A few months before painting this portrait of Bonnie Millhouse, my mother had painted a portrait of her own cat Kichicot. I am sure seeing that painting was the inspiration for her friend Mary to commission this portrait of her sister’s dog.

As fortune would have it, we can see in the diary entries that this lead to the very lucrative commission of Martin Clayman, her sister’s boyfriend.

Later in the diary we can see that my mother writes “Nearly finished thank goodness.” I think this was the last live animal she painted. Although, I am sure this is a faithful rendition of that dachshund I know my mother was less than thrilled at following a dog around her studio.

Diary Entries