Excitement!! I was back at the Dog Lovers Show Melbourne this year, after a few postponements (due to lockdowns) everything was back, an bigger than ever! Moving to a new venue at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention centre, nearly 32,000 dog lovers visited across the three days, and a good amount of pups were there too.
It was the best weekend, and by most successful show yet. I was there with all my pop art pups on display and launching my new mini pet portraits — my signature pet portraits you know and love, only smaller! I’ve had this idea for such a long time, to offer digital portraits and a polaroid photo print, and I’m happy to say they were 100% a hit at the Dog Lovers Show. You can order one online any time, get to my order form here.
Read on for my show highlights, and lots and lots of pups!
Set Up Day
Arriving early(ish) at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre, I got straight into assembling my display with the help of my mum. Months prior to a show, I spend time designing my stand, even mocking it up in Illustrator to make sure it’s going to look amazing. Well, we had to wing it a little bit this time because we were quick to realise some of the heavier canvases weren’t going to stick to the wall. Ah! Potential disaster if I didn’t have any puppy pop art on the walls, but luckily I was able to do a rearrange of the lighter prints on the walls and sit the heavy canvases on the table *phew*!
Mum was in charge of my new mini pet portrait display, which looked better than I ever imagined. And yes, I even have a Christmas tree, because you can also get a handmade frame to convert your mini print into an Xmas deco. Cool, right?
I’m thrilled with how it looked, so many beautiful pop art pups on display for all to see this weekend.
Day 1: Friday
First day of the show and it felt like the calm before the crowds. Being a work day and very sadly Melbourne’s west and other parts of Victoria were flooded which made the show on the quiet side.
So many beautiful dogs and their lovely people came by. First to visit was Cooper @mygoldencooper who got some pats and his custom mini pet portrait. My good friend @dobiejax dropped in, I haven’t seen Jax and his mum since the last Dog Lovers Show, it was wonderful to catch up after all these years and great to see they are doing well. Then I saw another friend and long time supporter of my art, the one-and-only, pop art king himself, @davethebeagle!
I made lots more new friends too — @puddlesthecavalier @dachofbear @kaaju_the_cavapoo all came to say hello and have cuddles in the morning.
Very busy morning meeting lots of amazing people and their pups. A huge thank you to those who placed orders for my mini prints! I got so much praise for my cute new pet portrait size with some dogs (a bunny and a bird) all booked in.
The afternoon was just as eventful. This year I was super pleased to have Pop Art Pups Ambassadogs, the first of which was the beautiful @cavoodleisla who came with her mum @makinghouseahome__ and her dad. I had the best afternoon hanging out with them, and I love that our outfits were twinning too.
More friends dropped by, a big thank you to @mangoandbo @goldengirlruby_ @jaxandlulufrenchies @george_yorkielove @skippinggirl_shihtzus @herecomesyodapup and @frankiecmoodle for coming to see me. Loved to see you all!!
Day 2: Saturday
Busy and super fun day at the Dog Lovers Show, with many more people taking the day to come and check out the show. I loved talking with everyone about their pups and how I create my hand-illustrated artworks, referencing your photos.
I nearly didn’t make it on time as the trains were stopped in my area, near where the floods had impacted. I was on the bus hoping to get to the show in time, I just made it, coming in a couple of minutes before the doors officially opened.
Many more friends stopped by in the morning, the beautiful Penny from @penny.and.vinny.the.gsds got some cuddles, followed by Kaos @absolute_kaos1 who made my dreams come true with his famous selfie trick. Oh so fluffy Bentley and Barney from @bentley.theberner got some cuddles too and @puddlesthecavalier was back in style, rolling around the show in an awesome pram.
Lots more pups booked in for portraits too. I’m so grateful for the response to my new mini pet portraits, they were so popular and it was so lovely to hear the feedback about how great they would be as Christmas presents. You can’t go wrong with an adorable little portrait of your pup for xmas.
I had another wanter around the show, meeting some gorgeous greyhounds at the Amazing Greys rescue stand. They also had my dog mothers day cards for sale to support their rescue hounds.
The afternoon was full of more puppy visits, awesome people and pet portrait bookings of dogs which I’m so excited to draw! A huge thank you to @muppetandbear @bailey.thelabradoodle Frankie @george_yorkielove @herecomesyodapup and @presley.shih.tzu for coming by! We booked Presley in for a mini portrait as well, and he gave me one of the best moments of the show when he discovered a bean-bag for the first time. Instantly deciding this was the best thing ever and digging around, having so much fun.
Day 3: Sunday
Last day of the Dog Lovers Show and there was a puppy ambush at my display! Which is the absolute best kind of ambush. @mygoldencooper came by first to show off his awesome trick to get pats & treats, followed by a visit from the gorgeous @ruby_and_bailey_the_lowchens — then the surprise when @davethebeagle @howardandnedthegriffons and @thethingsofleon all dropped in on us together!! Beautiful @coffeethecavoodle stopped by to say hello too. Fair to say that it was the best morning ever.
Another busy busy day at the show, with more mini portraits booked in and some very cool custom portrait requests. Thank you to everyone who came by my stand, I really appreciate the compliments of my art and I loved talking to everyone about the pups they have at home.
Couldn’t have asked for a better end to the show than to see my BFF Lemmy the whippet! He did a brilliant job at being a Pop Art Pups Ambassadog and for his first time at the show. Thank you to his mum and dad for bringing Lemmy to visit me — loved seeing you all!
More friends @mangoandbo @presley.shih.tzu and @puddlesthecavalier popped by for one last cuddle. Mango showing off some super cute spins and Presley was back again for beanbag fun. I hope everyone had as much fun at the show as Presley had with his newfound love of digging in a beanbag.
And then it was over, packed up my pop art and went home to get some much needed sleep. I’ve got a full week ahead drawing all my show orders, so please keep an eye out for new puppy art soon!
While that’s a wrap for Dog Lovers 2022, me and my pop art pups will be out and about again soon. And you can always get your pup a pop art portrait anytime, click here to place your order!
