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PUBLISHED SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2004

True Blue fans turn out for Rodrigue retrospective

Nicole Lozare
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

In less than an hour, local fans of George Rodrigue dropped a total of $37,500 for silkscreens of Blue Dog on Pensacola Beach.

The Cajun artist made 150 signed and numbered copies of "Fun in the Sun," priced at $750 each. It is the first time in the inquisitive pooch's 20 years to be painted on water.

About 300 people attended the opening reception Friday of "Cajuns, Blue Dogs and Hurricanes: the Art of George Rodrigue."

"I like standing in the middle of the gallery and seeing both his early works and then Blue Dog," said Angela Baroco, 32. "It hardly looks like the same artist painted them."

Rodrigue was pleased with the high turnout.

"There are a lot of people here who never knew my earlier paintings," he said. "Now they can see how Blue Dog came from my Cajun work."

Among the guests was his wife, Wendy. The Fort Walton Beach native directed her family members toward "Wendy and Me," a painting of her with Blue Dog in a tuxedo. Rodrigue created it for their wedding invitation.