Interview with Dog Art Today blogger Moira McLaughlin

Photo courtesy of Sheila Cameron

Moira's blog, Dog Art Today is one of my favorite dog blogs out there. It's my first interview ever and it's a good one. I sent her 10 questions a got more back than I ever expected. Here, she talks about how blogging  and her dog Darby, changed her life.

1) When and how did your fascination with dog art begin?

It began at a low point in my life.  In 2000, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a mysterious disease that causes pain and exhaustion.  By 2005, my health had spiraled downward and so had my finances, so homemade gifts were in order for Christmas. Every member of my family has a dog so that was my theme.  I chose collage because I had always loved the medium and it's cheap.  A little cutting and pasting each day was really all I could manage, sometimes not even that. 

The finished gifts, presented in $5 matted frames from Ikea, were a big hit.  So I put the images on ebay and sold some.  I put them on CafePress products and sold more.  Along the way I discovered a whole world of artists focused on dogs as subjects, and consumers who are passionate about products with images of their dogs or even just their favorite breed on them.   

2) What got you interested in blogging?

 Three things:  

1.) As I researched what other dog artists were doing, I kept thinking why isn't there one place I can go and see what other dog artists around the world are up to?  I worked in Hollywood, so my reference point was Variety, a daily magazine that Industry insiders read religiously to track what's going on in the film business.  

 2.)  Marketing my own work.  With limited energy, I had to be very focused.  I found myself expending a lot of effort asking other bloggers to feature my work and getting nowhere.  So I just started my own blog.

 3.) I couldn't work in an office anymore and I desperately missed that social connection.  One night I went to a gallery opening, a group show of very talented artists (not specifically dog artists), and there was a dog in one of the pieces.  My blog gave me the opportunity to connect with the artist and with the gallery owner.  In Los Angeles, socially you are defined by your work.  My blog gave me a tangible project, an identity, when I didn't have much else.

3) Do you have a favorite art period or artists? 

Contemporary dog art is my favorite.  The mission of Dog Art Today is to show that dog art is not second-class art.  Dog art is fine art.   The greatest artists in history have included dogs, often their own beloved pets, in their work.  Art critics frequently use the word "sentimental" to disparage work they don't like, and often dog art gets lumped in that "sentimental" category and written off as corny.  But what I see and try to show on my blog is that dogs show up in work that is primal, conceptual, and evocative of the big questions that inspire artists: questions about love, life, joy, pain, violence, and death.

4) Outside of your blog, are there any resources for the dog art novice looking to find out more?  

Take a cue from your dog and dig.  My favorite thing to do is to discover a new artist, not a dog artist per se, and poke around his or her portfolio looking for dogs.  Or go to an art exhibition and look for dogs.   Last week, I went to a group showing of landscape artists and found several incredible dog paintings.   To me it's like treasure hunting.  And, you'll begin to notice how often dogs appear in art.  They are irresistible subjects to people who are sensitive and by the nature of what they do spend a great deal of time alone, aka artists. 

5) Any favorite dog art books?

Elliott Erwitt's "Dogs."  I consider Erwitt one of the greatest contemporary artists working today.  And he loves dogs.  This Erwitt Dachshund photo hurts my heart I love it so much…

http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/art/2010/04/elliott-erwitt-dachsund-photo-and-twitter-contest.html

I am a big fan of Alec Soth's "Dog Days, Bogota," that features photographs he took while waiting for the paperwork to process for his baby girl he was adopting from Bogota.  He wanted to capture the "hard beauty" of her birthplace.

http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/art/2007/09/alec-soth-dog-d.html

I also love Catherine Johnson's "Dogs" which features 450 vintage photographs of people in love with their dogs.

http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/art/2007/11/dogs-by-catheri.html

(I really like photography books – hint, hint)

6) Where do you see your interest in dog art taking you in the future?

 I am focusing on my own art art again.  I am also interested in photography and publishing.  It's an exciting time for artists.

7) Tell us about your dog Darby and how he came into your life

There are several dirty secrets about Darby.  He was supposed to be a gift for someone else that I was sent to buy.  I did not like dogs and thought giving one as a gift was a horrible idea.  He came from a pet store and therefore probably a puppy mill. 

Basically, I saw him, fell in love and could not give him up.  My boss, Kevin Costner, graciously let me keep him and we found another dog to give as the gift to his wardrobe person, Barbara.  That dog, Lenny, became the love of Barbara's life, and was really a better fit for her.  At least that's what I tell myself to ease my conscience about keeping the greatest dog in the world.  I also try to shed light on the realities of puppy mills as a penance

8) In your blogging experiences, anything unexpected happen?

Downside:  I thought traffic would grow exponentially and more quickly.  It hasn't worked that way.  It's been much more of a plodding along.  But as Malcolm Gladwell explains in "The Tipping Point" it takes 10,000 hours or five years of working at something to become an expert.  March 3, 2012 will be Dog Art Today's fifth anniversary, so I will officially be a dog art expert.   

Upside:  Connecting with some of the most talented artists in the world.

9) Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?

I definitely have "the cobbler's children have no shoes" syndrome.  My own portfolio and website are a mess.  This interview has been good incentive to get organized, so thank you for that.

