Lovejoy helping Andrew Mullins learn to paint. All photos by South OB Girl (parental consent given for photo of minor)
Lovejoy Creations Art Studio Holds “Paint Your Pug” Sessions
By South OB Girl
Lovejoy is a local wildlife artist, muralist, and art teacher. The name she uses as an artist is simply Lovejoy, one word.
Suzi Schutzman and Jennifer Mullins working on their paintings.
Six to eight times a month Lovejoy teaches a “Paint Your Pet” class. Many of these sessions are benefits for animal rescue groups – such as this past Sunday’s Pug Rescue of San Diego’s “Paint Your Pug” event. This sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I wandered over to 2690 Historic Decatur Road, suite #201, in Point Loma.
I was expecting a room full of dogs, canvases, paint, and people. I arrived to a quiet room of concentrating students being instructed and guided by Lovejoy.
Suzi Schutzman, one of the leaders of Pug Rescue of San Diego, painting a portrait of her pug Munchkin. Munchkin has one eye (the second eye was sewed shut due to a bad ulcer).
Each painting was on a 11×14 canvas on an easel positioned beneath a small iPad, which featured a digital photo of each person’s pug (though some students decided to paint other pets besides their pugs). The digital photo was sent prior to class.
Lovejoy sketches an outline of each pet from the photos prior to the class, and that helps the students to focus on painting and colors. All paint and supplies were included and provided by Lovejoy.
Lovejoy gives a lesson to the class about painting eyes.
Each student’s painting looked better than anything I could paint — and some of that artistry was no doubt due to Lovejoy’s instruction.
I witnessed her leading the class through several steps of creating realistic-looking eyes… And each painting started to really come to life. Each student left with a portrait resembling their beloved pet.
The pet portraits take 3 full hours to create. Lovejoy informed the class that a large work of art like we see in a museum or gallery could take 20 hours, or more. All of the students were quite pleased that they had started with a blank canvas and painted a portrait. Everyone had worked very hard on their paintings and each painting was quite accurately portraying the various pets.
So right when many people were feeling down in the dumps after the election, Pug Rescue of San Diego was still hard at its charity work promoting its noble cause of rescuing pugs and placing rescue pugs in homes, and Lovejoy Creations was promoting art and art education. Providing some hope and joy for those feeling down in the dumps.
Taylor Sivac painting a portrait of her pug Mr. Chow. To her left, Tyler Pupping and Robin Imus.
Many other breed-specific rescue classes have enjoyed “Paint Your Pet” classes. Golden Retriever groups, Labrador, Boston terrier groups, and more.
Lovejoy is also associated with the San Diego Humane Society. When it’s an animal rescue promoted event, Lovejoy donates 15% of each purchased seat back to the organization hosting the event. For her regular classes, if students put their rescue group as their referral, Lovejoy still makes the donation on their behalf. Last year Lovejoy donated over $4,000 to various local animal and non-profit groups… That’s pretty good for a small business.
A few more facts about Lovejoy Creations — Lovejoy hosts mimosa classes (she provides the orange juice, you bring the champagne) on Saturdays and Sundays noon – 3 pm. She also does private events and group classes (of no more than 10). The price for “Paint Your Pet” classes is $55. And Lovejoy teaches painting skills in general, for still life and other subjects aside from pets. Her website for more information is: www.LovejoyCreations.com.
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