I believe I was born loving animals. I'm pretty sure that a deep love of these four legged creatures is born in you or it isn't. People can be neutral about them - " animals are fine if you like them, but not for me thanks ", or they can enjoy having a pet that remains a creature, something to treat kindly and responsibly but as something that you don't really communicate with other than to train it and make it do what you expect of it. And there's nothing really wrong with that if that is the way you connect with other species. But there are many people like myself who see animals as fellow travelers on this planet, as creatures with their own way of communicating and doing things, and with thoughts and feelings. I love learning to understand how they think, and how to communicate with them, using both my language and theirs.
While I respect and enjoy the wild ones, especially the small ones (birds, squirrels, chipmunks etc) that come to my garden, it's the domestic animals that I feel a deep connection to. There has always been a deep love of dogs, cats, and horses within me, and from the time I could talk, I begged for a dog of my own, a cat and a horse. It took a while, but I got all three. Since I was a teen, there has been a dog -at least one, usually three or more at a time, and as an adult, I added cats, and finally, my longed for horse. All during these years, I read about them, learned about them, and painted them.
For a long time, I focused on painting horses because I wanted one so desperately, and then there was the giddy celebration when I finally achieved my dream. Now that my dream is over, I still love horses deeply and still paint them once in a while, but it was time to give the other dearly loved animals the spotlight. When I started painting animals, outside of Western Art and Sporting Art, there wasn't much respect for painting the companion animals - the dogs and cats. But they were what I was driven to paint, and so I did.
I love painting dogs and cats, especially dogs, with all their various looks, personalities, and histories. There are so many coat colours and textures, so many body shapes - there are even three different skull types. So much to love looking at and drawing, so much to learn! And most especially, I love Shelties. We have had Shelties for over 30 years and hope to always have at least one by our side.
When it comes to animals, the title of this painting says it all: It's About Love.
Have a lovely day, anyone who is reading this!
cheers,
Heather www.heatheranderson-animalart.com