Also, I have an ongoing debate with myself about how personal it get.  I am drawn to blogs that overshare.  But my blog gave me a chance to project myself as a healthy person, or just a person, and I clung to that and still do.  Oh man, am I oversharing?

10) How would you define the relationship that we humans have with our dogs? 

Cosmic.

Moira McLaughlin

Dog Art Today

http://dogarttoday.com

Thank you so much Moira, I really appreciate you taking the time and interest to share such a personal and heart felt interview. I look forward to seeing more of your art and your engaging blog posts in the future.

Best of luck,

-Andrew

On the Right Path

As I go along in the creative process, I realize that I am on a path and it is merely that. I have been doing the animal portraits for while along with a series of illustrative cityscapes. In this image, both worlds come together.  In doing the dog portraits, it was easy to make the mistake and think that I had creatively arrived. This is a good example of that I still have much to discover and that it is not about the arrival but about the journey.

For the Birds

Its been a while since my last post and I’ve been working hard to expand my works’ visibility. Being creative and dealing with the day to day uncreative activities is hard.

This grackle is a good metaphor for striking the right balance. This is a just slight departure from my other work. There are no pastoral elements clouds or trees, just our bird, branch and simple background. In the creative process, it takes me to the same place emotionally though. It’s one of feeling that I am making something historic even if only my own personal history.

You've got to....Whippet!

Sorry DEVO fans, I had to say it.

Here we have Charlie who is standing in the classic stacked position showing a hint of his tail. Charlie's portrait was done in the Fairmount Park area of Philadelphia.

It was about an hour before sunset and the hillside was bathed in beautiful golden light. A perfect afternoon for a historical portrait. There was a dream like quality to the background and everything was coming together perfectly, but wait...

A very loud and jubilant family picnic was taking place not too far away. Families in the past had parties but few got down like this group. I was telling the owners despite the loudness and general carrying on, that no one would be able to tell by the steadfast and placid quality of this portrait.

Despite what goes on off camera, I always like to convey the feeling of calmness and tranquility. Sharing the back story that every portrait has gives you a sense of what we go through, and ultimately, makes them more endeared to us.

French Revelation

Ever since I’ve been working on this series, I have always strived to have the animal portraits that I do show the subject in a heroic light.

Try as I may with the smaller breeds, to me, they look more cute and comical rather than regal & refined. The more that I do of these, the more I see that specific breeds dictate a large part of what the final outcome and mood of the portrait will be.

There is a freeing quality to this way of thinking in that I always try to magnify everything about the subject. If it brings out their personality and adds to the image, I'm all for it.

I heart the Philadelphia Inquirer!

I usually don't post news items in this area, but this a big one. As some of you already know, I have an exhibition at the Philadelphia International Airport that runs until November.
 
I got an email from the airport last week to let me know that a reporter would be contacting me to ask a few questions about the exhibition. I thought that I might get a mention and a photo but nothing like this.

A Man in Motion

This a friend of mine Brian, a cycling enthusiast, marketing whiz and latest portrait of the human catagory. I've said it before, but one of my main goals is to do work that has the same look and feel, no matter what is in front of my lens and in my thoughts.

Whether its a person, place or a thing, I work really hard to make the image feel historical.  Gone are things that appear outwardly modern of that give an indication of anything recent. On the other end, I try to avoid elements of antiquity  to give the viewer's imagination room to create their own sense of when a particular piece was conceived.

The great indoors: Henry the 2nd

This is Henry. I am referring to him as the 2nd because we have Henry the cat in a previous post.

I am continuing my indoor series here and it is one of my most distilled down portraits to date. About the only prop that I have here is the banister. Their is nothing else to distract the eye and more than ever, the subject and quality of light are so vital and they must be strong. It also helped that Henry was so malleable and statuesque. This was done at the owner's home and the portrait might hang on the same wall used as the background. I'll post a picture if it does.

Next up: people,  a couple of dogs and a trip to Longwood Gardens.

A not so Fast Eddie

This is Fast Eddie and as we see here, there is nothing fast about him in this portrait. He is relaxed while being very regal.
All kidding aside, I wanted to hold on to the power and heroic feel of my more pastoral work and have it translate just as well in an indoor setting . In the last three portraits, I took away the outdoor background and added a drape and painterly back ground. The strength in the subject is still there and style is consistent.

Doing portraits this way gives me the ability to do them though out the year and not have worry about weather conditions like I had to in the past.

More Cats and Imagination

Miss Jeanette is my most recent subject and is continuing on with my "Basics" series.

As an artist I like to think that I'm always discovering something new. But I've come to the realization that new means new to me. I do enjoy the fact that these portraits don't really draw on anything that is modern except that they are executed with a camera and not a brush.

The way that I implement ideas however, will never change. This means that things that I conjure up and toss about mentally,  is always done by the same process of pre-visualization. It's taking a picture in mind and putting it through all that my imagination can think of. Stay tuned for more of my imagination.

Back to Basics part 2

So here is second installment of this series. For me, it really gets back to why I do these in the first place. I love to portray anything in a heroic, bigger than life way. I'm all for adding a make believe element or two, as long as it doesn't take anything away from the subject.