Pets inspire painter's creativity

Ted Horton lost the sweet-natured golden retriever when she was just 4 years old, and to ease the pain of her untimely passing he painted a likeness of her on canvas.
It was pretty good. Very good, in fact.
Soon one friend, then another, and then complete strangers were calling on him to paint their pets.
And he did, with surprisingly good results, given that he has no training in art and by occupation he's on the crew of the Broome County Department of Public Works. Heavy equipment is more his milieu than dainty paint brushes.
But one after the other, people began singing his praises as an artist.
An acrylic likeness of Shana the Labrador retriever hangs on the living room wall in Mike Cooper's Endwell home.
"I was pretty surprised," says Cooper, who also works for the BCDPW, as does Tim Brink of Binghamton.