ARTIST LONNI CLARKE

Lonni writes about the painting above:

"This painting is of my angel boy Boris who passed away from a rare form of cancer while I was working on the painting. Boris was a highly musical borzoi and would sing along with music that he particularly enjoyed. Then the rest of the pack, his sister and daughters, would join in.

His favorite song was "Hip Hug Her" by Booker T and the MG's.

He also enjoyed a little James Brown.

But Boris was very versatile. Besides the sixties soul Boris loved classical music with a lot of strings, marches, waltzes, anything by Wagner or Richard Rogers. He was especially vocal in the mornings, and was less discriminating then.

But his liking for Booker T was so strong that he would rouse himself out of an apparently sound sleep to sing along, without

lifting his head off the bed.

I recently bought a darling children's book called "The Dog Who Sang at the Opera" illustrated by Erika Olier. It's based on a true story of a borzoi, while appearing as a supernumerary in the opera "Manon" at the Met, interrupted soprano Renee Fleming's aria with "singing along." The audience was wildly amused, the soprano was not, and the dog's owner was completely surprised and horrified. My borzois, however, have given me plenty of warning. They love to sing along.

The "stuff" in the painting includes a saddle and sundry tack given to me by my fox hunting friends, the Martins. The book in on my favorite horse painter, Sir Alfred Munnings, and shows the lifestyle I was meant to live, but seem to keep missing. One day I'll have a suit like that. This painting was recently purchased by the Kirk, owners of one of Boris' sons, Basil!"