“My Boy” (portrait of Dougan. Durham, NC)
Pencil, Pastel, & Watercolor
2024 (NFS)
I painted the first version of this portrait twelve or so years ago. I don’t recall where it went./was sold. I’ve done it again, over the past three days, and I’ll be keeping it for myself.
Dougan (always the most patient, sweetest-tempered, least intelligent, most obliging terrier I’ve ever had) died this past year…on a Sunday morning after three rapidly succeeding epileptic fits. It was all pretty awful and, I suppose, not to be dwelt upon, since he’d been nothing but a funny, loving delight for the preceding seventeen years.
Ironically enough? Dougan was always the biggest dog in the house…..the terrier equivalent of that boy we all knew in high school…..the 6’3″, 230 pound, kinda shy guy who couldn’t, actually, play football, no matter how many coaches forced him onto the field. He always remained, basically, a puppy….. if something “happened”, he would just park it on the floor and begin howling (in that high-pitched, piercingly screeching, “MOMMMY!” tone) until someone (usually me or Herve) lugged his fourteen pound ass into a lap or under the covers. His older sister, Alpha-Female Kate, bossed him interminably. I never saw or heard him snapping at or even growling at another person or dog. Herve (who somehow knew of “Gunsmoke”) used to call him “Hoss”.
I do miss Dougan dreadfully when I consciously think of/remember him. Unlike all the others, he never seemed to age….and then the end came in about 36 hours. He didn’t make a fuss at all, which was utterly typical of him over the preceding 17 years.
Here’s a song for my boy….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYaMEWE0dCs