How a Painter Progressed

When she wanted to get her first dog, this female painter was eight. Within that same year the small Boston terrier died but it was able to make a lasting impression on the girl. It is today that her life is made more significant by noble pets. She is an accomplished painter, specializing in portraits of dogs.

She recalls spending many a Sunday afternoon in the public library, reading every dog book and magazine she could find. There was a time when her interests included showing dogs in trials and dog shows as a professional dog handler. At 13 years of age, her free time was spent in dog shows and this was where she sketched and drew the animals. Painting with oils as well as making portraits of dogs were things a friend encouraged her to try at 16.

Yes she was able to paint abstracts, landscapes, sea scapes, and other subjects rather well but she decided to select this specialty of hers. Early in her career, she made and sold a number of dog portraits and this told her that her decision was the right one. At first, most of the portraits she made were of the dogs owned by members of the family. Then a local pet shop put up a notice about her paintings and displayed a picture she had done of their own Boston terrier.

She credits two paintings, for a large measure of her progress. One is the painting she did of charlie black, the beguiling little mongrel the animal humane association restored to health and adopted as a mascot. A striking Alaskan malamute, the champion phantom of the ice flue, was what the second painting was of.

Considering a Labrador retriever, the important assets are the head and expression. Considering a black dog, getting a photograph of it is hard but painting it is even harder. A painting she made of the statue of a jacket found in Tutankhamen's tomb was a rather unusual picture. Egyptian symbols were painted in the background.

Portraits of other pets like horses are sometimes requested from her. It is her husband who gives tangible and psychological assistance. He made a table specially designed to hold her paints and brushes. She herself made and stained the specially crafted easels and display stands on which she shows her work. There was a humongous portrait she made which was a three by four foot portrait of a Labrador.

Always easier to paint are the smoother dogs as compared to those with the longer coats. What she does not do is pose the dogs. Dogs are not able to hold their heads just right. For an hour, she observes the animal carefully and from this she is able to remember its sheen, the color of its coat, its typical stance, and the evident personality or character traits it may have. When it comes to recording these characteristics onto a canvas she is rather talented.

What she uses for these are snapshots from the owners. She can also take the picture herself and blow it up on the screen if the owner cannot provide her with one. With the background and all, she lets the people she paints for decide. People have different preferences from plain ones to ones with sceneries. A portrait a month is what she works on considering family commitments. Every now and then she takes vacations or does housework.

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