The Legend of the Lonely Dog

A few years ago, Ivan Clarke - a successful Queenstown landscape painter, went on holiday. As he departed, he looked back at his dog, looking wistfully after him. "That dog is lonely," he said. Upon his return, he sketched, and then painted a picture like none he had ever done before. Instead of a gorgeous realistic landscape, brimming with light, Ivan painted a lively, whimsical image of a dog, standing fully clothed, looking longingly after a departing ferry, and lit by an over-bright moon. He called it "Bon Voyage.” Ivan also began telling his children the story of "Lonely Dog". One thing led to another, the story grew.

Enter left stage a U.S. businessman called Jim. Jim had bought and commissioned a number of Ivan's paintings. On one of his visits from the USA to Queenstown he saw "Bon Voyage" and wanted to buy it. Ivan declined, saying that the painting was "for his children." On subsequent visits the same conversation was replayed, until Jim finally stepped in and said, "At least do a few more paintings, and put the overview of the story together and let me show it to some contacts of mine back home." Not long after Ivan was contacted by an executive from one of the major movie studios, expressing interest in an option on the story!

Ivan however, had made spare copies of the folder containing the story, and had sent them off to Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop of "The Lord of the Rings" animation fame (four Oscars no less!) Richard had also fallen in love with the story, and from this began an enduring relationship where the two would call each other up occasionally and basically just dream things over together.

Meanwhile Ivan had produced a total of nine paintings and a prodigious amount of gorgeous pencil drawings as the world of Lonely Dog took shape, fast becoming an alternative reality. Lonely Dog's musical abilities appeared, along with his band mates, as well as the orphanage where he was first found, cold and lonely, tucked inside a shoe. The town of Alveridge (anything but average!) grew, the cat side of town began to strive for ascendancy over the hound side and everyday life began to grind ever forwards.

A mixture of Queenstown locals and overseas visitors progressively fell in love with Lonely Dog and his world, and have became avid collectors of all things “Alveridgean” - particularly limited edition prints and drawings. Soon the idea of limited edition bronze character sculptures was hatched between Richard and Ivan. Richard Taylor, while perhaps best known for his special effects wizardry, is first and foremost a world-class sculptor! The two now had their heads together over such "major issues" as the angle of a tail, and fall of a particular piece of fur! Now collectors are rejoicing in a life size bronze of LD himself, guitar slung over his back, sloping off into the distance.

At Ivan's Queenstown Gallery surprising things began to happen. Interest in the world of Lonely Dog began to consume both staff and visitors alike. Sales of all things Alveridgean rapidly overtook those of the traditional landscapes. The team at Lonely Dog began the 18 month long process of making a really serious attempt to reveal the entire world of Alveridge in one, cohesive whole, gathering the many illustrations, sketches, scribblings and thought starters that defined LD's world, and placing them together in one enormous volume - the Almalogue. Titled “Alveridgea- and the Legend of The Lonely Dog”, this is a fascinating mix which could be considered to be that of a Travelogue, Almanac and Poets journal including Alveridgean music, folklore and character interviews plus the complete story.

It is hard to describe the Almalogue. It looks like an extremely large, leather bound, ancient book from another world presented in a fabulous wooded case with a cast bronze motif inlaid . Originally written and compiled by “hounds”, it weighs 4.3kg's. It has a central medallion recessed in the leather embossed cover. It has since been "stolen" from the Alveridge County Library, and not only has all kinds of "found" bits and pieces inserted into it, but annotations all through it from the "locals" disputing and defacing as they see fit! There is also evidence that it has spent sometime circulating the swanky Catside circles of North Tolleston. Hand bound, this "book" from cover to cover is a work of art in itself. Is it the be all and end all of Alveridge? Absolutely not! But is the closest to it at this stage.

Created as the foundation for which screen-play, scriptwriters and all future “Lonely Dog” multi-media will be based on, it is believed this limited edition work of art could have significant investment worth in years to come. Meanwhile, behind the scenes the relationship between Weta Workshop and Lonely Dog has continued to grow - with the two teams deciding to come together in a Joint Venture to see if the world and charm of LD can be taken to the world. Where will this story go next?