subject: Working With One's Noble Pets [print this page] It was possible for this female painter to get her first dog when she was eight. That same year, the small Boston terrier died but it left the young girl with a lasting impression. There is a special place in her heart when it comes to noble pets.
Sunday afternoons have been spent by her reading every dog book and magazine she could find whenever she is in the public library. It was before her art career when she hoped to become a professional dog handler showing dogs in trials and dog shows. Sketching and drawing the animals, at 13 she spent most of her free time going to different dog shows. Not only did a friend encourage her to paint with oils at age 16 but also create portraits of dogs.
This specialization was a personal choice even if she is quite capable of painting sea scapes, landscapes, abstracts, and other subjects. What she felt was that her move was the right one for early on in her career she was already able to make and sell several dog portraits. Many of the early portraits were of dogs belonging to members of the family. One local pet shop put up a notice about her paintings and then they displayed a picture she made of their own Boston terrier.
Two paintings are what she credits for a large measure of her progress. One of her paintings was of charlie black which is a fascinating little mongrel the animal humane association restored to health and adopted as a mascot. The champion phantom of the ice flue was what her second painting was of, a handsome Alaskan malamute.
With regard to what makes a Labrador retriever, these are the head and the expression. When it comes to a black dog, not only is hard to photograph one but painting it is even harder. What was unusual was the painting she made of the statue of a jacket found in Tutankhamen's tomb. A number of Egyptian symbols were in the background.
She also paints other kinds of pets when requested, like horses for example. She is being helped by her husband both tangibly and psychologically. He came up with a specially designed table that holds her paints and brushes. Her works are showed using the specially crafted easels and display stands she made and stained. It was a three by four foot portrait of a Labrador which was her biggest portrait.
Compared with the longer coated ones, smoother dogs are easier to paint. Posing the dogs is something she does not do. Holding its head just right is impossible for dogs. She usually spends an hour or so observing the animal, however, so that she can remember his typical stance, the sheen and color of his coat, or those personality or character traits that are evident. As what plenty of people agree on, she has skills in putting these traits onto a canvas.
She works from snapshots furnished by the owner. There are times when the owners cannot give her a picture and so she takes it herself and then blows it up on the screen. What the people she paints for does is choose details like backgrounds. Sometimes, one chooses sceneries and then others choose plain ones. Because of her family commitments she is able to do only one portrait a month. Other than doing housework, she takes vacations as well.
