Julie Bernier has just the Christmas card for your dog-loving friends. It’s a painting of a golden retriever wearing a Santa hat, and it’s inscribed: “Woofing you Happy Howlidays!”
For the beekeeper in your life, Bernier has made a card with bees wearing winter hats, scarves and mittens while they string multicolored Christmas lights. It reads: “Oh Christmas Bee! Oh Christmas Bee! Have a colorful holiday!”
Bernier is a South Portland artist who pairs her whimsical paintings of animals with funny puns and sells them at her 81 Ocean St. shop, Earth Angel Arts. Her cards for the rest of the year include a pig with the line “Sending hogs and kisses” and a chicken that says “Best of cluck to you.” While not all of the creatures are farm animals (“Well, hello there, stud puffin”) many of them are based on residents of local farms.
Bernier never picked up a paintbrush until four years ago, but she’s been creative most of her life. She grew up in Waterville, where her French-Canadian grandmother showed her how to can, garden, pick berries, crochet, knit, and pursue all sorts of homegrown projects. “My grandmother was just a really cool lady who made everything from scratch,” Bernier said. “She could make something out of nothing, and she loved color.”
Bernier’s interest in animals arose from watching her husband become a vegan at age 50. They began keeping an organic garden and became more aware of where meat comes from, and “That really changed us as human beings,” she said.
The couple started visiting local farms, where Bernier would photograph the animals, then go home and paint them. She’s made more than 150 animal paintings so far as well as some special projects, such as creating posters for Smiling Hill Farm (featuring a cow, a goat, a chicken and bottles of milk) and Sunflower Farm in Cumberland (featuring its famous online “running of the goats” and baby goats in pajamas).
Bernier also puts her work on calendars and, most recently, an animal matching game. But the card line is growing fastest. Writing the puns is as much fun as painting, Bernier said: “I’m constantly on my computer designing cards and laughing.”
The cards cost $4 each, and are available at Earth Angel Arts in South Portland, through Bernier’s online store at earthangelarts.com and in the Old Port at Uncommon Paws, 13 Exchange St. The holiday collection comes in a boxed set of 16 for $22. (Drop by her shop, and you can choose the holiday cards that go in the box.)
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