SACKVILLE, N.B. – Monette LeBlanc-Priemer has always been an avid animal lover.
So it comes as no surprise that two hobbies keeping her busy on days off involve a variety of four-legged companions, whether horseback riding or creating custom portraits of people’s cherished pets.
The Sackville artist has been drawing since she was a child; she would just pick up a pencil and start sketching. Inspired by her love of horses, that’s what she would spend most of her time drawing, ending up with “folders and folders full of them.” Growing up in Memramcook with ponies and horses around, LeBlanc-Priemer has always been fascinated with them and even today has her own show horse.
She never would have imagined her childhood passions would turn into a part-time business. But it has and she’s relishing the opportunity to get back to doing what she loves.
“It’s so much fun for me.”
LeBlanc-Priemer launched her new venture this past March, offering custom animal portraits in soft pastel and pastel pencils on a textured surface such as pastelmat or sanded paper. She says she took a break from drawing while attending university and establishing her career and only picked it up again six years ago.
A self-taught artist, LeBlanc-Priemer hadn’t worked much with colour in her younger years, sticking to graphite drawings, but was intrigued after taking a painting class in Memramcook featuring acrylic paints.
“So then I started playing with more colour in my work.”
LeBlanc-Priemer liked the effects she could achieve with acrylic but found there were challenges with the paint, particularly in the setup process.
So she was excited when she received a set of pastel pencils last Christmas and got right to work trying them out. She went from barely eking out one painting every few months to producing works every day or two.
“I can do a lot of nice detail work with them,” she says. “I can blend, mix and layer with them... so I think it’s a good crossover between drawing and painting. So it didn’t take long for me to realize, ‘aha, this is my medium.”
She loves the new medium so much, once she starts working on a drawing, she has a hard time stopping.
“I’m a little hooked.”
Once family members saw her pieces, it didn’t take long for them to push her to do more than keeping them to herself in a portfolio.
Since launching in March with a Facebook Page and an Etsy store called Paws N Hooves art, LeBlanc-Priemer has completed about 40 portraits.
“It took off really fast. I wasn’t really expecting that,” she says.
But working as a full-time learning specialist in autism training for the New Brunswick Department of Education, LeBlanc-Priemer says she has to fit in her artworks on evenings and weekends and always tries to set goals for herself so she can meet deadlines. She is already sold out for Christmas and has a six- to eight-week waiting list for new orders.
She says she’s able to keep her paintings affordable for her clients since pastels are less expensive than other mediums such as acrylic. Her orders have come from across Canada and the U.S., although the bulk are based in the Maritimes. She also offers other unique gift ideas and keepsakes such as prints and cards.
Her subject material is mostly limited to dogs, cats and horses, she says, but she doesn’t find that restricts her. She says each pet is unique so she finds inspiration in trying to capture their best expressions and details.
“Every new one I do seems to be my new favourite.”
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