Cassie would come to visit not on any regular schedule. Her bowl, bed and bag of essentials would arrive as my friends, her owners, Jim & Jan were leaving town on an adventure. Sometimes it would be just overnight or maybe even for a couple of weeks. As a dog lover, but non dog owner, it was the high grade of experience. All the fun with none of the expense. She was my borrowed dog.

Cass and I had a routine established; head to the office, treats, greet the other office dogs, treats, ride shotgun to get the mail, treats on the return and evening walks. With Cassie, they weren't so much a walk as a "pull". And if you met other dogs, it became a "lunging" discussion. (I always imagined that they were arguing over who's mother was the bigger B***h.) Then it was my turn to drag her the rest of the way home, leash straining, harness threatening to split.

For revenge I would take Cassie into the studio with me so she could listen to paint dry. She'd be patient for a while, but then find some ratty old tennis ball in the corner that she was sure we needed to toss around outside. I have to admit, she had impeccable timing. Cass probably saved more than one painting from being overworked. Sometimes you need to step away and play ball. Life lesson number 1.

After 14 years of good dog life, Cass had to be put down this Sunday. It was unfortunate that it was on my "watch" and I bawled like a baby. She wasn't even my dog. However she left behind memories and life lessons. So from Cassie, here are the rest:

If you see something you want - run fast & hard until you get it. Ignore everyone yelling at you to stop.
Never spend time worrying about the ball you didn't catch - catch the next one.
Take time to nap in the sun - and turn over so you get both sides for a balance.
Everything tastes better with cheese.

"Gentry Road" is the result from my invitation to participate in the current Twisp Confluence Gallery show in Then & Now, a Historical View of the Methow Valley. Twenty regional artists each chose a photo from the archives of the Shafer Museum in Winthrop as their starting point.
 
Curator Roxie Miller asked us for a contemporary interpretation of our views or feelings of that the photograph represented. The museum has hundreds of interesting photos so it took an afternoon to reduce the selection to just one. My finalist had three people enjoying a pleasure drive in a narrow gauge car along a single lane dirt road in the country.

Much could be said about the differences in the valley now. My method, to to reach a concept, involved a large coffee, yellow legal tablet, pencil. I listed  the major parts in the photograph on the left side of the paper. The right side of the paper list was for the first thing that came to mind when I thought about what was different today. Not everything I wrote down made it to the painting, but the core concept was roughed out.

Typically when I begin a painting, I have a working title in my head. Again, there was so much to say about the changes, that it was more like a title paragraph! "Condense it down" I kept repeating to myself every time I would step back to review the work. It was still an untitled "orphan" when I signed my name. As I shut the studio door that night, the word "gentry" popped into my head. A"gentry" peopled valley has evolved here today with all that it brings ~ or can have shipped in next day.  So it became "Gentry Road".

The exhibit Then and Now runs through April 1st. Enjoy seeing the new creations and reading the historical narrative that accompanies the old photo hanging along with the artwork.

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