Original Sold

Giclee print on paper

10 x 13          $130

12 x 16          $175

Embellished giclee print on canvas

16 x 21          $525

20 x 26          $750

30 x 40          $1,575

The original was donated and sold at silent auction to benefit PETA.

Additional information below

The Madonna and Puppy Mill

Oil on canvas

36 inches x 48 inches

The Madonna and Puppy Mill statement:  

"The curtain opens to reveal sacred figures as they are entering into paradise. There seems to be an air of calm and understanding; a perfect harmony." Those are the words used to describe Rafael's Sistine Madonna painted in 1513, which I have reconstructed.

The sacred figures in my painting, The Madonna And Puppy Mill, express anything but paradise, the implication is painfully clear. The Madonna looks directly at the viewer, not with understanding but with sadness and confusion. She lovingly offers up a litter of dying puppies as a plea for help. The dogs depicted in this Heaven are there because of malevolence.

They are the dogs I have personally seen in shelters and pounds, in photographs from the streets of Taiwan, Korean dog meat markets, imprisoned in puppy mills, medical laboratories, race tracks, set on fire, dragged from cars, abandoned, neglected, persecuted, and executed. They are the dogs I have painted.

My own cherished Pit Bull family members were 'throw aways'. Had they not crossed my path and instead made their way into a shelter, they most likely would have become a sad statistic along with a multitude of dogs senselessly murdered each day. I ache with sorrow when I consider what their fate might have been, and for all those not saved. The brush has become my sword.

I dedicate this painting to all animals that suffer at human hands because of indifference, cruelty, and greed. My love for animals and an abiding hatred for their persecution compel me to use my art as a vehicle for change.