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Show The Salt Lake Tribune SUNDAY Sunday, April 27, 1997 J3 Painter Gives OP Fido the Brush THE To Own Her Pooch WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE By DeanNiles PUZZLE Portraits, You’d Have To Paya Pretty Penny v > 4 ¥ y Hocus Focus BY KEVIN McMANUS THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON — She rescued Bear from vile shelter, arranged for the veterinary care that cured his heartworm and sent him to obedience schoolfor three weeks. Then Dagmar Stapleton, of Alexandria, Va., did what a well- 41 Hunks of hay 42 Happening 43 Musical heeled owner does nowadays to show love for a canine companion: She commissioned a portrait by Christine Merrill. Merrill, a Baltimore painter,is a modern successorto Sir Edwin Landseer and other 19th-century artists who painted the coilies, houndsandterriers of Queen Victoria. Commanding $5,000 to $10,000 per canvas, Merrill strives not only to produce a goodlikeness of her subject, but also to evokeits spirit. Washington Post Baltimore artist Christine Merrill paints a pet portrait while her own dog, Liebchen, keeps companyon herlap. "Photographs are importantto get the physical appearance. But when I meet them, I get their essence, you know? I just feel what they're like. And I can rememberthat. I have a very good memory.” By many accounts, she suc- ceeds. Christine Merrill “To me, it really looked like Ralph,” says Bob Schieffer, the CBS newsman, describing Merrill’s 1991 portrait of his beagle (now deceased). “I suppose to painter ei people’s dogs,”’ she says. “I paint someone else all beagles look alike, but she really captured his personality.” Stapleton found Merrill through William Secord, whose NewYork gallery represents the perfect. Evenif they're a breed, they're usually not exquisite. But artist. She had seen and admired or her dog. AndI love hearing the the canine portraiture years before acquiring Bear. Merrill glances away from the canvas every so often as she talks. “He’s a big, powerful hound. Muscular, Serious-looking, yet sweetin the eyes. He looks like he would defend his mistress to the death.” It's a bright March morning, and she is painting Bear's portrait. To a visitor, the picture looksall butfinished, but Merrill says she still has three days’ work onit. The studio is a tidy room on the second floor of her small, old house. Merrill, 34, sits with good posture in a straight-backed wooden chair. Her dog Liebchen, a white papillon-spaniel mix, rests quietly in her lap, Louie, a honey-gold Pomeranian, lies on the floor. “I'm trying to get that sweet look in His face,” she says, referring to Bear, “becausethat’s what she sees, and that’s whatshe’s desttibed to me.” , Merrill has more than Stapleton’s description to go on. As is her custom, Merrill visited the dog on his own turf after getting the commission. She took Bear walking in Old Town, played with him, photographed and sketched him. “Photographs are importantto get the physical appearance,” she says. “But when I meet them, I get their essence, you know? I just feel what they're like. And I can remember that. I have a very good memory.” Weeksago, when she beganthis painting, snapshots of Bearsat at the base of her easel. Now the dog’s image is complete, right down to the glint in his brown eyes, and the photos are gone, Bearis what Merrill calls “a designer dog" — a mixed breed. He has foxhound genes, unmistakably, and perhapsa bit of pit-bull blood. Whateverhis lineage, he’s been a joy to paint. But then, to Merrill, all dogs of doting owners are wonderful subjects. “I don’t really paint dog-show they're beloved. And I’m into the love aspect. “There’s a personal relation- ship between each person andhis history. I love hearing where they camefrom, where they sleep, how often they’re walked, what they eat.” Clients mustbetickled by Mer- self to know the anatomy — at 8 years old. And I nevertold her to dothat.” miles from the family home in Baltimore's Roland Park and would ask to be dropped off two hours before her lesson. “I want to sketch,” she'dtell her mom. Donahue would return later. “Did you sketch?” ness transaction to friendly chat. As and they bought them from me.”” have a way of turning from busishe acknowledges, there’s something “intimate” about sharing the history of one’s dog with an artist who is about to paintit. In Manhattan, Malcolm Forbes charmed her with his scampish humorand showedherpicturesof his 70th-birthday party in Morocco. (The dog painting he ordered was for his ex-wife.) In Chicago, Merrill gabbed for 10 minutes with Oprah Winfrey, who wanted a picture of Solomon, her cocker spaniel, At the LongIslandestate of Geoffrey Beene, Merrill was amusedto find the menswear maven wearing dirty jeans and a ripped shirt. Beene’s dachshunds tore around the yard for 30 minutes before Merrill could settle them downfor snapshots. ‘Child Prodigy’: The young Christine Merrill had musicaltalent — she was an d pianist and bagpiper —- but music never grabbedher the way painting did. “Her main deal was theart,” says her sister, Eleanor Herman. “Since she was 2 and Mom put a pencil in her short little fingers, she drew. And it kind of hurt my feelings. I was supposed to be the artist. I'm three years older, and everybody oohedand aahed about my drawing. But by the time I was 6 and Christine was 3, she could draw better than I could. She was a real child prodigy.” Merrill's mother, Louise Donahue, whois also an artist, recalls shopping for art supplies with Christine. “She'd bring meall these how-to books. They'd always be of animals, and some- times it would be the skeletons. And at 8 years old, she got one of these and traced all the bones, and the running dog and the horse. That way, she trained her- Some swamp life Retirement title Stamp sheet “— Evening” contraction 69 Kitchen aid 70 Chopin practice piece 71 Trigger — 75 Turkish city 76 Child of (Magician's tove song?) 40 Lens calibration 44 Tennis stroke 45 Penn and Union 46 A,B, Corl, 2,3 48 "— Maria” 49 Helived to 905 51 Acts like an amateur magician? 