Ben Wilson, the artist who painted my portrait in the street, came round to see us last night with some beautiful photos that he took of my little portrait. They look fab, and we are going to frame them. he even placed a penny beside the picture to show the scale. Ben is such a kind, gentle man who paints pictures of dogs and children to spread a bit of joy around. So we were very upset when he told us he was arrested and charged for doing a painting last weekend in the City of London near the Millennium Bridge. Ben knows that it is not illegal to paint on chewing gum – he has been doing it for years, but the Police would not accept his explanation. They insisted on arresting him for criminal damage, handcuffed him and took him to a police station. They demanded a DNA sample and when Ben refused they took the sample by force. He has bruises on his arms and chest pains. But it gets worse – they confiscated his paints and his digital camera so at the moment he cannot even paint. And remember this took place in central London where the Police are constantly alert to terrorist threats …..
I will update you as soon as we have more news.

We got a great surprise when we got home last night. Ben Wilson came round to the house and painted my picture yesterday. It is right outside the front door, next to the tree. Every time I go for a walk I will see my Kevin the Collie picture, complete with a sausage border! Here is a photo of my picture, see what you think.

Dad took a picture of us with Ben Wilson when we were giving him all my details for painting my portrait. You can see we were all on the pavement, it was outside a very nice florist near our house, where Ben was painting a pink elephant. Obviously an animal lover! I am at the seaside again for a couple of days, can’t wait to get back and see if my picture is ready.
Tags:dogs,weblog, pets,diary,dog food,

We are so excited – we finally met the famous local artist, Ben Wilson – aka the Chewing Gum Man. Ben paints tiny works in the streets around north London, using those blobs of old chewing gum as a canvas for the painting. You can see him at work in the picture, we introduced him and Mum said we admired the painting outside Dad’s house, then she asked if he’d like to add a portrait of Kevin the Collie to his portfolio. Ben said he’d love to paint my picture, and took a reference photo of me. I can’t wait: we asked for my picture to have a border of sausages – very appropriate!