About Me

 

Dina Marie is a self taught pet artist inspired by the passion she has for animals. She began drawing her little Scottie dog when she was just 7 years old and has always had a deep connection with animals. Her ability to capture a pets true personality in her paintings is truly a gift from God. With no formal training except that of her HS art teacher who gave her projects on drawing the anatomy of dogs Dina felt confident in drawing animals and even portraits of people. However animals were always where her heart was; as a young adult Dina painted Reproduction vintage signs and Country Folk art which all had animal themes. It wasn’t until she suffered the loss of many pets that she began to experiment with painting pet portraits. So far she has painted 9 of her pets and has more to pay tribute to. Painting her animals has been therapeutic and beneficial to continue to remember each and every one of them.  Not limited to cats and dogs, Dina has painted horses, rabbits, dolphins and many other animals in realistic detail, some of which can be seen in the children’s book she illustrated; Roxy’s Forever Home. In addition to lifelike portraits Dina also enjoys painting brightly colored whimsical paintings which you will see in her illustrations for books, greeting cards and prints. Much of these illustrations have been inspired by the dogs she rescued over the years. You can see her black Lab ‘Mario’; who crossed the Rainbow Bridge a few years ago in many of her illustrations. Mario was her best friend & they shared a special bond! He taught her many things about life and she wanted to do something special to remember the great dog that he was. Since Dina enjoyed illustrating Roxys Forever Home she decided a great way to honor Mario and all her other rescues was to create her own book. She illustrated whimsical paintings of labrador retrievers with inspirational messages in a small gift book titled ‘ A Peaceful Place‘.  The book is both therapeutic and brings a lot of joy to those who love dogs.

If you are ever in the Tampa Bay area come and visit Dina at her little studio; she is a resident artist at Stirling Art Studios, Dunedin, FL.

She also participates in a few art shows each year and has an online ETSY shop. Dina also donates a portion of her sales to multiple animal welfare groups a few times each year.peacefulplace

Most recently she painted a puppy bank for Southeastern Guide Dogs of Fl

Each puppy bank has a donation dog bowl; a great project to help raise funds and awareness for Southeastern Guide dogs. They breed and train service dogs with much success! My puppy dog is named BEACH is located at a restaurant in Long Boat Key, FL  ~ CHART HOUSE

Puppy Bank

 

 

 

Other Art Projects:

2016  Paint Party proceeds benefit Our Companions Animal Rescue- Sunset Pets

20160707_201519

2016 Wine & Design – Teaching painting parties for fun, all styles and subjects.

wine-and-design-dina-teaching

2015 Middletown Adult Education – Paint your Pet painting classes; 3 week class.

teaching painting class

2014 Middletown Art Academy – Paint your Pet Painting Class

2014 Climate Change Call For Art, Dina submitted two paintings to a Vermont exhibition on Climate Change

2014 Raining Cats & Dogs for Windsor Education Foundation – Artistically decorated Fiberglass Cats & Dogs to promote Art and Creativity! Two of my Labrador Retrievers designs were selected for me to paint for the auction, ‘Beach Lab’ and ‘Guardian Angel Lab’ in honor of Mario.

beach dog labrador fundraiser

2013 -2015 painted 3 murals for a Connecticut-based Animal Sanctuary; ‘Our Companions Animal Rescue’. I  donated a portion of the proceeds back to the rescue.

animal mural painted by dina

2013 – 2015 Assistant to artist Susan Rosano of New England Expressive Arts – We taught elementary school children to paint murals and oil drum art throughout schools in Connecticut.

2012 Illustrated children’s book about a homeless dog; ‘Roxy’s Forever Home’.

roxy_booksigning_2012

2008 -2009 Masonicare -Expressive Arts Therapist for Hospice patients

2008 Paws for a Cause – Windsor Education Foundation – Artistically decorated dogs and cats to promote art and creativity. German Shepard design was selected for me to paint.

2007 – Developing Art Institute – Lets go Wild Week! Drawing & Painting animals with children