Tomorrow I’m heading out to Isle Royale! This will be my first trip out to the island. I’ll be performing a wedding there tomorrow night and then coming back to the mainland Sunday morning.

Tomorrow I’m heading out to Isle Royale! This will be my first trip out to the island. I’ll be performing a wedding there tomorrow night and then coming back to the mainland Sunday morning.

Liv and Badger were both at the opening reception tonight. I have 20 paintings in the new show, and 3 or 4 sold the first night. The show will be up until September 10.

Liv and Badger were both at the opening reception tonight. I have 20 paintings in the new show, and 3 or 4 sold the first night. The show will be up until September 10.

These are four dogs who have touched my life within the last year. Bean was a dog that I fostered after she had been abandoned by a meth addict. She was left tied to a tree, and through law enforcement, came to my house until a new home was found for her through a retriever rescue group. She was a happy, loving dog, and we fell in love with her immediately.

Jack is my nephew’s Jack Russell/Westie mix. Jack is wise and good.

Kayla passed away before this painting was finished. She was loved very much by my friend Dawn.

Roxie is my friend Susan’s whippet. She has a real passion for running!

These are four dogs who have touched my life within the last year. Bean was a dog that I fostered after she had been abandoned by a meth addict. She was left tied to a tree, and through law enforcement, came to my house until a new home was found for her through a retriever rescue group. She was a happy, loving dog, and we fell in love with her immediately.

Jack is my nephew’s Jack Russell/Westie mix. Jack is wise and good.

Kayla passed away before this painting was finished. She was loved very much by my friend Dawn.

Roxie is my friend Susan’s whippet. She has a real passion for running!

Hanasakajijii I: The Floating Dog

“And so it happened long, long ago…”

So begins “Hanasakajijii”, a tale of the man who made flowers bloom. A Japanese folk tale, passed in the oral tradition, about a man who comes to great fortune and brings prosperity to his land, ending a long drought. The source of his fortune: An abnormally large dog.

According to the tale, an old woman washing her linens in the river notices an abnormally large dog (I chose an Akita) which has been set afloat on the river, and helps it to shore, rescuing it and giving it a home with her and her husband. The two embrace the dog as their own and are rewarded for their kindness when one day the dog unearths a large fortune. Their jealous, cantankerous neighbor borrows the dog in hopes that it will bring him fortune as well; instead the dog reveals a pool of garbage and vile insects beneath the treacherous yard. Angry, the villain shoots the dog through the side and burns the body.

Hanasakajijii II: A Great Wind, More Sushi

The ash of the burnt canine fells the neighbor and, drifting into the kindly old man’s yard, raises a great tree and causes flowers to bloom, ending the town’s drought.

My retelling of this story was inspired partly by the Ham Lake fire. The cherry blossoms here blooming on a burned branch and the Japanese Chin offering a feast of sushi represent the new growth and hope that come even after a devastating loss and difficult times.

Hanasakajijii I: The Floating Dog

“And so it happened long, long ago…”

So begins “Hanasakajijii”, a tale of the man who made flowers bloom. A Japanese folk tale, passed in the oral tradition, about a man who comes to great fortune and brings prosperity to his land, ending a long drought. The source of his fortune: An abnormally large dog.

According to the tale, an old woman washing her linens in the river notices an abnormally large dog (I chose an Akita) which has been set afloat on the river, and helps it to shore, rescuing it and giving it a home with her and her husband. The two embrace the dog as their own and are rewarded for their kindness when one day the dog unearths a large fortune. Their jealous, cantankerous neighbor borrows the dog in hopes that it will bring him fortune as well; instead the dog reveals a pool of garbage and vile insects beneath the treacherous yard. Angry, the villain shoots the dog through the side and burns the body.

Hanasakajijii II: A Great Wind, More Sushi

The ash of the burnt canine fells the neighbor and, drifting into the kindly old man’s yard, raises a great tree and causes flowers to bloom, ending the town’s drought.

My retelling of this story was inspired partly by the Ham Lake fire. The cherry blossoms here blooming on a burned branch and the Japanese Chin offering a feast of sushi represent the new growth and hope that come even after a devastating loss and difficult times.