“PEGGY SUE”
A Memorial Pet Portrait Commission
“Peggy Sue”
16″ x 20″ Acrylic on canvas
Private Collection in Spruce Grove, Alberta
Tug on my animal-lovin’ heartstrings. To lose a beloved furry family member is one of the most painfully horrific things to experience in life. I felt this one, understanding to some extent the sadness for those who loved Peggy Sue and the hole left in her place. (At least in the way I can relate as an outsider to their loss)… and the love that resides in our hearts for our pets. Some love definitely went into this one!
I remember the devastation when my cat Twitch died, it felt like a huge chunk of my heart died with him. As hard as it was, I am grateful to have been right with him when he took his final breath. The process of carrying his body home from the vet, taking the time to honour him with a little ceremony of candles, tears, taking a clipping of his furry hair, and remembering what a cheeky joyous little character he was; deciding what would be buried with him, and ultimately taking him out to a beautiful friend’s backyard cat cemetery to dig a hole and place him in the ground where he’d have some company and be immersed in the outdoors that he craved. It might sound strange to some, but it was something that had to be done and I found some healing in a hands on ritual. I just couldn’t let him go on his own up island to the pet crematorium. I felt strongly that he just needed to be with his humans and to be buried. Maybe just needed him to stay. My mom painted a beautiful portrait of him which has always been such a special keepsake.
I wasn’t able to meet lil Peggy Sue in real life, but had several photos of her to reference from. To me, this pose felt grounded in attentive spirit, roots in love, watchfulness, and the weight of her fully taking space on and sinking into the couch where she plunked herself to be present to her loved ones. It was like she didn’t want to miss out on anything. It made me feel like she is watching over her family and still does to this day. One of her puppy pictures had her with this collar on, so I brought it into the portrait as a way to memorialize her name on the piece.
It was an honour to paint this in memory of Peggy Sue.
“What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” Helen Keller