ARTIST'S NOTE Sept 25th, 2007: This painting has been framed in a beautiful hand painted molding, dense with the same golden tones as the highlights of the piece. It was hung as part of the Starkweather Gallery's 2007 Member's Exhibition, where it was well received. It also was juried into the 2007 Southwestern Michigan Portrait Exhibition, where my body of work (including 2 other dog-a-day entries) earned third place. Horses have always been a favorite of mine. Always. Equine doodles graced my earliest spelling tests, pages torn out from glossy magazines papered my childhood bedroom, and in the studio I am always surrounded by dozens of canvases sporting painted horses. And Derby Week is one of my favorite times of the year. Just as life is breathed back into the landscape, the finest young thoroughbreds gather in Kentucky, and one is faced with the perfect reason to brush off the bar-b-que and throw a party. In honor of that, I’m taking a brief break from the dogs, an