pamperedpuppy // luxury lifestyles for dogs

Beautiful Dreamer

© Alexis Trice

Most artists garner a devoted following after putting in years at the easel. For doggie portrait painter, Alexis Trice, the rewards of her talents have come at a fast and furious.

In just three years since graduating from art school at SVA (Manhattan's prestigious school for the visual arts), Trice has built a prosperous art business. And the best part of her success - she gets to paint subjects she openly adores.

An admitted dog nut, Trice has always included four-legged beings in her work. In fact for her senior thesis at SVA, Trice amassed hundreds of dog photos and condensed them into a series of oil paintings. Viola! The young artist had found her milieu and cultural pay dirt.

Being young and naive Trice never thought for a moment about failure. After graduation the ambitious painter whipped up some postcards and fliers and began to market her talents on the streets of New York City.

It's hard to say of it was her eye-catching postcards, groovy Web site (www.welcometothedoghouse.net) or her perky personality - but something about the curly-haired artist made dog-lovers gravitate towards her paintings.

As Trice tells it, hard work and a touch of luck have led her on the path to success. "I've created this business out of nothing... none of my classmates have achieved anything close to what I have done," says the understandably proud 25-year-old.

What can a new client expect upon commissioning Trice? Lots of humor and a willingness to try just about anything. Since her style incorporates both fantasy and realism, clients can make special requests. One University of Maryland fanatic had her use the school's mascot (a fighting terrapin) as a backdrop for his commission featuring his two French bulldogs.

© Alexis Trice

A master multitasker, at any one time Trice will have a dozen paintings in the works. This is quite a feat considering the mayhem one encounters in Trice's tiny Williamsburg, Brooklyn studio. Two hyper Boston Terriers (Una and Thea) circle her workstation with bedraggled chew toys dogs begging the busy painter for adoration. Mere feet away, three other twentysomethings are hard at work in this funky communal space. The camaraderie is refreshing, if a bit claustrophobic.

Perhaps, owing to being a part of the media generation, Trice is adept at quickly shifting gears and is able to focus on the job at hand - polishing off a portrait of two scrumptious French bulldogs. And no doubt this portrait will be taking a place of honor in some dog-lovers home.

From all reports, Trice's portraits become instant family heirlooms. Sarah Lively, from Austin, TX, was ecstatic with the portrait of Liza May McGillacuttie, a 5-year-old Boston Terrier. "Liza is probably one of the most special dogs I've ever encountered. I love her tenacity, her free will and her big spirit... I think Alexis' portrait of Liza captures all of those amazing qualities perfectly," says Lively.

© Alexis Trice

Another fan is building a mini Trice museum. "Alexis has already completed THREE custom paintings for me." says Lenora Thrower.

The Philadelphia art collector says, "I am hanging this piece (a Trice portrait) proudly on my wall, along side other great artists I like to display, such as Salvador Dali and Mark Ryden."

To guarantee these glowing reviews, Trice maintains a dialog with her clients during the creative process. When coming up with a composition, Trice asks a lot of questions and tries to use specific ideas for the portrait. For example, study the portrait of Pierre the irrepressible Boston Terrier. Trice spoke with Pierre's parents and learned all about the mini might's likes and dislikes. Apparently Pierre has a deep-seated hatred of three things: birds, squirrels and cats. Once at her canvas, Trice managed to tell this story with inventive humor: the winged Pierre takes on a superhero-like aura holding a few evil doers (a bird, a squirrel and a cat) in his paws.

Another client, Mark Walorny, a contractor from San Francisco, CA, was so thrilled with Trice's portrait of his French bulldog Nana that he had the image tattooed on his forearm. According to Walorny both he and Nana had experienced near-death traumas in the course of a few years and the Trice portrait was a celebratory memento. Walorny reflects on Trice's work by saying, "I have not seen any other artist capture the magic bond humans have with dogs with such depth and originality."

Alexis Trice in her studio

From the UK to Japan to California, Trice is amassing quite a following (so far she's shipped more than 100 portraits) and one wonders, where does Trice find her adoring fans? The internet has been a boon to Trice's bottom line. These days most clients find the artist via her MySpace page or her "Welcome to the Doghouse" Web site.

To get the ball rolling, clients send in a deposit of 50% (fees starts at $250 and can go upwards of several thousand dollars depending on size and the number of subjects) and some good snapshots of their pet.

Unlike the stereotypical temperamental artists we've all seen in movies, this artist is extremely accommodating. Her style can range from outrageous to highly representational - it all depends on her clients' whims and wishes. Trice keeps her clients involved throughout the creative process by emailing pictures of the work in progress.

The vivacious artist can't imagine doing anything else. "I've been painting since I was 7," says Trice. And much to the envy of her art school classmates, Trice is one of the lucky ones who makes a living doing what she loves.