My friend Terri has always had golden retrievers.  They head to the lake in the summer with the rest of the family.  She showed me some of her pictures of the dogs at the lake and  I decided to try to paint one.  I did the one named Lady of the Lake, of their dog, Lady, who loved to lay on the float that was her own.  Terri loved it so much she wanted it for her husbands anniversary gift.  She asked if I could paint one of their dog who had died of cancer but always loved going out in the boat with her husband.  She wanted to give him that one for Fathers Day.  When he got the first one, he wanted to hang it up immediately!  She said that he couldn't yet.  She had to tell him about the second one, "Lord of the Boat" of their old dog Rudy.  I had almost finished it and emailed her a copy to see what she thought of it... she had to show it to him.   He asked, "but where is our third dog, Bailey?"  So it looks like I have one more to do... Terri is finding a picture of Bailey at the lake.  Her daughter actually named the series of three, "The Dog Days Of Summer" and its such a clever name we are going to run with it.

So, with all my attention on Goldens, I thought I might see if I could do other dogs as well.  The subject in our household is Roscoe, a pug mix that my son brought home from college.  Its on a 16x20 canvas board that is bigger than the real Roscoe and he seems rather startled by it.  

Not sure how many more dogs I will do, at least one to complete the series, but will see after that.