Tony Allegretti, an artist living in Santa Fe, paints portraits of dogs with coffee.
He said he has combined his love of dogs and coffee to make a living and help dogs. “I love dogs and I love coffee and I love paintings, so if I can combine the three and make a living doing it and help other dogs, then great," he told KRQE News.
Allegretti is creating dog portraits, but not with traditional supplies, as he traded in his oil paints for a cup of joe. Currently he is painting his 50th portrait of a dog, making each of them special with the use of a perfect blend of coffee beans.
About four months ago, Allegretti started painting dog portraits out of coffee. He said it all started with a painting he did for his sister on a napkin, which she loved, and the rest is history.
“It was just phenomenally received," he told KRQE News. "Part of anything I do, I want to have a good cause behind it."
Since the beginning of this venture, he's donated 50% of any additional prints, T-shirts or coffee mugs he sells to different animal shelters. So far, he has donated more than $100 to Española Humane.
"I am working on creating some lines of T-shirts, which I think will be good sellers, and hopefully I can (sell) some (in) places in town," Allegretti said, according to KRQE News.
He said it usually takes him about 24 hours to finish a single portrait, but if the dog has a darker shade of fur, it can take more time because it all depends on the coffee.
“I have kind of a system," he told KRQE News. "Five-day-old coffee and four-day-old coffee and three-day-old coffee, and the evaporation gives them different values."
According to Allegretti, he asks his clients for at least six pictures in order to get every detail of the dog he’ll be painting.
“If they can give me a brief description, as far as the nature, it’s important to try and capture the dog’s personality," he said, according to KRQE News.
Allegretti's work can now be found all over the country, including North Carolina, Colorado and California.