Our good friends moved to Northern California. On a visit to see their new home I asked how Fudgie was enjoying his new digs. My friend's eyes welled up and I realized that he had passed. It really touched my heart because we love animals and have had some pass. It is heart wrenching. I was trying to think of something to do and it hit me. I could attempt to paint Fudgie. So I asked if they had any photos and they had a couple. I borrowed them. When we returned I started to work. The photos: one was taken from the front from above and was hard to see all of Fudge, but it was a good shot of his head. The other was one of him laying down inside the house and difficult to get a good view. So I was able to incorporate both pictures and come up with the pose in this painting. The next challenge was to figure out where to place Fudgie. I tried painting a colorful rug under him, but it just didn't work out right. So I removed the background. ( This seems to happen to me a lot. It's a good thing I know how to remove the paint.) Anyway, I remembered seeing a picture of their old backyard. You see they both have backgrounds in landscape design and had a beautiful yard at their old home. So I placed Fudgie in the backyard. I know that he had many wonderful hours basking in the sun there. Being a little hesitant to actually start with the painting process I took some time to decide where to start. I really wanted this to be special. I think that I achieved what I wanted because when I presented it to our friends both of them had tears in their eyes. Gave me a lump, but I was glad I completed it. Let me know what you think.
