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I am always intrigued by drawing new breeds. When I was attending a wine tasting from Crocker & Starr and heard that owner Pam Starr had a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, I was hooked and had to do a drawing.

As a wine writer the winery dog can be important because the dog can serve many purposes. For some it may be a working dog that assists in the field. For others it may be a companion that inspires the winemaker to create their wines or a label after the dog. Sometimes it is a service dog that assists a handicapped person working at the winery. Last but not least there is the dog that is the social ambassador to the winery tasting room.

After graduating California State University Northridge with a degree in art and knowing the difficulties of earning a living in this field, I put my creative side on hold and chose a career in Real Estate. Twenty-three years later, I began to write short stories about Salukis, the breed of dog I share my life with. I decided it might be fun to illustrate these stories. Following two years of studies at Brentwood Art Center School of Fine Art in Los Angeles and finding I loved working in the pastel medium, I began sketching my Salukis. Then in the summer of 2001, my sister died. With the impact of her death, I discovered that my breakthrough in artistic expression and experimentation was through the drawing of animals. This new insight...