Today we’d like to introduce you to Annelie McKenzie.
Annelie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Well I’ve always been drawn to portraiture. As a kid I drew friends, family, my dog and cat, and even my favorite drummers from Modern Drummer magazine (Will Calhoun and Neil Peart!).
In art school I started painting body-print portraits, using the figure and exploring presence. Later I became fascinated by historical artists and began recreating their work in my own voice, treating each painting like a visual biography of sorts. I had several gallery shows and loved linking between the past and present.
Is this what eventually led to dogs in bowties? Maybe. I loved the sentimental and I still do: I’m totally pro-kitsch! Over time I found myself pulled toward illustration and surface design. I started drawing in Procreate on my iPad, completely obsessed with brushes, textures, and pattern.
Then a friend invited me to join a local pop-up art market and I asked myself: what do I want to offer? I landed on pet portraits. I adore my dog, I adore everyone’s pets, and I wanted to create something joyful and personal for people whose pet is their WHOLE personality because of course it is! Surprisingly to me: it was a hit and now that’s what I do.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been humbling to move from the contemporary art world into the world of commercial work and, well, pet portraits. It isn’t easier, it’s just different, maybe a different kind of attention.
In the gallery, the work aspires to importance or significance, trying to find its place in the contemporary art conversation. With pet portraits, the work lives in someone’s home. The attention is more intimate, affectionate, domestic. Both are meaningful in their own way.
My challenge has been learning to stop trying to belong in either room. To trust that I’m allowed to just make what I want.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work has always engaged with kitsch, but now I’m putting my money where my mouth is. Every pet portrait comes with a digital download and a link to your very own shop. It’s a kind of choose-your-own-adventure experience: you can browse your pet on all the products and decide what you want after I’m done the drawing. The thrill of seeing your dog on mugs, tote bags, posters, and phone cases is genuinely delightful to me too! My business model is a little different that way, and I’m fully leaning into it, celebrating the love people have for their pets and the joy of seeing that love printed on everything.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
What do I like best? Well, it’s a very dog-forward city, haha. No, but really, it is. I was born and raised in Canada, and now I love living in Los Angeles. Here’s a whole list of great things: Randy’s Donuts, palm trees, reality-TV celeb sightings, awesome thrift shops, everyone’s side projects, random bar bands that sound shockingly pro, all the art schools, learning Spanish and having so many people to practice with, food trucks, Venice Beach, concerts, interesting front-yard cactus configurations, and coyotes taking over.
As for what I like least? It’s a toss-up between the 10 and the 405.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://littlenosestudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlenosestudio/
