Question: So how long have you been painting dog portraits, and how did you get your start?
Answer: The dog painting started soon after I got to Boston, with Ogden, a big brown lab who plays with our dog, Ernie (and about 50 others,) in Boston Common every afternoon. I’d been picturing Ogden against a pink background with a green toy in his mouth for a few weeks and finally painted it – mostly to get the image out of my head His ‘parents’ loved it and next thing you know I’m doing it for all our ‘dog people’ friends, and it’s grown from there.
Q: I would think with all the obsessive dog owners out there, you’re probably staying pretty busy, right?
A: I’m getting about three or four new commissions a month, either through word of mouth or from Newart on Newbury Gallery, which is on Newbury Street.
Q: What’s your painting ‘style’?
A: I paint the dogs in a loose, uninhibited style – mostly because that’s the way dogs are – call it ‘canine expressionism.’ I don’t just paint dogs though, my other work is much more ‘painterly’ figurative painting, but I also illustrate children’s textbooks to keep the wolf from the door.
Q: So, I’m assuming that the dogs don’t sit and pose for you, right?
A: Yeah, right. Dogs posing. That’s a good one! I work from photographs, but ideally, I get a chance to meet the dog, which can really help.
Q: Since you’ve seen a lot of dog pic-tures, what’s the one pet photo that everybody has?
A: Pretty much everyone has the shot of their dog or dogs chillin’ on the forbidden couch with one of two expressions: it’s either that head on the paws, tail thumping, sad eyed hopeful look that says, “what? who me? this couch?” or it’s “…and we’re not moving”
Petersen Thomas can be contacted at: pstart@earthlink.net
By Jenny Lee
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