I Work With Animals! Pet Artist

Photo courtesy of Abby McMillen

Name: Abby McMillen

Age: 34

Title: Folk dog painter and owner of Folk Dog Art in Bozeman, Mont.

What services do you offer?
I paint mostly dogs and some cats in traditional folk art fashion, which basically means they are simple, colorful and whimsical.

How and when did you get started painting pet portraits?
I have three dogs of my own, and I just adore each of them. I've always been an artist, and one day several years ago, I decided to try painting my dogs, just for fun. After several attempts, the folk dog art style emerged. I was fortunate enough to be able to hang my work in some local galleries, and ever since then I find myself painting dogs almost full-time.

Do you paint from a photo or a live sitting?
I paint from photos. I like to meet the animal if I can, but if not I have dog owners send me lots of photos and tell me as much as they want to about the animal's personality. I've never actually done a live sitting! A folk dog painting takes about 10 hours, on average, to complete, and I can't imagine myself focusing for that long, much less a wiggly pup.

Do you ever paint other pets besides dogs?
I've painted quite a few cats, as well as one bird. But I really prefer dogs. Something about their eyes makes them just perfect for my style of art.

What's been the most memorable pet you've painted?
Awhile back I painted two dogs for some people who saw my ad in The Bark. One of their dogs has been blind since birth. After I finished the painting, that dog had to have her eyes removed due to painful glaucoma. It sounds awful, but it's really pretty amazing. Her spectacular surgeons inserted silicone "eyes" beneath her closed lids, so now she looks like she has her eyes closed all the time. This is one very happy dog, complete with a big, goofy dog grin. Her owners recently asked me to do a new painting of their dogs to reflect this change in their blind pup. It was an interesting and memorable process for me, because a lot of what makes a folk dog a folk dog is the eyes. I'm really happy with the end result, though, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in situations that let me learn and grow as an artist and as a person.

Another memorable pet I painted is a little West Highland terrier who was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy. His owner asked me to do before and after paintings, and she sent me a bunch of photos of the sweet guy as a puppy and then after his chemo. I've heard that chemo doesn't affect dogs like it does people, but this little fellow certainly looked different after his chemo. For the before painting, I painted him in real colors -- white on a yellow background. For the after painting, the owner asked me to paint him blue on a green background. I thought it was interesting that she chose to have me represent him in blue after his chemo. Both paintings turned out really great, and I'm happy to report that, last I heard, the dog is fairing well post-treatment.

What's a typical day on the job like?
Paint all over the place! I have three easels set up at all times, so I'm usually working on at least three paintings at a time with several others in various stages of completion. I move from painting to painting, doing everything from backgrounds and base layers to detail work like eyes and smiles and whiskers. I work in acrylic because it dries faster and is pretty forgiving between layers. Communicating with my clients is key. I'm more of a dog person than a people person, but I make a real effort to make sure people are comfortable with how I'm representing their pets. So when I'm not painting, I spend a fair amount of time keeping folks apprised of my progress on their paintings.

What's the most challenging part of your job?
Well, I really love what I do. Every step of a painting is fun for me because I know that on the other end someone will hang the final product on their wall and smile at it every time they walk by. So, probably the most challenging thing is marketing myself. It's one thing to make a product that people like, but it's a whole other monster to be able to sell it. I'm not as great at the selling part as I'd like to be, but I'm learning new things all the time and I'm rolling up my sleeves and going to work on the business side of things.

What does the future hold for you and Folk Dog Art?
Right now I'm working on getting the folk dogs into more galleries and shops across the country. In addition to original paintings, I make folk dog magnets and greeting cards, so there are lots of opportunities for those things, too. Hopefully I'll have the e-commerce part of Folk Dog Art up and running pretty soon, so marketing the art through the website will be a fun new adventure. Mainly, I'm looking forward to painting a whole bunch more dogs.

Tags: dogs, folk dog art, i work with animals, pet portraits