In Memory of Zuzu 2006-2020

Easter Sunday, Zuzu stopped eating and refused to go on a short walk. Her belly looked a bit more round than usual, so I took her to the veterinarian at daybreak the next morning. After an x-ray and an ultrasound, it turned out her spleen leaked blood into her body, and she needed surgery to stop the bleeding and remove a mass on her spleen. The ultrasound revealed some spots on her liver as well.
The next day, with the ongoing covid19 pandemic, I drove her to the animal clinic, where I put on my mask and called the front desk from my parked car. I handed her over to a nurse technician, hoping to see her alive after her surgery. The doctor called me from the operating room with bad news. The few spots seen on the ultrasound was a large tumor that had engulfed her liver, and the fistulas were about to burst as well. I had to let her go right there, by phone.

I did say “Goodby” to her, and I’m terribly sad that I did not get to say “Hello” again.

Zuzu liked long hikes, playing in the snow, peter-patter trough mud puddles, barking at squirrels and deer, hauling with the local coyotes, snapping up dog treats, sitting outside in front of my studio listening to the birds and crickets.

Zuzu did not like gunshots, fireworks, nailguns, vacuum cleaner, and lighting, in short, anything noisy. She also didn’t like other dogs unless she was properly introduced. Snooty dogs who would walk by without
proper greeting would be barked at any time of the day.

Zuzu was a Chocolate Lab mixed with a Border Collie; she will be missed by friends and family.

I found this vintage illustration of mine via an internet image search the other day. It felt like finding a lost child that I bearly recognized. In 1988 the record industry was just about to switch over from records to CDs, and I got a chance to create artwork for the last RCA records covers. At the time, RCA Records did send these sampler records to radio stations to promote the artists. In retrospect, it was the last tail end of a design and illustration tradition-steeped era where all the artwork was created by hand in conjunction with analog equipment. Fun memories. The Art Director Ria Lewerke.

Jenny & Francoise, a New York City-based organic wine importer, spotted “Eros” on the Abstract Graphic section of this website. They asked me if they could buy the usage for a wine label on their new orange organic wine.

I was delighted they did. All they asked was if I could change the red to match the orange, an easy request to fulfill.

If you have a project that requires a graphic solution that needs to convey a feeling or be on the poetic side, this approach could be perfect for your book cover, menu card, film poster, etc.

Here are two cover ideas that I proposed to the New Yorker a few years back. The first idea is a poetic idea, hiding the shape of a turkey in a wind-tossed maple leaf. I proposed the second layout while the American Senate debated the health care bill, that later became Obama Care, it’s a doctor showing an x-ray of a broken wishbone to a turkey.