Talented dog earns more than £13,000 selling his paintings online

hunter the painting shiba inu with his artworks
Hunter is a very good and artistic boy (Picture: @shiba.art.online / Caters News)
Meet Hunter, who proves that your creative hobby can be a serious money-maker.

Hunter has earned more than £13,000 by selling an impressive 288 paintings to strangers online since March 2017.

We should probably mention that Hunter is a dog. An eight-year-old Shiba Inu, to be specific. That makes this accomplishment even more applause-worthy.

For the last four years, the pup has loved to create abstract artworks by dabbing paint on canvas.

He makes sure to sign each one with a pawprint, then owner Denise Lo, 37, lists the paintings online at £46.91 a piece.

Hunter has set up his canvas and painting tools in front of numerous landscapes, including mountains, lakes, and parks.

Denise, a university instructor from Edmonton, Canada, said: ‘Hunter has always been intelligent and curious; he is always pushing to learn new tricks so we thought we would try painting.

‘We needed some new art for our walls so I thought I would let Hunter paint some.

‘The first time we tried it, we were amazed at how well the painting turned out. He really seemed to enjoy doing it so we just kept going.

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hunter the shiba inu posing proudly next to his painting
Hunter has sold hundreds of paintings on Etsy (Picture: @shiba.art.online / Caters News)

‘One thing that always impresses us is how unique each painting is; he can get pretty creative with his brush strokes depending on his mood.

‘We see lots of dabs and checkmarks with the heavier brushes and then some loops and flicks with the lighter brushes.

‘He paints as often as he wants to – we never force him.

‘When we first posted pictures of him on Facebook and Reddit and that picture went viral, we had a lot of people asking us to set up an Etsy page for them to purchase his paintings.
hunter the dog with his paintings
This particular series is inspired by the carpet (Picture: @shiba.art.online / Caters News)
‘He loves to give back and has worked with SCARS [animal shelter charity] by raising over £700 for them.

‘The most he has earned for a painting is £146, which was a special commission piece.’

Hunter’s work has made him an Instagram star, attracting thousands of followers who tune in to watch him live at work.

Denise added: ‘We’ve seen a lot of support for Hunter from everyone over the past couple of years. We love seeing the memes and reading the fan mail that Hunter gets.

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‘We feel that Hunter’s work relates to a lot of people especially now with everything being online.

hunter with his self portrait
And this creation is a self-portrait, obviously (Picture: @shiba.art.online / Caters News)

‘People can watch him paint on his Instagram or Facebook account. Sometimes, we do live paint nights on Instagram as well. People can interact, leave comments, and start to build a sense of familiarity with Hunter.

‘Many people who enjoy Hunter’s work are animal lovers or some more specifically, Shiba lovers.

‘Hunter doesn’t have a favourite colour, but he does have a favourite brush.. He loves using the smaller brushes because he has more control.

‘One of his most popular paintings is a self-portrait using the the main colours of Hunter’s own fur colours: black, tan, and cream.’

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