Labrador Oil Painting - Ezra

Ezra

Labrador Oil Painting

Ezra

My son and a friend came by this weekend. Ezra, above, belongs to his friend and was making himself right at home in my yard. He scavenged all the toys and treasures (other people's belongings) that Wylie had worked so hard to bury. This is an oil on unprimed canvas. I finish the edges with copper tacks and varnish the image. I really enjoy painting with intense color. And, they do not need a frame.

Catahoula Cur - "Rufus" - Watercolor

Catahoulas are one of my favorite dogs and I have been wanting to paint this guy for a while. I tend to find that the collars worn sometimes tells a bit about the personality of the dog. Rufus, above, wears a heart for his vaccination tag and has some tattered area at the top of his cloth collar.

In the Box...

I call this one "In the Box" for obvious reasons. This is Gumbo at the end of the day. He's ready to go home.

I never get tired of taking photos of animals (even if it is hot, sweaty and buggy). Pictured here are Gumbo, Gator, and Heather. Below is the portrait of Heather. I have her story completed and am waiting for final approval from her owner before I post it.

Lady Heather -Labrador Watercolor Painting

This is a commission piece. I will be adding the story and hand-print it on a mat prior to framing. This is another lovely dog from Wildrose Kennels, Oxford, MS owned by Sandra Summers and Franz Schneider. Here is Heather's story:

Heather

Wildrose Lady Heather Bracken of Oxford is the name scribed on her AKC registration papers. Born on April 2, 2006, she is the last female in lineage from one of the most well-known dogs in the UK, Pocklea Remus, and the only female in the last litter of her mother, Astraglen Sprint. She was a prize pup of Wildrose Kennel and its owner Mike Stewart.

Sandra Summers had been explaining how she came to have this small lab in her home. Heather is one of three black labs belonging to Sandra and her husband, Franz, and Sandra’s obvious favorite. “I first saw Heather when she was about 6 weeks old. Franz and I had returned to Wildrose to bring our male lab, Gumbo, for training. Gumbo was about a year old and we were regularly traveling from our home in Santa Fe to Oxford, Mississippi for visits during his training.”

“On one of those visits, I started walking Heather on a puppy lead. Everyone at Wildrose had been calling her Bracken but it just didn’t seem to fit and I started calling her Heather. I knew that heather is one of Scotland's most beautiful plants and that she is of Scottish ancestry. It didn’t take long before everyone was calling her by her new name.”

“When she was about 5 months old, we had really been missing Gumbo. So, with Mike’s permission, I rented a car and took Heather back to New Mexico with us.”

“We kept Heather for a while and I started her training ‘the Wildrose way’. I worked her every day in empty lots, in scrub, on roads, and in ditches. We worked with hand signals and on socialization skills. I took her on a ski-lift up Santa Fe Mountain and we walked all the way down in the first snow of the season.”

“In October, we went back to Wildrose and I noticed that Heather did not seem to be feeling well. She was taken to the vet and unfortunately diagnosed with hip dsyplasia. She was not able to be bred and was spayed at two years old. After that she was really my dog,” Sandra said with a little bit of a sad smile.

“We moved to Oxford in December and decided to adopt Heather. I got her papers on my birthday that February. That was indeed a special day.”

“Heather is very intelligent and intuitive. She is always making unusual faces and funny expressions with her mouth. We now have three labs from Wildrose. The others, the boys, Gumbo and Gator, are very laid back. Mike Stewart selects the dog he thinks will fit you and your family best. Heather would not have been a match for us. She is a bit hyper and intense —different from the other two. Still, she is the best behaved. She is the fearless one and she stands her ground with the boys. She is a seasoned hunter and has won several hunting awards. However, she does sometimes move too fast for her nose and gets ahead of herself.”

We had been sitting in the kitchen as the three labs dozed on their cozy round beds in the next room. Each separate from the other but the lofty beds tied them together into a single unit. I noticed that only one had eyes resting intently on Sandra. The other two slept soundly.

“Its weird. I named her, trained her, and most of her ‘firsts’ were with me and even though she wouldn’t have been a perfect match I think she has always been my dog.”

Some days Heather can be seen walking along side Sandra on the court square or waiting patiently just outside the local ice cream shop. Sometimes a small crowd of children gathers, even the ones that smile and say, “I’m afraid of dogs,” as they proudly pat her head. Heather just sits and watches Sandra waiting for that familiar signal for them to take their next step together.

Vicki Wood, JD 6/10 ©

Pound Puppies and Road Dogs - Watercolor

This makes me sad. These are dogs and pups that have passed through my life at different times. Several are Hurricane Katrina victims and most were just put out on the side of the road. I still have some and others I took to Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society. Some had the mange and some were freezing and starving. One came with a litter of seven. And the last, little Izzy, came from OLHS (I had a weak moment while there taking photos). More about Izzy and that weak moment is posted below.