An Autumn mystery...

Paula B. sent this photo and said,

“I was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this gorgeous picture, which I have been lucky enough to obtain.”

This is what I told Paula:

I created this artwork as the logo for the 1999 Doberman Pincher Club of America National, which was held in Fitchburg, Massachusetts that year. (Host club: Pilgrim Doberman Pinscher Club.) The Nationals are held in the Fall so of course it was an autumn theme.

After I created the original, a limited edition of 300 fine-art prints was made from it. I individually signed and numbered each print in gold ink. That’s the signature you see in the lower right. (That tells me this is a print, not the original.)

Those prints were awarded as prizes

in the various dog show classes. However, Paula checked with Laurinda, the friend she acquired the print from, and Laurinda was not at the Nationals that year. How Laurinda ended up with the print is a mystery.

Another mystery

is why Paula’s print is not numbered. Every print in the edition was individually numbered in the lower left. When I shared Paula’s print on my Facebook page, people who had won those prints at the 1999 National shared photos of their prints (like the one shown here), which have the numbers clearly visible below the left-hand leaves.

Photo: "Autumn Leaves" and two other Roeckl prints.

The edition was signed and numbered in gold ink. The artist's signaure is the guarantee that the edition is limited to 300.

Paula took her print out of the frame

to check for a hidden number, but there is none. As you can imagine, signing and numbering 300 prints is a rather boring project. My only theory about why Paula’s print is not numbered, is that my mind wandered off and I signed a print....but neglected to number it.

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The logo created from my artwork

was used on show catalogs, and on sweatshirts, mousepads, and other mementos of the 1999 DPCA Nationals.

Wishing you a Happy Autumn!