These eyes kind of grab you, don't they? They seem to hold the wisdom of the ages and questions unanswerable.
Like most, I grew up with pets in our home. The first one I remember was a cat named Fiesty. I remember clearly that Fiesty loved to hide in the laundry basket - the basket with the clean clothes - and pop out to scare my mom when she was ironing dad's work shirts.
When I was in high school we had a male German Shepherd named 'Baron.' Gee but I loved that dog. At the time we lived sort of in and out of town...close enough to feel in, but out enough that my dad's property was bordered on one side by a horse pasture. One of Baron's favorite things to do was to run up and down the fence line, barking, until he had the horses running up and down with him. Goofy dog. I joined the Navy right out of high school and the day I returned home from basic training I was wearing my uniform...Baron growled at me until he looked closer and saw it was me! Me who used to toss ripe nectarines down for him from the trees out back.
I would venture to say that most pet owners are passionate about their animals. I know that I still am. My funny parrot George, a most precocious [and quite loud] Amazon Double-Yellowhead is as much a member of the family as the humans. Since I've had both as pets, I can tell you that parrots are smarter than dogs, noisier and require as much affection and attention. You can't simply put a dog out in the backyard and leave it by itself all the time and expect it to remain sane. The same is true of parrots...don't get a parrot as a pet unless you can commit to living with a 3-year old forever. :)
The beautiful painting above is by artist Jean Glaser of Park City, Utah. Her art [at present] whirls around the galaxy of painting animal portraits. Jean graciously agreed to share her thoughts about art and her own animals with me in an interview.
I call her the artistic animal whisperer. Read on and see why...
Q: Your website says that you have been involved in “many different forms of art;” can you elaborate? What types of art media have you worked in/with?
Jean: I actually have a BFA in Ceramics from Arizona State University. I made ceramic masks for a number of years and worked on mixed media pieces combining ceramics and other media, cloth, wood, etc. I had a show about 20 years ago titled Ceremonial Non-functional Women’s Armor. It was a statement that women would rule the world with far less wars than men and compete with each other using art and fashion instead of weapons and war. It was tongue-in-cheek, but I prefer to use humor in my work. The world is far too serious and depressing and needs to be lightened up. The masks illustrated plays on words, such as “Silver Tongued Devil”, “Falling Apart”, “Fishing For Compliments”. One of my favorite armor pieces, which hangs in my current studio, is a pair of silver men’s briefs, with locks and chains, titled “Chastity Briefs to Keep White Knights Shining and Untarnished on Their Crusades”
I was also a restaurateur and we did a large amount of catering, which I considered to be another form of art that just didn’t last as long.
Q: How did you transition into animal portraiture? And, for you, why are acrylic paints your choice of medium for portraits?
Jean: I did some painting in oils while I was in college; however they were nothing like my animal paintings. I never really liked oils because of the fumes and mess. I have a friend who bugged me for over a year to take a painting class with her at our local Art Center and I finally signed up for a class just to get her off my back . I was floored by the paintings that were coming off my easel, and, amazingly and quite happily, I was a visual artist again. The reason I use acrylics was that we used
them in this class (never tried them before) and I really liked the fact that they have a very green footprint and there are not the fumes that you have working with oils.
Q: You say on your website that although you don’t paint your portraits “photographically,” you do try to capture the animal’s true nature. Do you kind of feel like an “artistic animal whisperer?” Although asked tongue-in-cheek, I’m curious as to how you find a way to relate to your portraiture subjects.
Jean: Funny that you should phrase the question like that, in many ways I do feel like an animal whisperer, at least in that I seem to understand the animals’ personalities from their photos.
When I receive a new photo to paint, I find I need to stare at it for a couple of days just to take in the energy of the animal - most of the animals that I have painted I have never met; many are memorial paintings.
I know it sounds odd, but I feel like I am having a conversation with the animals especially if things are not going as quickly as I would like them to. I will go to the studio and talk to the painting as though the animal is there with me. How do you want to hold your head, what does the edge of your lip look like, is that a twinkle I see in your eye? I also use my animals to help me get the correct angle on things if I am really stuck. Not sure I answered the question but……
Q: The gallery page on your website says that you paint with acrylics on paper…can you talk about your choice of paper over canvas? [For me, I painted with acrylics on watercolor paper because I really liked the sense of depth it created.]
Jean: I began painting with acrylic on canvas boards and they worked fine, however I found that they take much longer to achieve the same results on the boards as I get on the canvas paper.
If I do a painting on canvas board or even stretched canvas, the painting will take me at least 3-4 weeks or longer to complete. If I work on canvas paper it generally will take a maximum of about 1 ½ weeks and about 1/3 of the paint that I use on the canvas boards.
I currently have some paintings on exhibit at a local hospital, when I was asked to do this I got to thinking about the price of framing these pieces and started some paintings on cradled boards, looking for a texture similar to the canvas paper. That wouldn’t need framing. It was like the three bears, some were too rough, some were too smooth, and some just sucked the paint in. I found that with the boards, like the grounds that I was working on, other than paper there was not the immediacy that the paper has. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in a rush when I paint - I need the painting to be what the client wants the image of their animal to be, but when it stretches out for a long time on the details of technique, it begins to make me a bit crazy.
Q: Tell me about your own pets: their names, ages, personalities; have you done their portraits?
