Noreen Mola said that just like people, all animals are different from one another — and those differences should be recognized.
“There are no two of us alike — not personality-wise, nor in our physical makeup,” said Mola, a Redding resident who draws portraits of animals. “That uniqueness is very important.”
Mola has been drawing animals since 1990. About 10 of of her drawings are on display through August at Redding Town Hall. She works from her studio in Redding and has clients throughout the U.S.
When drawing animals, Mola “really, really looks at them,” she said. “I try and see how they are different and see who they are.”
“Sheep, cows, and pigs and even bees are all individuals and they all recognize each other as such,” Mola said.
“If you put three tuxedo cats together, you can tell the differences — not every marking will be exactly the same, and the texture of their fur and bone structure is different from one another,” she said.
Differences are especially evident in the eyes, according to Mola.
“There is a different look in everyone’s eyes,” she said, adding the eyes are the most difficult part of the body to draw, “yet the most fun, because they look back at you. I spend the most time on the eyes.”
Drawing from photographs
Mola draws her portraits from looking at photographs she takes, unless the animals live too far away to travel to. In those cases, clients send her photos.
When photographing her subjects, “I take their pictures and discuss with the owners what expressions they like because they know their pets best,” she said.
She said sometimes, she can “glean little bits about their personality from my interactions with them.”
Many times, her clients offer anecdotal reports or stories about their pets, and she “can put those all together” when creating a portrait.
When drawing, she makes a sketch in pencil “and then I start working in colored studio pencils,” she said.
She works in pastels and watercolors. “I keep layering on color,” she said. “I’m noodling in every hair.”
It can take about 14 hours or more to create a portrait, she said.
“Choosing a photo to the finished work takes about a month,” she said.
Lifetime of drawing
Mola has been drawing “since I was able to hold a pencil.”
Aside from taking classes at Parsons School of Design in White Plains, N.Y., she said she is self-taught.
While she primarily draws dogs, cats and horses, she has also drawn other kinds of animals, such as a rabbit.
“When living in Massachusetts, I drew an agouti brown cottontail rabbit, who was a treasured pet of a client,” Mola said.
She has also drawn a pigeon.
“In Bethel, there was a pigeon who had been injured and couldn’t fly,” she said. “It was very connected with its owner who rescued and rehabilitated it. There was a tender and enduring and beautiful love between the two of them and I was asked to draw the pigeon.”
Every once in a while, Mola’s clients share a sentimental story about their pets, in order to explain why they want the portrait done.
One such story is about Pepper, a small mixed-breed dog named in Rowayton who saved her owner’s life in the 1990s.
“The owner had gone to take out the garbage. It was a freezing cold, icy night, and she slipped on the ice, hit her head, and was knocked unconscious,” Mola said. “The dog went from door to door and barked and carried on until someone came out. Pepper led the neighbor back to the woman, who was wheelchair-bound. The woman was brought to the hospital and stabilized.”
The woman’s son later commissioned Mola to draw the portrait of Pepper.
Mola has also drawn many animals who died.
“For those that have passed, oftentimes the owners don’t have great photos so I have to work harder,” she said.
Through the years, Mola has had some subjects who didn’t want to be photographed.
“About eight years ago, I went to photograph a Welsh Corgi at a Darien home, and every time I pulled my camera out, this dog would just run,” Mola said. “I came back another time with a tripod. I put my camera on the tripod and put a sheet over the camera, and just peeled back a little bit of it.”
She clicked one picture and the dog ran away, but it was a usable photograph.
Why draw animals?
According to Mola, people want a portrait drawn of their pet because, “It’s a tangible expression of the importance that pets hold in their lives, and pet owners want to express and show that.”
Some clients have a gallery of portraits of all their animals, and keep adding to their collection whenever they get a new pet, she said.
Many jobs
Mola is an animal spokesman and avid animal rights advocate. She co-edited The Animals’ Agenda, an international animal rights news magazine in Westport that provided a forum for animal advocates.
Aside from her portrait business, Mola owns a pet-sitting service, which is also in her name.
She also is a singer who performs locally with the Brian Butler Trio with Noreen Mola, a jazz group.
From the time Mola was a young child, she has been a pet owner.
“I have a connection with them a respect for them,” she said, adding she always had a dog and usually a cat, for her entire life.
Mola is currently owner of a grey, tan and white Pekingese she rescued named Moki.
“He’s the light of my life,” she said.
“I am so close and connected with animals, I feel a sensitivity toward them,” Mola said. “I’m always so pleased at the results when I hear my clients say, ‘You captured them.’”