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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Pet paintings drawing praise

By Alexandra Ventura
Whanganui Chronicle·
3 Aug, 2012 06:00 PM3 mins to read

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Some people like to dress up their dogs, others like to talk to their cats, but some animal lovers prefer to show their affection by immortalising their pet in a painting.

And those people turn to Michelle Kirk.

The artist and manager of Animania Animal Rescue and Pet Shop provides pet owners with artwork that celebrates their animals - whether a portrait of a favourite pooch or a commemoration of the horse that has jumped its last hurdle.

Well-known in New Zealand for her renditions of people and wild animals, Mrs Kirk, 29, moved to Wanganui after completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Whitecliffe College of Art and Design.

She said she started doing pet portraits after painting for a native bird exhibition.

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"I like doing animals. It gives them (the paintings) life that abstract just doesn't."

While she enjoys painting people, especially children, her work as a pet painter gets a lot of response.

"I do anything; I've been commissioned to do a few tigers. But most commissions are pets. I do a lot of horses. I've done a sheep before. Mostly I do dogs, I think it's because they're like family members."

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Mrs Kirk said people often chose her work to give as a gift while others wanted a painting to remember a pet that has just passed.

"They can have it forever, cherish it forever. Some people come in and they're crying looking at it. Many people say it looks better than the photo because I put my own signature on it."

Local Emma Martin has had many paintings done by Mrs Kirk.

Ms Martin gave her father a painting of his best friend, the family's golden retriever.

"He loved it. Her (the dog) and my dad are joined at the hip so the painting just seemed so appropriate and so special to give."

Ms Martin said Mrs Kirk's work is "amazing".

"She's the only person I would get to do it."

It usually takes Mrs Kirk two weeks to complete a portrait, and she keeps busy exhibiting her work and selling to people around the country.

Despite being busy, she said she enjoys the happiness she brings to her clients - although sometimes the requests are a little "weird".

"Some people have asked for lots of different animals all in one as well as family members. They want something done for sentimental value."

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Mrs Kirk, who describes herself as a "contemporary realist", has two dogs and a cow at home and also does the occasional painting of custom motorbike tanks and helmets.

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