SwitHeart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit

Famous Hollywood actress Loretta Swit shares her life in the limelight and her two other passions: watercolor paintings and animal activism. Switheart is a collection of large watercolors of animals, mostly dogs and cats, but also a goat and pigs and some still life with flowers. She is particularly enamored with roosters, and this collection features several paintings of them. The author is Mies Hora, who collected a long quotation from the artist on each of the paintings and presented it next to the artwork. The explanations are thought-provoking and inspiring, and Swit explains something about the subject but also her thoughts on the paintings. Since she is an ardent animal activist, she promotes animal rescue and related organizations. The paintings are beautiful—they are not truly realistic paintings but rather tend to be somewhat abstract, reflecting Swit’s style. Some are reproduced on two-page spreads, some are closeups of the animal’s face. There’s a particularly cute painting of the resting dog Charamusca, who patiently lets Munchkin the kitten find a cozy place for herself on top of his head. Fourteen photos show Swit intimately close with wildlife. A few of her initial doodles are also included.