Last week, I posted a new, small picture of two cairn terriers (“Afternoon Duet”)…a gift I sent to a lady who’d written to me….making it clear that she wasn’t exactly flush with cash (which retirees are, these days?)…but how could she go about commissioning a portrait of her and her husband’s two cairn terriers?

As you’ll have read, I did some reading myself (between the lines, so to speak), and I simply did a portrait for her and sent it off as gift to her. My reward, since then, has been an obviously sincere telephone call from her two days ago.  And, yes….she’s a five-year survivor of a rare form of breast-cancer, and her good&loyal husband stuck through it all with her. She also had No Problem with my simply asking her questions such as “What type of cancer, if I can ask?” and “How old are you, if I can ask?.

I have  absolutely no patience whatsoever with this all-too-common business of making illness, age, or financial troubles some sort of “secret” which would be “awwkwarrrrrd” to recognize/mention publicly….as though any of these were circumstances of which one ought to be ashamed (or, for that matter, circumstances which any of us could control?). I do make a point, during conversations such as I just had with the lady when she telephoned to say she’d gotten the first portrait, of adding “if I can ask?”. They can always politely decline to answer the question; the choice is up to them.

That said?…I admired the lady….I thought she was funny and quite sincere (the two don’t necessarily always come in a 2-4-1 gift-set). I particularly liked her telling me “I always tell people that my husband’s an entrepeneur….if he falls off a building, he’ll find a way of building himself an airplane on the way down…..”

The lady has manners, a sense of humor, AND spunk.  So, I did this second portrait of her and her husband’s dogs yesterday as yet another gift. I’ve been going through some troubles, myself….so, it’s good to be able to send a gift to folks who’ve obviously weathered their own troubles.  Plus?…..the dogs are lovely (they look just like my Morgan, by the way).

“These Fine Days”

10″x10″

oil pencil, watercolor, and pastel

2013