BLUE DOG LOVE (Hb) - Tapa dura

Love springs forth from the most curious places, and for George Rodrigue and his wife, Wendy, love came, quite literally, from out of the Blue. Through the words and images in this colorful collection of all-new Blue Dog paintings emerges a love story for all ages: how a painter found his muse, and how one woman found her way into the heart and soul of the Blue Dog Man. From the furtive glances and awkward silences of blooming passion to the exquisite longings of a long-distance relationship and, ultimately, a fairy-tale wedding on the bayou beneath a century-old oak tree, Blue Dog Love is George and Wendy Rodrigue's valentine to each other and to the world. Wendy shares her recollections of falling in love - both with the artist and with his creations - and George tells his own side of the story, explaining how his love for Wendy became the inspiration behind the 50 exuberant Blue Dog paintings and prints contained in this book. For longtime fans of Blue Dog, Blue Dog Love is an indispensable new chapter in the ever-evolving Blue Dog story. For anyone who has ever fallen in love, it is a romance in words and pictures that's both inspiration and revelation. "My first secret love was painting," says George. "My second secret love was Wendy. But there's no reason to keep secrets anymore."

George and Wendy Rodrigue have known each other for more than 10 years, but it was not until 1997 that George married the woman who so resembles the jolie blonde that has appeared in his paintings since the 1960s. Born and raised in the heart of French Louisiana, George achieved worldwide fame with his Blue Dog series, in which he transformed the image of the Cajum werewolf dog - or loup-garou - into an international pop icon. As the former director of Rodrigue's gallery in Carmel, California, Wendy Wolf helped shape this success story. Today the couple owns and operates two galleries (the other is in New Orleans), and each year leave their home in Carmel Valley to travel the country sharing George's art with the public.