Pet paintings
One day you wake up and you're ready to have a dog.🐶
I started painting portraits of dogs in acrylic paint in 2022 while I was applying to adopt a rescue dog.
I have been enjoying drawing and painting for years but it was my rescue dog who provided inspiration to start painting on a regular basis.
Adopting my dog changed my life
Since I adopted my rescue dog my quality of life has improved considerably. I have become less anxious and I am enjoying the outdoors more.
Dogs are true Zen masters, teaching us to live in the moment and not worry about the future.
I have written about my story of adopting my dog in an article but I will come back to it in a few weeks’ time.
Basically, one day I woke up and I was ready to take care of a dog, even though I hadn’t owned a dog before; I only looked after my friends’ pets every so often. Sharing your life with a dog is a huge commitment and you really need to invest a lot of your spare time to establish a good connection with your pet. This can be very challenging if you are adopting a rescue dog who may have trust issues.
As I have explained to my friends and fellow dog “parents”, my dog has taught me about unconditional love. Sure, he is also an expert in manipulating me and tricking me into giving him snacks and playing fetch at a moment’s notice. However, he is also taking me at face value without judgement. It’s refreshing to have a presence in your life that doesn’t make you want to put on an act, try and seem smarter than you are, look a certain way or, God forbid, lose weight to appease someone.
At first I was scared as this was my first experience “owning” a dog (it turns out that our human concept of ownership is outdated and unsuitable to describe our relationship with our canine companions). A dog can still snap out of his good behaviour and succumb to instincts if left to his own devices. Growling at the food bowl is an example: food is sacred and you are not allowed to touch it. This also taught me compassion, as it must have been tough for my dog to be in a kennel hearing other dogs bark for hours. He was given a lot of love and playtime at the animal shelter. They really did a great job “teaching him manners”.
In preparation for the adoption and ever since then, I have regularly studied dog training videos and completed courses. Handling dogs is such a complex subject and theories have developed over time, debunking old myths such as the “pack mentality”. Sharing our lives with dogs is truly a partnership based on love and respect.
Painting for charity
I wanted to give back to the amazing rescue centre where I adopted my dog from, so I have been raising funds for them by donating some dog paintings to be put to auction.
So far I made a few personalised paintings for the auctions’ winners and it has been such a joyful experience.
If you are interested in donating to this animal charity, you can do so here.
Pet painting as a business
Over time I received quite a few paintings commissions from pet owners, both in Ireland and in Europe. Some pet owners have ordered memorial paintings to commemorate their beloved dogs who passed away, but most paintings I have completed have been of alive and kicking, beautiful pets.
The whole process of painting brings me so much happiness: the activity in itself is relaxing and meditative, and once the client receives the finished painting, the positive feedback is so rewarding.
Clients so far told me that my paintings are “whimsical” and that they capture the facial expressions of the pets accurately. My aim is to reproduce the personality of a pet in the painting and to do so I spend more time rendering the eyes to make them as realistic as possible.
If you know anyone who would love to receive a pet painting as a present, please consider ordering one from my Etsy shop.
My dog is my favourite model
My dog inspired me to start a new activity as a pet portrait artist, but also he has been my favourite subject to paint. I know I am biased but I think he is very expressive (and handsome!) and when I catch him on camera his eyes look so intelligent.
Once I even tried drawing him from life and of course he could not sit still. You can watch the video of my endeavour, I was laughing so much trying to get him to pose for me.
https://youtube.com/shorts/sEYO8E3WDEU?si=_r_88AUPcniU0kfX
In the next post I will talk about how to manage long distance connections with friends and family as an expat.
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Oh, everything about this is gorgeous.