Last month I made an appointment with the gallery manager at The Kennel Club to view their exhibition Canine Trail Blazers: Dogs in Exploration. This exhibition is a celebration of the dogs involved in some of the most famous explorations of the last three centuries and will be on display until January 2017.
Not only was this a great opportunity to visit The Kennel Club and understand a little more about what they do but this visit turned out to be a really interesting and educational tour about dogs and animal artists.
One of the most famous Victorian canine painters was a British-American woman called Maud Alice Earl (1864-1943), this came as a surprised to me as historically, female artists rarely received much acclaim. It is believed that she excelled in this particular subject matter due to the restricted access she would have had in a male dominated society.
Another British artist that was featured highly at The Kennel Club, was Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin, (1870-1935).
He was an enthusiastic sportsman and a Master of Fox Hounds, therefore, many of his paintings, illustrations and
sketches depicted dogs in rural settings involved in various types of hunting.
The images that really stood out among all the traditional art work were by the contemporary artist Gary Stinton. He works in pastel on museum board, oil on paper and oil on canvas.
I particularly like this quote by Gary, which will ring true for all of us that spend time with people and their dogs “I became a professional artist in 1985 and back then I mainly painted dog portraits. I enjoyed it because people are very friendly when you meet them with their dogs and there is no gratitude like that of a dog owner receiving a successful portrait”
The last image that I want to share with you
is of an early dog show taking place in a London pub by R. Marshall. 
If you are interested in commissioning a piece of your own canine friend or better still commissioning a personal piece of artwork for a friend or loved one, I would recommend having a look at my friends website, James’ Pet Portraits. He will give you a discount if you mention me!