It is at the core basis of my work that stories behind each piece I create has a very emotional inspiration. Number one reason for that is they are dogs, and that should be reason enough but then we add bits of stories from here and there and in the end all we got left are humans hearts opened and humbled but what a dog did to us!
And here comes the story of the day, even though this pieces has been created some months ago feelings do return to me everytime I recall the experience of the creation of it. It was early June when I saw on my Facebook feds that Noa has crossed over the rainbow bridge. I remember as I know her owner, Lorna, because we are tied by another dog and also by a previous sculpture I created for her, in fact to be a gift for one of her friends.
Not two days went by when I was contacted by Jason, Lorna’s good friend from USA. He felt the deep loss that Lorna was to overcome as she assumed the passing of Noa, so I got commissioned by Jason to create a little memorial sculpture of that sweet miniature Schnauzer whom I later find out was Lorna’s first Schnauzer and best friend who was beside her during a lot of meaningful moments of her life.
I agree with Jason that the creation of Noa must be kept a secret, and so I proceeded with the project.
And it had to happen… Lorna has finally contacted me for having a memorial of her Noa but I was meant to keep Jason’s order a secret. I was certainly touched by her contacting me as I was then sure that she would be happy with such surprise, but I had to find a way to avoid her without upseting her. Lorna kept writing to me and telling me stories about Noa, however I still didn’t confirm to her that I would work on her wishes. But I was using all the information she provided to carry on with my work and when Jason finally confesed to her that a Noa was already being made by me then we were able to surprise her and I only needed to make very few modificiation to the original idea.
The photo of her on the sofa was used as inspiration for the pose. She was initially laying down on the floor, so I only needed to bend her front legs a bit in order to fir her on top of a squared base that Lorna wanted to add to the project.
After several weeks everything was ready and everyone involved was able to follow the work in progress via videos and photos which I know help put some light to the grief that was being experienced by Lorna and all who knew how important Noa was to her.
Noa’s sculpture joined Lorna at her home in Puerto Rico and it is my desire that this dedicated piece will inspire light and bring back good memories.
Noa’s memorial ceramic sculpture laying proud on top of the blue glazed block.
If you have interetest in having your own pet memorial create by me, contact via email applerainart@gmail.com – more info about the creation of a custom dog portrait can be found in section ORDER
Barbara.
