Connor

Here's a pencil drawing I've just finished of our beautiful labrador Connor. He will be 7 this year and is starting to get a grey muzzle. I hate the thought of him getting old. He doesn't think he's getting old - he can still do a variety of tricks from opening and shutting the door to crawling, tiptoes into the garage to eat the cat's food and can hear the word "hungry" from about 1km away. He has a great life, our dog. He gets to ride in the car to work with my husband daily and spends his daytime hours as a builder's dog. Our employees sneak him copious amounts of food so he is often on a diet when not at work, and he sleeps in our bedroom at night on the floor next to the bed (he would prefer on the bed but he is a large lump when he sleeps that tries to take over the entire bed so that is a no go). Connor thinks he owns half of Auckland as he remembers every house he has helped built and loves it when we visit tenants so he can check out one of his properties. The only place that he doesn't go, is when the boat goes out and we go wakeboarding. Connor loves the boat, but my husband loves it more and after Connor jumped on and stretched the brand new cover over the front of the boat he has since then been left at home!

Connor and my husband have one of those incredibly close man/dog relationships that you read about. I am definitely number 2 on the list (to the dog anyway, better not be to the husband), and it is wonderful to see the absolute devotion that Connor has towards his master. When my husband was in hopsital seriously ill with pneumonia about 8 months ago, everytime I drove up the driveway, Connor would come out to the car, peer inside and was so obviously disappointed once he realised that I was alone.

So this is Connor, based on a photo I took a couple of weeks ago while at the Auckland Domain. I've tried to diversify my marks with the grass and shadows to get looser based on feedback from my tutor. I am starting to really enjoy drawing now.