“Paint what you know – it’s a memory.”
– Candace LovelyLovely’s fascination with West Highland White Terriers was sparked while painting “Burberry's and the Ritz,” when the model arrived with her husband “who was going to walk the dog while we painted.” Inspired, Lovely decided to paint the couple together with dog following faithfully behind. This birthed not only an array of paintings with Westies as the main event but initiated the artist’s lifelong love of her own personal pets.
Thanks to Lovely’s tendency to paint what she knows and loves, all her collections benefit from a cross-pollination of personal passions. Westies are no exception, ultimately appearing in every genre, in addition to populating their own. The breed’s stark white features made them perfectly suited for “Good and Plenty”s white-black-pink palette. Frequent Fair Women Figures are followed by faithful companions along strolls and shores. Nantucket and Lowcountry Landscapes add West Highland cameos.
And of course there is the collection proper, where the artist’s own Westie-Besties both star and steal the show, filling travel trunks, upsetting the unpacking, parading with children, and recreating classic paintings as primary subject stand-ins, as seen in “Waiting for Sargent.” To hear the artist describe the stories behind these paintings is to hear her share her own memories of beloved companions, Mack and Hamilton.
Lovely’s fascination with West Highland White Terriers was sparked while painting “Burberry's and the Ritz,” when the model arrived with her husband “who was going to walk the dog while we painted.” Inspired, Lovely decided to paint the couple together with dog following faithfully behind. This birthed not only an array of paintings with Westies as the main event but initiated the artist’s lifelong love of her own personal pets.
Thanks to Lovely’s tendency to paint what she knows and loves, all her collections benefit from a cross-pollination of personal passions. Westies are no exception, ultimately appearing in every genre, in addition to populating their own. The breed’s stark white features made them perfectly suited for “Good and Plenty”s white-black-pink palette. Frequent Fair Women Figures are followed by faithful companions along strolls and shores. Nantucket and Lowcountry Landscapes add West Highland cameos.
And of course there is the collection proper, where the artist’s own Westie-Besties both star and steal the show, filling travel trunks, upsetting the unpacking, parading with children, and recreating classic paintings as primary subject stand-ins, as seen in “Waiting for Sargent.” To hear the artist describe the stories behind these paintings is to hear her share her own memories of beloved companions, Mack and Hamilton.
