Tabby Kit

It's been another wild day here in the Santini household. The kids all got on their respective buses (albeit one was 1/2 hour late, and my son insisted that school had been cancelled and everyone at the busstop just didn't know it), which was a true blessing. Because the dog got sick.

He threw up mountains of yech in his crate during the night, and this morning was curled up in one corner, trying to avoid it all. At first I just thought he ate something that didn't agree with him. Spent the entire morning cleaning up - I'd let him outside and he'd throw up, come back in all shivery, go to his crate, get sick, go back outside, get sick again - it was a never ending cycle. He was just miserable, and I was feeling rather helpless in my inability to make things better.

Shortly after lunchtime there were traces of blood in his vomit and he had bloody diareah. So it was off to the vet with a couple ziplock baggies full of stained snow and a dog who now was clearly in distress.

She's diagnosed Finnigan with acute pancreatitis, and started an aggressive treatment. I left him there comfortable, drifting off to sleep, curled up in one of the kids' blankets from the car. We get to bring him home overnight, and then he goes back for additional meds and care all day tomorrow, and again on Thursday.

So here it is, midafternoon, I haven't picked a brush up all day, the dog crate could use another serious hose down, and I should go scrape off the frozen bits of dog vomit from the front porch before the kids track it in. In light of all that, I've opted to share a recently completed lifesize portrait with you today. I'm sure you'll forgive me the deviation from the dog-a-day routine!!


So this is a commissioned pet portrait, "Madison,", 12" x 14", acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, of a doberman mix. The painting was commissioned posthumously, which meant working from a number of less than optimal photographs. My client dug through boxes of ephemera, locating the best images she could, and even taking apart scrapbook pages. I am awaiting final approval, but I do think that we managed to build a nicely scaled portrait shining with Maddie's personality. I look forward to delivering the piece to her family. Projects like this one are so heartwarming.

Thanks, as always, for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family,
I'll be back tomorrow,
Kim



Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

Founding member of the Canine Art Guild
http://www.canineartguild.com/
the gateway to canine art on the web