Way back in January 2020, I started taking a beginner’s acrylic painting course at Ballsbridge College in Dublin with artist Jenny Cleary.
I only had a few classes under my belt before the initial 2020 Covid lock-down. A few weeks into our initial lock-down, I decided to try my hand at painting our dog Prim as a birthday present for Jon. Her mini portrait turned out better than I expected, and that really fueled my desire to practice a bit more.
Jon sent a tweet out for dog photos to keep me inspired to practice, and to also try and keep my mind off of well…everything. It definitely helped as I was inundated with beautiful dog models!
Over the course of the first lockdown, and then well into our second (for those of you not in Ireland, we had multiple lockdowns that lasted far into 2021), I painted what I call my “QuaranDogs”. I initially shared these on my Instagram, before sending out to their respective homes, but never compiled them together in one place. It’s about time they were altogether in one place!
So, without further ado, my 2020/21 QuaranDogs:
In late 2021, I came across plain wooden ornaments at Micheal’s that were perfect for my next iterations of dog paintings – the 12 Days of Dogmas! I shared new ornament paintings on Instagram that were sent out as little Secret Santa gifts. In total, it was closer to the 30 days of Dogmas when I finished the ornaments and sent them off to friends all around the world.
I’m enjoying stretching my skills by painting a bit larger, too. I recently completed a large portrait of Prim that has a permanent place over our bar.
I’m looking forward to painting more dog portraits, so if you’d like to commission one, please get in touch!