When Scars Become Art
If you had told me when I was a kid that I would be capturing people’s beloved family member pets using my art, I would have laughed. It’s not that I didn’t like (or have) pets. It really came down to one moment that scarred me.
When I was around seven years old, a neighborhood friend encouraged me to pet a dog that was loose on our street. She was under the impression that this dog belonged to a fellow neighbor. I nervously approached the dog, wanting to be friendly, but was intimated by the growling he was producing. I slowly reached out my seven year old hand and don’t remember much after that other than feeling the pain of the dogs teeth breaking the skin on my left hand between my index finger and thumb. I was terrified. I had to get several stitches, that resulted in scars still visible today.
Unfortunately, my friend was wrong. The dog turned out to be a stray. So, needless to say, I became extremely afraid of dogs.
Thankfully, years later my family adopted a scrappy little Border Collie mixed breed, named Barney. He was insane. He loved to howl while I played guitar, jumped in the air constantly, and wedged himself between me and some girlfriends through the years. He had wiggled his way into my heart. My fears quickly faded away. In its place grew a love for “man’s best friend”.
Today, I am the proud owner of two dogs, Biscuit (a Golden mix) and Cooper (a Chihuahua mix). They are forever by my side (Even as I write this).
If you’re anything like me, your camera roll on your phone is filled with photos of your pet. When they make “that” face. When they pose for you almost knowing you’ll be posting their photo to social media immediately. We try to capture their personality and essence. Because we love them, and want others to love them too. We want them to see what we see!
But we never print those photos do we? We post them to social media where they get buried in the stream of activity. We might have intentions to print our pets photo, but even i we do, the likelyhood of us actually hanging that photo on display are pretty slim. Can you relate?
That’s why I love creating pet portraits. It’s making a decision to value your pet with art. Art that you proudly display in your home or office. Art that capture that certain something about your pet — that thing you love. That thing you always talk about with others.
I get it. I’m one of you- a pet lover. Whether it’s creating art for a current pet or one that has passed on, I love to partner with owners like you to create a special work of art that you can be proud to display and share with others.
So can I ask you a question? Have you considered having a pet portrait created? Do you know where you would proudly display it? Maybe today is the day to push past intentions (like printing those camera roll photos), and finally make the decision to have a one-of-a-kind pet portrait created.
If you’re interested, I’d love to talk to you about how I can help. I apply not only my many years as an artist, but also my love for animals, these pets that become family. It would be my privilege! Just fill head on over to my site and let’s start our conversation today!
