"Lucky" - Dog Portrait and Lesson Shared

"Lucky" - Oil on Canvas, 20" by 16"

Lucky is a rescued dog who belongs to one of my students. He's so loved and pampered and just had to have his portrait painted. Isn't he cute? He's not this large on the canvas, it's the way the picture was cropped.

I wanted to post this picture of "Lucky" to celebrate getting back my stolen paintings, I told you about them in a recent post. "Freedom Drummers" and "Waiting" were taken by a building owner who was owed rent NOT FROM ME. My paintings were there to be sold. Anyway, I went to see this person and explained that the paintings were mine, and after showing her proof of ownership she had me sign a release and I took them home! I'm feeling lucky, because this is in litigation and I didn't have to wait until the mess was resolved in court. One side suing for money owed, and one side suing for stolen property (I'm not a lawyer but it's unlawful to remove property even when owed money). Either way, I owed neither one of them money and just wanted my paintings back! Glad I kept records.

This is a good lesson for anyone who paints. Keep good records of your artwork, with photos, size, date of completion, I would suggest a written description of the painting, and medium used, including varnishes. You can also list any Exhibitions and Shows they've been in. If sold be sure to record when and to whom. And as stated in a post to Alyson B. Stanfield, "About seven years ago I started stamping my work (especially commissioned pieces) on the back with my name, a copyright symbol with the date, and my phone number, as well as signing them on the front."

Thank you to all who showed concern during this situation.