"Showtime" #2 oil 10 x 30 While I've never been very good at saying no, I actually do have my limits. For example, Jon rarely sees one of my large landscapes (some without any water at all) without suggesting that the presence of a fish jumping would enhance the entire effort; so far I have actually held the line (oh dear, a fishing metaphor), adamantly refusing to add a brook trout to a stretch of wet pavement or to paint him kissing a huge salmon before releasing it back into the Restigouche. (He's not the only man, by the way, who has tried to convince me to paint him clutching a huge fish; sometimes the only reference material available is a tattered photograph. I live in fear of such commissions.)
Even Jewell watched for fish, leaning out over the canoe's gunnel whenever she spotted one. I always suspected that Jon had put her up to it. It had taken us three days to get her into a canoe at first. Day One: pull the canoe up on shore, fill with cushions and cold drinks and books. Spend day in canoe. Day Two: Repeat, but with the addition of the dog, who had begun to feel left-out on Day One. Day Three: Launch. She never missed a paddle after that and would leap in before either of us could board. She never did master white-water paddling and remained content to let us do all of the work. She was just there to watch fish. As far as I know, she was not Jon's natural offspring but still....
Her sense of adventure presented a new problem. Skyes neither like swimming nor are they particularly good at it. So we agreed that she should have a PFD. I bought one at Petsmart and tried repeatedly to get it onto her. No dice. Obviously, all she needed was a demonstration. It actually fit me reasonably well and I congratulated myself on applying lateral thinking during the two days I wore it. When that failed to persuade Jewell, I gave up and returned it. The clerk asked me if it had been worn and I replied, "Well, yes and no...." I'm sure that customer training seminars still persist in regarding this as an apocryphal story.
Jon has had to content himself with fishy portraits sans people and I know he imagines himself to be just inches away, in the act of presenting the perfect original fly.
Even Jewell watched for fish, leaning out over the canoe's gunnel whenever she spotted one. I always suspected that Jon had put her up to it. It had taken us three days to get her into a canoe at first. Day One: pull the canoe up on shore, fill with cushions and cold drinks and books. Spend day in canoe. Day Two: Repeat, but with the addition of the dog, who had begun to feel left-out on Day One. Day Three: Launch. She never missed a paddle after that and would leap in before either of us could board. She never did master white-water paddling and remained content to let us do all of the work. She was just there to watch fish. As far as I know, she was not Jon's natural offspring but still....
Her sense of adventure presented a new problem. Skyes neither like swimming nor are they particularly good at it. So we agreed that she should have a PFD. I bought one at Petsmart and tried repeatedly to get it onto her. No dice. Obviously, all she needed was a demonstration. It actually fit me reasonably well and I congratulated myself on applying lateral thinking during the two days I wore it. When that failed to persuade Jewell, I gave up and returned it. The clerk asked me if it had been worn and I replied, "Well, yes and no...." I'm sure that customer training seminars still persist in regarding this as an apocryphal story.
Jon has had to content himself with fishy portraits sans people and I know he imagines himself to be just inches away, in the act of presenting the perfect original fly.
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