Jean: We have had a turnover of all our pets in the last two years. When I began painting we had 3 cats and 2 dogs. Beginning with the cats as they were older, the oldest who passed away last summer was Max our Black and White; part Maine coon he was a big sweet heart and the best vole hunter you have ever seen, not to mention our only lap cat. He lived to the ripe old age of twenty- two and was still hunting till the summer before he died.
The next oldest was Sipho - she was a Manx and pretty fearless; she even thought she could fly. She launched herself off our deck when she was about a year old, like a flying squirrel - the deck is about 10 feet off the ground, she only did it once. She was 18 when we sent her across the bridge because she had cancer.
Then there was sweet Simon my Chocolate Point Siamese who was adopted as a diabetic. I would be working on my computer and he would come and stand on his hind legs and tap me on the shoulder. He was a sweet guy; unfortunately we lost him to complications of diabetes in April… he was 13 years old.
Then our dogs: Bob Gulliver, our Blue Merle Australian Shepherd, who was a therapy dog and the biggest teddy bear you have ever seen. He and I visited schools and hospitals to make people feel better and help kids with their reading. He died a year ago June from cancer - he was almost 11 years old. Our last animal that left recently was my Border Collie Belle. We got her and Gulliver from the same rescue and my husband always liked to say they knew each other longer than they knew us. She and I did Obedience trials and she had three titles as well as sheepherding and agility. We lost her to cancer at the end of April. I have painted all of these animals and they are all in my gallery. I considered them my muses and they would all pretty much join me in my studio when I worked.
We have 2 cats and 2 dogs currently. The only one I have painted so far is Zephyr. He is our Chocolate colored Australian Shepherd mix - his mom was a Red Merle Aussie and his dad was a handsome stranger. He is quite the character and just recently got certified to be my new therapy dog. He is 2 years old this month. Our 2nd dog we just acquired last week from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab. She is a six-month old Border Collie mix and very sweet. We named her Quail because, for the first 24 hours we had her, she didn’t bark or make a sound and was very calm. She is still calm but has definitely found her voice.
The two cats we currently have are very nice. The oldest is Charming Charlie Greyson. He is an 8-year old Lynx point Siamese that we adopted last November. He is 16 pounds and will greet guests like a dog and crawl on everyone’s lap. When we adopted him his name was Charlie, I changed it to Charming in hopes that he would be, and he definitely is. Last but never least is little Zoie - she is 2 ½ years old and weighs in at a slight 10 lbs. Smallest cat we have had in 20 years. She has the most amazing blue eyes, and she looks like someone sprinkled her coat with powdered sugar. Zoie is part Ragdoll and part Dilute tortoise shell, striking really. She is the most playful and loves to snuggle at night and walk in out of Zephyr’s legs. The new guys all seem to love my studio as well, must be good energy in there.
Q: Of all the animals you have painted, which is your favorite to do? Which kind of animal is the most difficult? Do you have a favorite 'painting a portrait' story?
Jean: My favorite animal to paint is generally the one I have just completed and the most difficult is the one I am just beginning. They all seem to have the same amount of difficulties to begin with. So long as I have a good photo I generally enjoy the painting. I have one portrait that I was working on that was purchased as a certificate at a fundraiser. (I donate certificates for paintings of animals to animal related organizations for their fundraisers as advertising.) The gentleman that purchased the certificate for a painting wanted one done of his Schnauzer.
I painted the dog and emailed a picture to see if he liked it. He emailed back that his dog was curlier and could I make him look curlier - the picture he had sent me was a dog on a grooming table with no curls. So I painted him a bit curlier. Again I emailed him the a picture of the painting and he asked if I could put a collar on him and more grey in his mustache - there was no collar in the picture, so I reworked the painting again. Off I sent him another picture for approval…no, he said get rid of the collar. Back to my easel. Took off the collar and was hopefully finished with the painting. I sent him another email for approval. Could I just alter the color of the background? When I changed it from the green I had originally done to tan he was finally happy. You can’t have a painting of your animal that isn’t what you want. This luckily for me is the exception not the rule. I will always make changes till the client is happy.
*a personal note: I so agree with Jean on her professional ethics...be happy to make the changes until the client is happy. With commission work I put into the contract how many sketch changes can be done within the price quoted. For me, in mosaic, once the tiles are down, they are down. What is malleable are the initial sketches.
Q: You do beautiful work…have you considered selling prints and cards through something like an Etsy shop?
Jean: Thanks for saying that. I have considered Etsy; however I just haven’t looked into it yet. I keep hearing more and more about it, perhaps it’s time I was more proactive. I did actually get some note cards printed up to give as gifts and have gotten a great response from them.
Q: Is there an artist [either past or contemporary] and/or an artistic movement that inspires your work?
Jean: I love the French Impressionists; I can remember looking at their work in my mother’s books as a small child, especially Monet and Van Gogh. I wouldn’t even compare my work to theirs but I love that period.
Q: What are your future goals for your art?
Jean: I hope to someday be able to make a living with my art, I know this is possible. I just need to stretch myself and be more diligent, I am happy where I am with my art currently and very, very lucky to be able to have the time to devote to it.
Thank you, Jean! Someday I'm going to do an artwork of my George, but whether a mosaic or an artistically enhanced photograph I haven't yet decided.
Do you have a pet or pets who rule your household? Tell a bit about them in the comments.
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