Art, espionage & football

Because I live in Arkansas, where completely sober, reasonably intelligent and otherwise serious people occasionally find themselves involved in something referred to as “calling the hogs” I knew that this week would be my only shot to feature this painting. (I actually didn’t know- I had to go ask a co-worker who also happens to be a football fan. Arkansas apparently beat Georgia last weekend.) This pet portrait was commissioned by Courtney as a Christmas gift for her father, who clearly loves Georgia. This is his dog, Phoebe Sue.

You read it correctly the first time. It is a female bulldog named Phoebe Sue, dressed up in a red jersey & sitting in the middle of a football field. She is related to the real Georgia Bulldog & I am told that she often gets ‘borrowed’ to pose with football fans because of her striking resemblance to her…uncle? Cousin?

The painting was a surprise, which means Courtney had to take on some sort of interstate espionage to procure photos. Maybe her dad’s assistant already happened to have photos on her computer to send to Courtney, but I prefer to believe otherwise. I like to think she put the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme song on her ipod and army crawled across the floor of his office, hid behind a ficus tree & then snatched the framed photos so she could scan them & email them to Courtney undetected.

Plese see my website for other pet portraits.