Don't worry about me, Love; I am having too much fun playing with the stars!

Commission for my aunt of her late dog Luna.
She asked me if i would draw Luna for her after they found out she had bone cancer. She had no requests for what the image should be, size, nor materials used.. so it was fun, but also intimidating, to come up with this on my own. As soon as the idea (which now seems obvious) struck me, i knew it would be right. It took a long time to decide on an idea. I was going to try a realistic portrait, but that just isn't my style, and then i had ideas of her times camping, or on their sailboat, but she needed something more "simple" for this last part of her journey.

Y'see, my wonderful Aunt is an extremely sensitive person, and i knew a drawing of something they had already done, and were missing her for, had the chance of evoking sad thoughts each time she saw it. I needed to come up with something to both portray Luna, and ease my Aunt.
I'll have to discuss framing options with her, but i would like that first bolded sentence to accompany this image somewhere, whether i draw/write on the matting itself, or carve it into the frame...something. It is seriously odd for me, but i feel like something is just urging and telling me i need to include that phrase. It just needs to be there, and it is beyond my mind to deny it.

Luna was an amazing dog, and i cannot say it quite as nicely as my Aunt did in the note she emailed my family:

"We wanted to let you know that we lost our lovely, lovely Luna to cancer on May 28. She died very peacefully surrounded by her family. As all good pet owners will say about their beloved companion, Luna was an exceptional dog. She devoted her life to making sure we were safe and happy. Her gentle spirit, her dignity and her intelligence, not to mention her beautiful long eyelashes, touched many lives in her 13 years. I know the squirrels and rabbits won't miss her, but we certainly will. She leaves a huge emptiness in our home and in our hearts that we hope will soon be filled with great memories of a beautiful soul."

Luna was found as a young pup by my Uncle. She was just sitting on a beach out in Southern Cali near where they live. No one there knew who she belonged to, or how she got there, so Raymond took her home. The three of them were inseparable ever after. Luna went on long hikes and camping trips... She sailed the ocean often, traveled across the country multiple times by car, and was such a striking presence, an actor (i cannot recall who) once stopped production (filming of a movie or commercial, i dont recall that either) to ask if he could feed her part of his lunch.

Gallery of photos start here.

I have minorly tweaked this drawing since scanning it, mostly to make her eyes look more focused on the stars, and to lighten her nose a little.

Oil pastels and a hint of charcoal on 12x12 inch navy blue cardstock.