"The Thief"

I laid the candy bar on the coffee table in the family room and went into the bedroom to get changed into lounging pj's and came out about 10 minutes later. As I walked into the family room I noticed him in my seat and there he was propped up in the corner of the couch looking very proud of himself with the empty wrapper in his mouth almost teasing me about the fact that he had eaten all of the Butterfinger candy bar.  Chocolate bits in his beard and a smear of the remnants of chocolate smeared on the light wood floor beside the coffee table .
I always kept my camera on the kitchen island close by because the two furry kids that lived in my house were always up antics that were cute photo opps so I grabbed the camera and got this shot.  I always wanted to paint it and finally 12 years later I painted it. His name is Bo Bo aka Zuki but he was also known as "The Thief" because any unattended food was fair game for him... Don't even ask about the one Christmas I put dinner on the formal dining table and went into the family room and out to the patio call everyone to the table...
So I finished the painting on April 30th of this year putting it in a show where the original sold immediately but prints are available. 

Bo Bo died this past Friday of a huge malignant tumor in his stomach.  (I swear the ex-ray resembled a candy bar!)  He is terribly missed because he was so well loved but his pain was too much for him too bear and he has gone to the rainbow bridge to wait for me,  Thank God I still have his younger furry brother "Marley" aka Budgie to lavish love on. With Marley fruit is not safe to leave lying around.

" Dreams of a Soldier"

18" x 24" Oil

This is a painting of my first husband and I and how I felt vulnerable and pensive and scared during the time he was in Viet Nam. (I felt like when your a little kid and they did the air-raid drills and you would get under the desk with your arms over your head to protect yourself) He would write me letters and I would read them over and over till the next one came. My only thought was him and would he come home. I felt like a ballerina turning pirouettes round and round dizzy in a vortex of worry and fears clinging to these letters as our only communication                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    during this year. When Johnny was in the most serious situation of his life, he constantly strategizing .