Live Art: Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge "Dog Days of May"
How I got to paint 30 dogs at my favourite hotel in the Canadian Rockies!
One of my many passions in life is loving on our dog, Bubba. He’s our precious little Boston terrier mix who came into our lives 3 years ago. So when I was planning our wedding invitations and stationery, I knew he had to be the star of the show.
Well, let’s just say I got hooked on painting pet portraits. And as I was painting, I remembered that the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge holds an annual event all for dogs called Dog Days of May. It’s a 3-day event in Jasper National Park filled with dog-friendly activities like agility courses, doggy massages, pop up shops, guided hikes and more all on the gorgeous Fairmont grounds.
Approaching the Fairmont
After creating a thorough pitch, I reached out to my favourite luxury hotel in the Rockies; fingers crossed that they would be as excited by the idea of me painting all the four-legged guests at this year’s Dog Days of May event as I was.
Fortunately, they were!
Prepping for an out of town live art event
30 dogs were already registered to attend and we decided that each portrait would have the Fairmont logo on it and be placed in a matted black frame.
I prepared all those materials from Edmonton in advance before driving out to Jasper with all my supplies to spend the May long weekend at the Fairmont. This prepping process took a couple months to nail down the details.
Mountains and Dogs - What more could you want?
From the moment we arrived, I was in heaven. I got to meet all 30 dogs individually to take their photos in the communal dog park on the first night (That’s what I used to paint their portraits from)!
And for the rest of the weekend, I had the unique pleasure of walking around the resort and knowing all the special canine guests’ names.
Me all weekend:
“Hey, Norman!”
“Looking cute, Mickey!”
Our dog Bubba was also a special guest and got to take part in the festivities. He even got a welcome bag of treats and bowls in our hotel room on arrival.
My live art station was in one of the main ballrooms beside Zen Dog Massage and other canine vendors. Pawrents could pop in before scheduled activities to watch their pup getting painted - and I was in there for a solid 10 hours!
In between, my younger sister (and assistant for the weekend) and I rented a red canoe and paddled around Lac Beauvert - where I got engaged last year! We also got to dine at big family style tables with all the event guests and enjoy the facilities - which are second to none if you haven’t been there yet!
The farewell: when guests picked up their custom pet portraits
After finishing up the last few pet portraits into the wee hours of the morning from our lodge room, it was time to get all 30 custom dog paintings into frames.
My younger sister was such a trooper and framed every single one!
After our group breakfast, everyone headed into the ballroom to find their frames displayed on a large, long table. It was so fun watching them pick out exactly which one was their dog and say lovely things like “oh my gosh! You got his floppy ear just right” and “even the freckle on her tongue is there!”
Big smiles and big thank yous - the ultimate compliments 😊
What came next
A month after this event, I had another live art event in Toronto for The Atelier Collective where I was personalizing prints with calligraphy for an an exclusive brunch with none other than Jillian Harris!
After realizing how much people loved their pet portraits, I decided to paint one for the event’s guest of honour, Jillian herself, of her two cute boxers: Nacho and Peaches.
Well, turns out ya’ll love your pets and Jillian Harris as much as I do! Because wow. In less than 24 hours of launching my custom pet portrait service, all of the spots have sold out every month this year 🙌💛
I’m so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have live painted all of the four-legged friends at The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge’s Dog Days of May Event for 2019 and can’t wait to be back the Lodge again for another partnership soon!
