Dakota’s Pet Portrait

BY ERICA ERIKSDOTTER

As a young couple living in Brooklyn, my clients wanted a dog. Any dog really. So they ventured down to Manhattan at ASPCA. And there she was, shy, scared and only a few months old. She came home with them that day, it was New Years Eve and my client’s 27th birthday. She was a pitbull, boxer, hound “and a big heap of amazing!” She was a looker, Miss Dakota, and did some modeling assignments as a ‘healthy dog’. At 4 years old they from Brooklyn to Bermuda, and a few years later she got a sister who mourned her deeply when Dakota passed away a few days short of her 13th birthday last year.

Dakota loved the beaches of Bermuda, and rightfully so, my clients wanted to honor it by adding a touch of the famous Bermuda pink sand to the portrait.

LOVE NOTE

“It’s better than perfect!!!! I can pet her!! In real life I can see every little detail. I’m crying. She is so wonderful. You are so wonderful. Seeing the painting in real life brought tears to our eyes. You captured the soul of our sweet girl in her portrait. And while we can’t be with her we can almost feel the softness of her ears and the love of her eyes.”

– S.K. of Bermuda

DETAILS

Medium: Acrylic on canvas. Sealed with matte varnish for protection.
Size: 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm)