My most recent painting is only the third time that I've painted a self-portrait. Between eight and eleven, my very best friend was a shepherd and border collie mix that I named Lady, after my favourite movie at the time, Lady and the Tramp. We drove to a farm and I picked her out from a litter of eight pups. She stood out. She was so quietly sweet, and she had both a lump on the top of her head, like in the cartoons, and a small white star on her forehead. She was perfect.