Artfully Agoura: 'Partners'

A black and white photo in a Dallas newspaper inspired equine artist and longtime Old Agoura resident Fred Stone to paint Partners in acrylic.

Based on composite of several photographs, the artwork depicts a grief-stricken fireman whose face is buried in the fur of a bereft golden retriever rescue dog named Aspen.

"There in the rubble, completely tuckered out, is the dog, just destroyed," described Stone. "She had been through too many earthquakes around the world. She'd seen too much death."

Partners was reproduced as a poster. Eight years later, those reproductions of Stone's artwork have raised more than half a million dollars for charities worldwide.

The majority of funds raised have gone toward the families of New York firefighters who died during the aftermath of 9/11, Stone said.

But the piece was originally painted to benefit the victims of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, and later reprinted for the ASPCA, and then Canine Search & Rescue.

"One thousand people were waiting in line," Stone recalled of his memorial poster signing at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. "It was the most emotional part of my life, seeing people there for the friends and relatives who had died."

Copies of the painting hang in the White House, the L.A. Firefighters Historical Museum's unique 9-11 collection, and fire stations, city halls and libraries throughout the U.S. Stone received a personal letter from former President George W. Bush expressing his gratitude.

"It is probably one of the most widely printed posters in history," said Stone. "The look on the dog's face—that is why people buy that poster. The look of pleading, exhaustion, total despair."

"People buy it because it touches their hearts," added Norma, Stone's wife. "And he painted that scene because it touched his heart."