THE WIKI COMMUNITY

Friday, 1 October 2010

One Artist's Specialty

By Michael Perez

When she was eight, this female painter got her first dog. A lasting impression was made by the small Boston terrier on the young girl before it died that same year. There is a significant role for noble pets in her life today. She specializes in dog portraits for she is an accomplished painter.

Sunday afternoons have been spent by her reading every dog book and magazine she could find whenever she is in the public library. Showing dogs in trials and dog shows, she first wanted to become a professional dog handler before her art career. Sketching and drawing the animals, at 13 she spent most of her free time going to different dog shows. She was 16 when a friend encouraged her to try painting with oils as well as make portraits of dogs.

She made a personal decision to choose her specialization even if she was well able to paint landscapes, abstracts, sea scapes, 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. To start, she created portraits using the dogs belonging to the members of the family. She did a picture of their own Boston terrier and this was displayed by a local pet shop after they put up a notice about her paintings.

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. It was a handsome Alaskan malamute, the champion phantom of the ice flue that was in her second painting.

Taking a Labrador retriever into consideration, the head and expression make the dog. It is already difficult to photograph a black dog but even more challenging to paint one. What was unusual was the painting she made of the statue of a jacket found in Tutankhamen's tomb. What were in the background were Egyptian symbols.

Sometimes, people ask her to make portraits of horses or other kinds of pets. From her husband comes tangible and psychological assistance. A specially designed table that holds her paints and brushes was what he made. She herself made and stained the specially crafted easels and display stands on which she shows her work. The largest portrait she ever did was a gigantic, three by four foot, portrait of a Labrador.

The smoother dogs are easier to paint than those with longer coats. No dog is ever posed. There will never be a dog that holds its head just right. Every animal is observed for a whole hour as this allows her to remember certain details including the color of its coat, its sheen, its typical stance, and also the personality or character traits that it shows. When it comes to recording these characteristics onto a canvas she is rather talented.

Snapshots provided by the owners are what she uses. 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. For some, they like sceneries while the rest want it plain. What she works on is a portrait per month because of family commitments. She does housework and takes vacations every now and then.

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