Meet Pigcasso: A 2-year-old pig with some serious painting skills

They call her Pigcasso, but her real name is Izabelle or Izzy the mini pig with some serious painting skills.

Caitlin Dillon's petis one of the most talented pigs in St. John's.

She plays the piano andexcels at the ring toss, butIzzy's most noteworthy talent is her penchant for painting.

Two-year-old Izzy has already finished over 20 paintings and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

At this rate, she'll have enough paintings to have her own gallery space.

But how does she do it?

According to Dillon, all Izzy needs is some strong encouragementand a Costco-sized box of cheerios to pick up her "brush."

"It took a while just to train her to put her snout against the canvas, and then I started introducing her to paint," she said.

Dillon applies the paint directly to Izzy's snout, and then instructs her to swipe her snout on a blank canvas.

After each successful swipe, Izzy is rewarded with a handful of Cheerios. By mixing and matching different paint colours, eventuallywhat Dillon isleft with is a work of abstract, colourful art.

'She gets a little excited'

It wasn't long until Izzy started to get excited at any mention of the word paint.

Eachpainting made byIzzyeven has a special touch to it.

"Whenever I tell her she's going to paint, she gets a little excited because she knows she's going to get rewarded," said Dillon.

"Not only does she use her snout, she generally swipesher whole head, so in most of the paintings she usually leaves a strand of her fur in as well."

Painting for over a year

Dillon first got the idea to teach Izzy to paint over a year agofrom another pig ownerwho runs an Etsy business called Snout Art.

"After watching her, and getting tips from her, that's how I got Izabelle into painting and she's been painting ever since," said Dillon.

Izzy's paintings have been so successful that Dillon isnow planning to take it to the next level.

"Everyone loves them, everyone wantsthem," she said.

"There's been such an increase in people wanting them, that I started about a week ago, I created a group on Facebook called Izabelle's Art Workwhere I'm going to start actually selling them."

If Izzycankeep this up,who knows what might happen.

Maybe one day we'll see Izzy's work showcased ata gallery in town.

Unusual, but worth it

It's not lost onDillonhow unusual it may seemto have a pig for a pet,but she wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's awesome. She sleeps with me and my boyfriend, she actually has stairs to get up on our bed," she said.

"That's all she ever wants to do, is pretty much sleep, cuddle, and eat."

But even though those areIzzy'sthree favourite things,DillonsaidIzzyis open to trying new games.

All it takes to getIzzyto open upis a barrel full of snacks, and these daysDilloneven takesIzzyfor walks some weekends with otherpig owners in St. John's.

"We started getting together on Sundays and having walks in the park," she said.

"That gets a lot of peoples attention, seeing like five or sixpigs walking across the road."