For as long as I can remember, I have been drawing animals. They’ve always been my favorite subject. It was my high school art teacher who pushed me to pursue painting over drawing, and I’ve never looked back!

I love the ability to capture life on a canvas. There’s something so captivating about a well-done painting, that makes it even more special than a photograph. While a photograph can capture a moment, a painting has the ability to capture the subject’s essence. It’s hard to describe, but I know that I’ve done my job when my clients tell me that they can truly see their pet’s spirit in my work.

The most challenging part of the creative process is capturing the essence of a beloved pet that has passed on. Often, the owners do not have any “perfect” pictures left of their furbaby. The photographs may be blurry cellphone photos, old physical copies, or in poor lighting. As a workaround, I typically use one favorite image as the source photo and use others as reference photos. Sometimes I’ll even pull images from online of the same breed of dog or cat to get a better understanding of specific details such as fur texture, or paw shape.

I use all of this information to piece together a painting that captures the pet better than the source image. This process can be really difficult and time-consuming, but it's always worth it.

My favorite part of the creative process is working on the finishing details. I love adding the “spark” that brings the paintings to life.

The amount of time I spent creating portraits varies wildly from one portrait to the next. The fastest I’ve ever completed a portrait was in about 8 hours, and that was for one of my small black and white watercolor paintings. The large oil paintings can take upwards of 60 hours. Overall, I average 25 hours per painting.

Thankfully I always have upcoming projects! This is my full-time job, so I typically have a few paintings in the pipeline. Though lately, they take a bit longer than usual, since I’m coming off maternity leave and working on taking care of our 3-month-old son at the same time! Up next I’ll be working on a portrait of a cherished family dog, who recently crossed the rainbow bridge. It’s a beautiful image, and I can’t wait to get started.