Reggie

I know this is going to sound really strange, but Reggie here is a good buddy of mine and one of the keenest art critics I know. Even stranger is the fact that he's a 680 lb. tiger, standing almost seven feet tall and inhabiting the forests around my Haliburton cottage. It's not every day you meet a tiger with a keen eye for composition, a feeling for colours and an eye for what works - but he does have that keen and absolute sense.

Only last week, while pleine aire painting, he popped up and growled loudly at a snow scene I was busy painting - plainly telling me, in no uncertain terms, to make some changes or else. He was right! Too much foreground, not enough darks and shadows and maybe a tad too much Cerulean Blue in the composition. Then he simply melts back into the forest again. He's not a painter himself ( the old opposing thumb you know ), but he sure understands my art.

Of course, it helps to keep a T-bone handy in your back pocket since tigers seldom work for nothing.