The ten thousand dollar dog

This is my lastest pet portrait of my husbands beloved "Benji". As I like to call him "the $10,000. dog." Benji has been gone now for 12 years and it was only recently that my husband agreed to having a portrait done. Benji was a stray that my husband Rick found on the side of the road leading to Bodge Bay, California one Spring day. Benji was some type of terrier mix who was lame, had bad doggie odor even after a bath, and the tip of his nose was a pinkish red. Benji also had numerous medical problems, hence, the $10k nickname. The last year and half of his life Benji was in and out of the vet's office, with each visit we'd think this would be the last, but he always seemed to rally. Benji was with us for 14 years and finally his body could take no more and we had to put him down. My husband was heart broken and all pictures of Benji were put away. During the last few years that I've been building up my pet portrait portfolio,I would ask my husband Rick if he'd like a portrait done of Benji. While he finally said "Yes." So as a surprise I did his beloved Benji. I did the portrait in colored pencil on Art Spectrum colorfix paper. The paper feels like sand paper and eats away at your colored pencil tips, but takes the colored pencil with no problem. I rendered the portrait rather quickly and I think all my portraits will be done on this Art Spectrum.