55 Proclamation 85 “Because thou — a stranger... Deuteronomy 86 Number‘crunching By age 11, Merrill was doing commissions on her own. She rode horses at a stable several “Yeah,I sold ‘em all.” “You know, I'd like to see them.” “Well, the owners were there, rill’s interest in such minutiae, for her initial meetings with them 30 31 34 35 Merrill attended Towson State University outside Baltimore for a year, foundits art classes not to her liking and switched to the school where her mother had been trained, Baltimore's Schuler 61 Caroline Islands republic 62Benedictine title 63 Beiderbecke’s dept. 87 “for my couse”: “Julius Caesar” 88 Ore mover 92 Waytostart ie act? 69 Put the Renoir back up 72 Not fer 73 “= live and breathe!” 74 Dashes 78 Napoli's country 79 What'sfor two ONLY .89 CENTS PER S/F PREMIER BY 2 WEEKS ONLY rotators 82 Magician's Slips ona slip 10 Ber at the lunch table 11 OED, for one 12 Signs 13 Bible chap, part 34 Viet vet malady 35 Sheep-counting, seque! 36 Accord or Prelude 37 Bubbling 38 Wiped away 39 Sell-pollination preventer Edible triangles Kind of hero Whim "Mi cass ~ casa” “Jabberwocky” opening 104 Put away 105 Mite.’s neighbor 106 “Aquarius” show 107 ~All — years ago, Ann and HansSchuler. Its curriculum focuses on Old Worldstyles and methods; anatomy is emphasized. Students learn to prepare canvases and to grind the pigments and cook the oils that makeup their paints. “We're classical realists,” Ann Schulersays. “Wetry to make the students learn to be exactin their work.” During and after her Schuler stint, Merrill displayed her still lifes and portraits at various sites around i She gravi toward dog portraiture in 1987, after a New York newspaper ran a photo of a Merrill painting that showeda Brittany spaniel, a Vizs- la and a Dalmatian in front of a mansion, ‘From thatI received a lot of commissions for dogs,” she says, “and I thought,‘Gee, there’s something here.’ Commissions, in fact, are her “bread andbutter,” she says. She does 15 to 20 a year and works obsessively to please herclients. “Tt doesn’t matter for whom I'm painting,” she says. “I treat each commission as if I were doing it for Queen Elizabeth.” At the initial meeting, when Merrill meets the dog, she inter- Nomi for Club Womanofthe Year are: from left, Ilene Baker Cooper, Marion Eskelsen Dunn, Lynda M. Simmonsand Mary St. Claire. The honorwill be awarded Friday. Club Womanof the Year to Be Named Friday BYJUDY MAGID THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The General Federation of Women's Clubs of Utah (GFWC) will name a Club Womanof the Year at the annualstate convention Thursday through Saturday at the Sherwood Hills Resort in Box Elder County. The winner receive a silver bowl donated by The Salt Lake Tribune at the award banquet views the owner to learn what sorts of details to include. In her Friday at 7 p.m. studio, Merrill produces a char- and chartered by an act of Congress in 1901. It is one of the world’s largest organizations of coal sketch, framesit and sendsit to the client. After getting some feedback, she’s ready to begin paintingin oil GFWC was organized in 1890 women volunteers, with 10 mil. lion members in 46 countries. Utah GFWCwas organized in 1895. The focus is on educational, social andcivic projects. This Th FF SPA Nothing would make mom feet more special than a day or half-day of relaxation at and services, Adoption is Possible year’s nominations for Club Womanofthe Yearinclude: W@llene Baker Cooper, Fillmore, has servedas a vice presi- dent of the Utah Associated Garden Clubs and is active in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She has owned and managed cafes in the Fillmore area, is a travel agent and has worked as a guide at the Historic Old Cove Fort. @ Marion Eskelsen Dunn, Brigham City, is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, American Association of Retired Persons director, member of the Old Main Society, Utah State Uni- P including versity. She was co-chairperson for the 125th Golden Spike Celebration, memberofthe Box Elder County Centennial Committee and Daughters of Utah Pioneers president and historian. She serves on the Governor's Conference for Community Leaders. @Lynda M. Simmons, Park City, is principal of Hartvigsen School in Granite School District, Salt Lake County. An advocate for children at risk, Simmons has volunteered for and had offices in local and state organizations. @ Mary St. Clair, Tooele, taught elementary schoolfor 47 years, A traveler, St. Clair has several collections based on hertrips and is an amateur painter as well as an active volunteer and clubwoman. e LEARN HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST RAPE The BYU Salt Lake Centeris now offerin: a classinself- Your Hopes and Dreams can come true! The Adoption Center of Choice, Inc. A Non-Profit Licensed Utah Agency or ra quetus 7 RSVPfacilitator ‘S$ Moll’s guy 96 98 99 102 103 Schuler is a tiny academy run by the couple who foundedit 38 treatments We do not discriminate oe age, religion, number of ch iidren or Lorenzo 26 What's cooking 25 Rolls like credits 32Nipper's home 33 Sacred itrs. Solution on J-4 Gift certificates are avail able for a host of refreshing (801) 224-2440 24 Fernando coffee set? 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