Year: 2014

Six Westie Portrait: A Legacy of Love

Six Westie Portrait Painting by BZTAT
Painting by BZTAT

I once painted a portrait that featured 8 dogs of different breeds, and I once painted a portrait of 3 Westies (West Highland Terriers). So, when I was asked to paint a portrait with 6 Westies, I said, “Sure! I can do that!”

It turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected. I found that it takes a few visual “tricks” to make a painting with so many white colored animals visually appealing.

I think I pulled it off, though. What do you think?

This portrait was very special to the family who commissioned the painting. The six animals featured are/were pets that filled the family’s home with love for many years.

There is Spooky (top right), who was the first pet of a young newly married couple. Spooky was a loving dog who was very protective of the couple’s first child. Although he has long since passed, Spooky’s presence is still felt in the home. A statue of Spooky greets visitors at the front door, and a flowering fruit tree grows in the spot where he was buried.

Daisy (top center) was a sweet girl who was best pals with Chadwick (bottom right). Both of these two pups were ‘talkers’ and they were quite affectionate. Sadly, Daisy’s life was shortened after 5 years by a brain tumor. Chadwick, a somewhat stubborn character, found a new buddy in Petunia (top center). Although she was a petite pup, Petunia was clearly an ‘Alpha’ dog who guarded her personal boundaries with ferocity.

Violet (bottom left) and Clover (bottom center) are the two pups who presently enliven this home that has seen such a legacy of loving Westies. Violet is a somewhat pensive dog who is a regal guardian for the home. She is very observant and attentive to her human companions, yet she has a mind of her own, only coming when called if she feels like it. Clover is an adventurous explorer of the great outdoors, and she is also a playful instigator. Both are sweet girls who love their humans very much.

Westie dogs posing with their portrait painting by BZTATI had the opportunity to meet Violet and Clover when I delivered the painting. They are, indeed, very sweet and fun! Their humans are charming as well.

I enjoy painting legacy portraits where a family’s history is memorialized through their love of the animals who have shared their lives with them. The relationships that we develop with our pets are deep and enduring, so what better way is there to trace a family’s legacy of love?

Margaret, one of Violet and Clover’s humans, was so inspired by the process of commissioning the portrait, she decided to try her hand at painting a portrait herself in my recent Pet Portrait Painting Mini-Retreat. Her daughter will be joining us with a friend at my next Mini-Retreat on Black Friday. We would love to have you join us!

I don’t think we will see Margaret painting 6 pups in one portrait anytime soon, but you never know…

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT

The Six Westie portrait is a Premiere Contemporary Custom Pet Portrait Painting. Check out the in-process photos of the Six Westie portrait here!

Pet Portrait Workshops and Other Art Education Activities: What’s going on here?

Recent Pet Portrait painting workshop by Artist BZTAT
Recent Pet Portrait painting workshop by Artist BZTAT

When I went to art school, people often asked me, “What are you going to do when you graduate? Be an art teacher?”

I typically answered them with an emphatic, “NO!”  I had no interest in becoming an art teacher. I simply wanted to create things myself. At that time, I also had little interest in working with kids.

Now,some 30 years later, I have been testing the waters of art education, and I have recently been seen scurrying through the hallways of some local schools with bags of art materials.

What’s going on?

First of all, a lot of things have changed in my life over 30 years. Much of that time was spent working with children as a counselor, so I moved past my youthful aversion to working with kids.

Second, through my counseling career and other life experiences, I found a second calling in “teaching” from a philosophical perspective, with adults and children.

My recent foray into art education comes from my philosophical leanings more than it does from a desire to teach art techniques, but teaching art has a way of expanding the curriculum beyond technical skills. The more educational experiences that I take on, I find myself very energized the interaction with both adult and child students. It is opening up an entirely new creative direction for me, which I will share more about in future posts.

I recently held a workshop in my home studio on creating pet portrait paintings, and I had an amazing time. For 6 hours, I worked with 6 students who, for the most part, had very little arts training. The portraits they created were BEAUTIFUL, and the all day experience with them was so much fun for all of us! I enjoyed encouraging them to try new things that, at first did not make sense, but as they proceeded, brought them to a new level of understanding.

I decided that day that I would do another workshop. I had planned to do it after the holiday season, however, one of the participants asked if I would do it around Thanksgiving so some of her homecoming family members could participate. So, I moved it up. It is now scheduled for Black Friday, November 28, 2014. You can read more about the workshop here.

I look forward to doing more workshops like this one in the future. I also am thoroughly enjoying working in some local schools with preschool, elementary and middle school students. More about that soon!

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT