Lowfill was a very sweet, very goofy wirehaired pointer who had a joyous life with my friend John, until she died rather suddenly last year. I'm pleased to say, though, that John has since adopted a puppy, who he also called Lowfill in honor of her predecessor. We all call her Refill, of course--who could resist?

This painting was begun in the charcoal style I used for Cinders and Sydney, but I eventually found myself wanting to use more color, so I kept the basic textures of the charcoal strokes, but worked in a lot of colored-pencil detail to intensify the distinctive appearance of Lowfill's trademark haircut. A portrait like this would cost about $125.