By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    In his Portland studio overlooking the corner of High Street and Congress Street, Jim Williams has found his niche.
    Founder of Mainely Labs Studio, Williams paints bold likenesses of his favorite breed of dog: Labrador retrievers. During an interview last Friday, Williams’s regular studio companion, a black lab named Pirate, couldn’t be bothered with his owner’s accomplishments as he was preoccupied with a bone.
    It was a black lab named Mattie, however, that inspired the Cape Elizabeth resident to pursue what he refers to as his “Lab Art.”
    “It was about the same time I started taking painting classes that she died rather unexpectedly,” he said of his canine companion of 11 years. “It was quite devastating.”
    After Mattie died, Williams wanted to commemorate her with a painting, but couldn’t bring himself to do it right away. Another major change in Williams’s life would inspire him to later capture her likeness on a canvas.
    No one is more surprised than Williams that he has been able to make a living with his art. Although he had always wanted to dabble in the arts, he never knew taking a few classes would lead to a career change.
    In 2001, Williams was working in the human resources department at L.L. Bean, when a fellow employee turned him on to art classes for beginner’s at the Maine College of Art.
    “I said, geez, I’ve always wanted to do that,” he said, “And as soon as those words came out of my mouth there was that question, ‘well why haven’t you done it?’ I had never touched a canvas, but with the first class, I was taken with it and I found a new passion.”
In the classes, Williams painted the usual subjects: vases and fruit, landscapes, and nudes.
    “At the time, I had tried so many different things, I didn’t think of myself as having one style,” he said. “I was just going along for the ride to learn as much as I could.”
By 2005, Williams was becoming more detached from office life. Without any real plan for the future, Williams left his job and used his new-found time to take more art classes. It was during that transition period that Williams created a painting of Mattie.
    “It ended up being a similar style to what you see here,” Williams said, gesturing to his work on the walls. “I really liked it and I thought that’s pretty good, I think I’ll do something else, a different painting of Labs.”
    Williams said at that point he still wasn’t thinking of the Lab paintings as a career path, but he said support from his wife and his friends led him to think otherwise. He said his wife warned him against future feelings of regret if he didn’t act on his new passion.
    Since opening his studio in 2005, Williams said he has sold more than 20 pieces of original art. With any new business, there was some trial and error in finding the best way to get his art in front of the public.
    “I think I naively thought with this great window, people are just going to flock into the studio,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily happen that way. People do find me...but if they want to come up here, they really have to make the effort.”
    Last year he began taking his show on the road and he said it has proved to be a worthwhile endeavor. His first art show was at SMCC and since then he participated in a Christmas art show in Cape Elizabeth and traveled to a Lab dog show in Connecticut. This year he is going to be at the Yarmouth Clam Festival, the South Portland Art in the Park show, and the Sidewalk Art Show.
    At the time of this interview, several of his pieces were on display at the Planet Dog store in Portland. Williams said the special opening included wine, cheese, and dog treats.
Williams said reproductions of his images are his “bread and butter.” He said the graphic nature of his paintings “lent itself well to reproduction.”         Now his colorful pups adorn everything from mouse pads to t-shirts, from tote bags to greeting cards. Williams donates 10 percent of the proceeds from greeting card sales to organizations to animal rescue organizations.
    At the time of this interview, Williams was preparing to attend a licensing show in New York City. The show brings together companies shopping for new images and designs. It is another opportunity for Williams to bring his Labs to dog lovers all over the country.
    So what’s so special about Labs? Williams said they are a loyal breed and they are obedient. He added that he is a dog lover in general.
    “I grew up with a pug and a couple of schnauzers,” he said. “I think I always wanted to have a big dog when I grew up.”
    Williams said one question he frequently gets about his work is why don’t the Labs have eyes. He said he didn’t intend to leave out the eyes, but rather he evolved from painting eyes to not painting eyes. Williams said he painted portraits of a cat and a dog and because the paintings were meant to resemble the animals, he included their facial features. When it comes to painting Labs, he discovered omitting the eyes conveys the essence of the Lab, rather than one dog in particular.
    “Once I had the image or the outline, to me it was so distinct that I didn’t need the eyes,” he said. “What I find with all my paintings now is when people see them they say, ‘oh, that looks just like Bailey or that’s the way Murphy sits.’ I find that people see their own dog in my work.”
A nearby calendar, displaying Williams’s Labs of course, shows a black Lab in the foreground and a lighthouse in the background. The work is titled The Mainely Lab. It is Williams’s homage to the classic Maine landscape as he said he never got back to do other styles of painting.
    “A piece of me kind of wants to, but I don’t really have time right now...but I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything,” he said. “I think my particular paintings are very unique and sort of jump out and stand out. It might be definitely a little niche, but its kind of fun to stand out.”