive were maybe 100 dollars.  Now I would have to sell my house to afford one!
I have learned that sometimes my instinct  is pretty good. I should have bought one of George Rodrigue's paintings.
My friend Mary Anne learned that a dog that is memorialized in paint is not always a grateful animal. Uncle Bob ate the front seat of her brand new car as she ran into a store on a cool day!