COCHRANE— Calgary artist Corrine Holliday-Scott is using her embroidery practice to create custom life-like pet portraits, donating at least $100 of the proceeds of each commission to animal rescues and shelters.
With one of her latest projects, a portrait of a spaniel named Bailey, she donated $100 to the Cochrane and Area Humane Society. Since starting to create custom embroidered pet portraits less than a year and a half ago, Holliday-Scott has raised around $3,000 for 17 different shelters throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“We are honored to have been chosen and what a great way to support not only our local artists but artists who find ways to use their talents to give back to the community as well,” the Cochrane Humane Society said in a Facebook post.
Holliday-Scott said that her clients are always asked where they’d like to see the money go and Bailey’s owner requested it be donated to the Humane Society in Cochrane.
“After looking into it, I found that it’s obviously a reputable organization that’s doing great work,” she said. “I was happy to donate there.”
She said she was floored when the Humane Society went so far as to reach out by hand-written letter and with a personal phone call as thanks.
“It’s inspired me to want to look into a lot more smaller communities where maybe the rescues aren’t thought about as much,” she said.
While also working full-time as a human resources advisor, in her spare time Holliday-Scott spends anywhere from about 20-50 hours per embroidery, meticulously stitching a single strand by hand with a size 12 needle.
It is a time-consuming hobby, taking her anywhere between two to three weeks to complete a single pet portrait, but it is one that she said she loves and will continue to do as long as she can find the time and it allows her to give back to organizations in need.
Holliday-Scott, who is 29-years-old, said it all started with Winnie, a rescue cat from her hometown in Meadow Lake, Sask. where she adopted the kitten when she was just 16 from the local humane society.
“I’ve always embroidered and cross-stitched, nothing major, just on and off over the years. Then when the pandemic started, I decided to try and do [a portrait] of my own cat just for a keep-busy project. I was really happy with how it turned out, of course, I look at it now and think ‘oh wow, I can’t believe I thought that was good,’” she laughed.
After embroidering a couple more for friends as gifts, she came across a silent online auction organized by the Saving Grace Animal Society and offered to create a custom portrait for whoever was the highest bidder, with all proceeds going to the charity.
It took off from there and she started doing commissions in June 2020. Holliday-Scott believes she’s found success through her love of the subject matter, having a bit more time on her hands during the pandemic and simply by trial and error. Though she learned how to embroider at the age of eight, she didn’t pick it back up again until she was in her mid-20s.
“It’s kind of surprising to me, the way it’s developed and taken off because I don’t consider myself overly artistic, though I do like to craft,” she said. “Oftentimes they don’t actually turn out the way I plan them to.”
The process of creating a portrait begins with a reference photo of the pet. Holliday-Scott tells her clients that whatever the picture looks like, including how the pet is posed, is how the portrait will look. She uses her iPad to trace the outline of the animal, then uses that as a map for the embroidery, with the reference photo always on-hand during the entire process.
“I think a big thing I learned was just to actually stitch what I saw and not what I thought I should see,” she said. “For example, in a black pet or a white pet, it’s easy to think ‘okay, well all of this should be white or black. But really, it’s varying shades of purple and green and blue. If you just stitch what you actually see, it’s going to come out a lot better than if you try to make it something that it isn’t.”
In addition to being able to donate to shelters and rescues through a hobby that she is passionate about, Holliday-Scott said the reactions from her clients when they receive the finished product is a rewarding part of the process.
“Just knowing how much I love my pet and knowing how much people love their pets, especially when it’s a memorial portrait or something, just seeing how happy people are to receive them or how much they love the finished work— That’s probably been one of my favourite parts.”
