The portrait in painting mainly fills three needs:
- immortalize the model
- celebrate it
- explore their place in the family and social group.
Many people order a portrait of their animal, whether it is alive or extinct, to somehow extend its life, which is still too short on a human scale. In this case, you will want the most realistic artwork, but the job of the artist will be to render the dog as you see it, not as it actually is. An exchange will be necessary to agree on your perception of your animal and on the choice of the reference photo.
In my personal creations, it is rather a question of celebrating a quality of the Dog in general: its beauty, its strength and its speed, its flair, its gentleness, its fidelity, its joie de vivre, its infinite benevolence towards humans. ...