THE National today exclusively publishes the portrait of the well known businessman and independence campaigner Ian Forrester and reveals the moving story of how the painting brought back “to life” his two beloved dogs who finally got to go into the family dining room.
In a wonderful piece of portraiture, the artist Gerard Burns (pictured, left) from Dullatur near Glasgow worked from photographs to put Buster and Digger into the picture of Forrester, owner of Great North Lodges, and so lifelike were they that when the painting was unveiled, Ian and his wife Myra were both overcome with emotion and reduced to tears.
Buster is the bigger of the two dogs in the painting, Digger is on the left.
Forrester, 67, told The National: “Buster was with us for more 13 years before he died two years ago last November from cancer. He was a great dog, my best pal really.
“Digger was more Myra’s dog but the thing about them was that they lived together with us but were never allowed in the dining room.
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“I met Gerard at an Alex Salmond Unleashed Show in Edinburgh, the one where Hibs manager Neil Lennon was the guest, and we all got talking afterwards and got on famously. I told Gerard that I was looking for a painting – it was a birthday present to myself – for our dining room and he took the commission on. I am so glad he did.
“We wanted special things in the picture so he included the dogs and also the fish that is on the wall which Myra caught on the Spey in 1997. It was a record for a catch in March on that beat. We’ve also got other souvenirs in there.
“We went to see Gerard at his studio and when he showed us the painting it really hit us. I had a huge lump in my throat.
“The house has been soulless without them and I see Buster’s ghost everywhere, but now they have finally got into the dining room that dates back to the Edwardian era, and now we are all in there.”
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