“A lot of artists are going to the pet portrait because ... it’s a lot less pressure than doing
people portraits,” Hartmann says. “It’s a lot more fun.”
=
Chumley, a Jack Russell terrier, has often been the focus of his
owner’s artwork.
Clair Hartmann, artist and owner of Sun Gallery, has even
featured Chumley in her most popular painting, “The Pearl Earring.”
The painting is Hartmann’s dog version of the Johannes
Vermeer painting, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring.”
“I don’t know why, but I always wanted to use that Vermeer
painting,” she says. “I just thought it would be humorous.”
Chumley is also the face of “Frida Dog,” a painting that incor-porates
aspects of three other works by one of Hartmann’s favorite
artists, Frida Kahlo.
“It’s more of a Frida Kahlo essence,” Hartmann says.
It is pure coincidence
Hartmann’s other pet
terrier is named Frida,
which she describes as her
little Audrey Hepburn.
Her two terriers anchor
her hundreds of pet
portraits.
“What could be more
fun than painting your
dog in a banana hat and
then making $1,200 off
of it? I mean, that’s fun,”
Hartmann says.
She says some people
have difficulty under-standing
the art form and
portraits of dogs.
“They first view
it as kind of kitchy,”
Hartmann says. “They
walk up and they’re
like, ‘Do you have any
Dobermans?’ And it
wasn’t about a breed-specific
dog, it was about
the feeling that the dog
conveys when you look
at it.”
An experienced graphic
designer, Hartmann
evolved into painting
portraits of dogs she observed at the Riverfront Farmers’ Market
in 2008.
“A friend of mine told me if you want to get good at anything,
you have to paint it 100 times,” she says.
She followed her friend’s advice and began the Downtown Dog
Project, creating one eight-by-eight-inch painting per day for 100 days.
“It was kind of like a marathon, like my summer marathon,
because by the time I got done with it I was worn out,” Hartmann
says. “Now I can paint pretty quickly. So I’ve been thinking about
doing it again...”
She started with realism portraits and now describes her paintings
as a mix between painterly and realistic.
16
WBM february 2013
Cautioned that people
would not buy paint-ings
of dogs that were
not theirs, Hartmann has
proved the theory wrong,
selling more pet portraits
in her gallery than any
other works of art.
She says as with any
painting, the client
brings all of his baggage
to the art.
“A lot of artists are
going to the pet portrait
because … it’s a lot less
pressure than doing
people portraits,”
Hartmann says. “It’s a
lot more fun. … The
reactions that you get
from people can be a
total breakdown of tears
to just absolute happiness.
…. Plus the pet industry
is a $1 billion industry.
If you can get a percent
of that you’re doing
pretty good.”
Hartmann and other
pet portrait artists say the
hair and wrinkles are the
biggest challenge.
Clair Hartmann • p•
Chumley in “The Pearl Earring”