The Many Lives of Dogs in Contemporary Art

At Arts to Hearts Project, we have always believed that the subjects artists choose to paint are never random. They are always personal. Always meaningful. Always connected to something the artist carries inside them that needs to find its way onto a canvas.

101 Art Book: Dog Edition brought together over 101 contemporary artists from around the world, each interpreting dogs through their own deeply personal lens. Across painting, photography, textiles, mixed media, and visual storytelling, this collection explores what dogs mean to the people who love them and the artists who choose to paint them. It is a book built not just to be looked at, but to be felt.

We wanted to understand the story behind the subject. So, we asked every featured artist this question that Why did you choose to paint a dog?

The answers came back tender, funny, heartbreaking, and deeply human. Because that is what dogs do to people. They get in. And they stay.

We are sharing some of them here. Because these are the stories that live behind the work. And we think they deserve to be told.

Childhood companions have a way of ending up on canvas

There are subjects an artist chooses because they are interesting. And then there are subjects an artist chooses because they were always going to. Because the relationship goes back far enough and runs deep enough that not painting them would feel like leaving something important unfinished. The most personal work is rarely planned. It is owed.

Dakota Braun @dakotabraun.art put it this way:

I chose to paint a dog because I have been surrounded by them since I can remember. Especially Chica, the dog in the painting, was my childhood companion, so we always had a special bond with each other and made many beautiful memories along the way. One of my favourite memories is her greeting me so excitedly when I came back from school

Dakota Braun

Coming home from school to a dog who made you feel like the most important thing that had happened all day. That kind of love is specific and ordinary and completely impossible to forget. Chica was not just a subject. She was a whole chapter of Dakota’s life. And the painting is the way that chapter gets to keep existing somewhere outside of memory.

Growing up with dogs does not just give you a subject. It gives you a whole way of seeing

Most people who grew up with dogs will tell you the same thing. That at some point they stopped being animals you lived with and started being just part of the family. Part of the rhythm of the house. Part of how you understood what home felt like. And that kind of growing up leaves something in you that does not go away when the dog does. It just becomes part of how you see things.

Daniel Queenan @danny_queenan_arts in his own words:

I have always been surrounded by dogs from an early age, and their unique personalities have been as much a part of my life as humans for as long as I can remember. Growing up with these loyal companions has deeply influenced my perspective and my creative work. They bring an incredible amount of joy and inspiration to my daily routine. This deep-rooted bond is exactly why I feel so passionate about capturing their spirit through my artistic projects today

Daniel Queenan

Joy and inspiration in the daily routine. That is such a simple thing to say. And such a hard thing to actually have. Most of us spend our lives looking for it in big moments. Daniel found it in something that was already there every single day. And we think that is worth paying attention to.

Beauty, gracefulness, manners, speed. Some dogs are not just companions. They are a lifelong obsession

Most people who love dogs love them generally. The warmth, the loyalty, the way they are always glad to see you. But every once in a while someone encounters a specific breed and something shifts. It is not just love. It is recognition. A feeling of having found the exact thing you did not know you were looking for. And once that happens there is really no going back.

Dana Newman @dborzoi tells it like this:

I chose to paint a dog because of my great love for dogs and especially Borzoi. From the time that I was a child my family has had a dog from German Shepherds, Boxer, Giant Schnauzer and later five Borzoi through the years graced my life. I was fascinated and fell in love with Borzoi the very first time I saw one and learned about them, I just had to have that breed, and I’ve enjoyed them ever since. Their beauty, gracefulness, manners and speed have always held me captivated

Dana Newman

Five Borzoi. Not one. Five. That is not a hobby. That is a devotion. And the way Dana describes them, beauty, gracefulness, manners, speed, it reads less like a description and more like someone talking about a person they have admired their whole life. Which is exactly what the Borzoi became for her. Not just a subject to paint. A presence she has spent decades being captivated by. And the paintings are simply the most visible evidence of that.

From auction to studio to shelter dog with a loving home. Art has a way of connecting everything

Some paintings start with an idea. Some start with a commission. And then there are paintings that begin with a simple decision to give something back. To be part of a community, to support a cause, and to believe that art can mean more than simply hanging on a wall. Those paintings often end up carrying something extra with them. Not because of the technique, but because of the story behind them.

Déborah M.G. Cassolis @c.deborahs.art shares her story:

“I am a strong believer in giving back and the reason is because my church parish puts on a high end Gala Silent Auction Fundraiser once a year to raise money for homeless or people in need. The manager asked if I would donate a pet portrait for the auction; I agreed. The winner of the portrait gave me Molly’s story, and we discussed details and themes with the winner and the end result was lovely. Yes, I met Molly too! She’s from shelter to loving home.

Déborah M.G. Cassolis

Déborah said yes to a fundraiser and ended up meeting Molly. A dog who went from a shelter to a loving home and then somehow found her way onto canvas too. None of that was planned. It just happened because one artist decided to show up for her community. And everything that followed was the best kind of unexpected.

From one generation to the next the dogs were always there. The paintings make sure they always will be

There are families where dogs are not a chapter. They are a thread that runs through every chapter. Present in the early stories, the childhood memories, the traditions that get passed down without anyone quite deciding to pass them down. They just become part of how the family understands itself. Part of the shared history that holds everyone together across years and generations and all the ordinary moments in between.

Giorann Henshaw @giorann.henshaw describes it beautifully:

For us as a family, dogs are not merely pets but central figures in our shared history, from my husband’s early hill-climbing traditions to our granddaughter’s childhood spent alongside two beloved black dogs. To honour these truly special animals, I create sketches and paintings transforming these fleeting moments into lasting legacies, ensuring each dog’s unique spirit is preserved long after they pass. It is a soulful tribute to the loyalty of animals and the power of creative memory to keep their presence alive within our family home

Giorann Henshaw

The power of creative memory to keep their presence alive. Giorann is not just painting dogs. She is painting the family they were part of. The hill climbing trips, the childhood years, the ordinary afternoons that nobody thought to photograph but everyone remembers. And the paintings are how those moments stay. Not just in someone’s head. On the wall. Where the whole family can see them. Where they can keep being part of the story long after the dog has gone.

What moved us most about these answers was not just the love for dogs. It was how specific that love was.

Not dogs in general. Chica who greeted at the door after school. Molly who went from shelter to home. The five Borzoi who graced a lifetime. The black dogs woven through a family’s generations. The K9 officer who deserved more than a plaque. Every artist we heard from was talking about someone particular. Someone irreplaceable. Someone whose spirit they felt compelled to put on canvas because memory alone did not feel like enough.

That is what 101 Art Book: Dog Edition captures across every page. Not a collection of dog paintings. A collection of relationships. Of loyalty and grief and joy and the specific, unshakeable bond between a person and the dog who was there for all of it.

If these stories stayed with you, the book is at the link below. And if you are an artist whose work carries this kind of personal truth, we want to see it.

101 Art Book: Faces Edition is now open for submissions. A curated international collection celebrating the human face through contemporary art. If portraiture or figurative work is part of your practice, this is your space.