UPDATE, 4pm: Thanks to everyone who read this and shared the news around. Richard is pleased to report Mimi has been found and handed in to a vet in Eden.
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Not such happy news is that Mimi was found in a backyard of someone reportedly unwilling to allow rangers and vets to scan the dog's microchip to confirm ownership.
12pm: AN UNUSUAL reward is being offered for the return of a much-loved lost dog.
However, this being the last week for entries in the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award, and only weeks before the opening of Bega’s Festival of the Face, it is an appropriate offer.
Bega artist Richard Maude realised his best mate Mimi – a kelpie-Rottweiler cross -was missing not long after feeding her late last Friday (Anzac Day).
He said he removed her collar, ready to wash her, but a short time later he realised she was missing.
Richard has a broad resume in arts practice over 40 years and has twice been selected as a finalist in previous Shirley Hannan Award exhibitions.
His 2010 entry, which received praise from the award judge, SMH critic John McDonald, was of his late partner Jane Olsen.
Since Jane lost her battle with cancer five years ago, Richard said Mimi has been his great strength and has kept him positive throughout his own cancer treatment a few years ago and during more recent health challenges.
“Mimi has lived with me the whole 10-and-a-half years of her life and we pretty much go everywhere together,” Richard said.
“She’s always just there, simply companionable or playful.
“She is such a friendly, gentle dog...and I fear for her well-being, as well as missing her terribly.”
He also said because he’s so distressed by Mimi’s disappearance he has been struggling over the past week to complete his portrait award entry for this year and that he’s spent a lot of time looking for Mimi and asking people if they’ve seen her.
Richard is offering a portrait study - a subject/person of your choice - in oils on canvas, valued at $700, for whoever finds, returns or can show where Mimi is.
Mimi is a female kelpie-Rottweiler cross, black and tan in colour with a small bald patch on her rib.
She was last seen in the Bega area.
Anyone with information can contact Richard on 0419 427 694 or art@richardmaude.com.au.