What a beautiful painting, Mike. Your grandmother was a real master. Did she sell her work or simply paint to enjoy it? And do you know when this was done? Such a timeless subject; it could have taken place any time in the last hundred years (I'm assuming that the breed of dog isn't very old, though.)

I agree with Marvin and Karin about diet and environment. We garden organically and used to raise our own lamb and produce milk from our goats. The whole family also went on the Feingold diet when our son was diagnosed with ADHD. I have often thought that the current prevalence of such formerly unusual neurological disorders has a lot to do with the environmental assaults we're subject to on a daily basis. There are so many substances added to our air, water and food inadvertently, and then there are such things as antibiotics, growth hormones, chlorine and fluoride added deliberately. We don't eat macrobiotically or even totally organically because it's too difficult, but we do try to avoid whatever toxins we can. And back to another thread, I also used to do a lot of acupressure and meridian clearing, although I haven't for a long time. I feel strongly that there's a lot more to the way we fit into and interact with our environment, to say nothing of the universe, than mainstream science is willing to acknowledge.

This is a long way from Genesis oils. I've seen the ads and figured that it had to be a gimmick, so this is very interesting.

I know this is off the subject and I'm sorry. The above painting is typical of her work. It is marked 1943 and is the only one that I have of the hundreds that she produced. My mother's mother, during the years that I knew her, painted to make her rent. She would sell a painting like the one above (18" x 24") for as little as $25, which was her monthly rent in the government subsidized old age home. She was left at a convent as a teenager in San Antonio and taught to paint by the nuns. She let us sit by her knee and watch her paint; I can still remember the smell. I'm sure that it is her influence which has placed me where I am today. I could go on but mercifully I won't.

Mike, I too admire your grandmother's work. It reminds me a bit of one of my favorites, John Martin Tracy, a wonderful North American painter of sporting scenes. Here's a link for John Martin Tracy's beautiful work.

Leslie, The English Setter is a very "old" breed indeed. The first writings of the breed were done in about 1564.

Sandy, I'll have to share that with friends who have English setters. I should have known anyway because we had Irish setters at one time, and I remember reading about the history of that breed.