Blue Moon Over Me

Louisiana native George Rodrigue painted his first Blue Dog in 1984. Created for a book of Cajun ghost stories entitled Bayou, it was his version of the loup-garou, a werewolf-like dog from an old Cajun legend. Using a photograph of his late studio dog as a model, he painted a creature with an eerie presence, slightly scruffy coat, and red eyes. Over time this image became the more abstract Blue Dog that is prevalent in the pop series he continues to produce today. The dark landscape and cypress trees found in this painting help it retain the ghostly quality of his earliest Blue Dog paintings.