Growing up with two parents who were veterinarians, I shared my home with a variety of animals. From the day I was born, I was taught to treat our pets, whether it was our Maltese named Teddy, our cockatiel named Charlie, or our tarantula named Celeste, with compassion and respect. I quickly realized that, like people, every animal (wild or domesticated) has their own personality, and that’s what I try to represent in my watercolor paintings. Teddy was smart and full of spunk, Charlie was mischievous and got into all kinds of trouble at the vet clinic, and Celeste was a calm, cool and collected (albeit a little hairy) giant spider.
I started out painting portraits of pets I knew. Knowing their personalities made it easy to learn to portray each of them accurately, and I’ve now done enough of them that I can work from photos without meeting the pet. Although my style has evolved from my first portrait, (a rescue greyhound named Willie), my goal with each piece is still the same – I want my viewers to see the beauty and individuality in every animal I paint.