4/18/2011

The Art Behind Dog Portrait

By David James


The land between life and death is guarded by a dog says one artist. Learning more about shadow dogs this artist looked at many paintings even those at a restaurant near her street. All over the country this artist has shown her talents to people as she also has a fine arts degree from a university in New Mexico. For her work in fabrics, photography and printmaking she has gained many awards.

While in her work with dogs she decided to work with frogs. They were 10 feet tall, and made of steel. The title of her humorous thesis was a young girl's fascination with frogs.

Included in her thesis was her study on non rational states of consciousness. According to her there was a connection to a shamanistic belief in her work that humans and animals can work together. If civilization is to continue to exist at all, she believes it ought to reincorporate some of these older survival techniques. It is now already a need for people to work with animals.

One can really see the collaboration in her monoprints of dogs. Her escapades include working at a local humane society and for the local news. With stray dogs she is pretty generous and has adopted about four.

These creatures are the subject of her monoprints. According to her, this compels her to work at a quicker pace. It's about working in both directions at the same time, putting ink on and taking it out. The process is very physical, almost sculptural.

Most cases even if there is an image one can only wonder what the real picture is going to be. She tries to capture the honest emotion in her portraits of dogs.

She always paints moments that are hilarious and funny. Yawning, sleeping in the grass, portrayed with their heads lost in a culvert or a can of kibble are how her dogs will look like in her pictures.

In addition says the artist titles are important. One can still laugh at it even of you do not know the whole story. Around one third of her work consists of commissioned pieces. Many times she and her husband join forces in portraits in their business.




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