It's been nearly a year since I started painting pet portraits. It's something I had always wanted to do, but in a market with so many incredibly talented artists out there and MANY MANY specialising in pet portraits it was challenging to put myself out there, but I took the leap! I've painted 13 portraits so far in under a year. Here they are!
1. Midas (Touch)
Meet Midas. Midas is the gorgeous black German Shepherd and mascot for @midastouchk9 dog walking.
Acrylic paint on canvas, with a touch of gold leaf only seemed fitting for this gorgeous boys portrait and of course his name. This painting was built up go layers blue black hues, finished in an ombre of highlighting.
2. Domino
Meet my very own, Domino, the sassy street cat who's a people cat and will chase other cats away and slap my dog Pepper if she had to.
Since I'd already painted a dog, I needed a cat to build up my portfolio and start promoting and did it work. This painting of Domino paved the way to paid pet portrait commissions. I had her on display at a Christmas market and someone was even interested in buying it! Who knows maybe she will make a lot of money in the future.
This is acrylic on wood. The back is a vibrant array of pink, purple and blue purple loose and wet brushstrokes and then I built on those shadows and base colours in blue black. The white of her face and neck blends in with the background. I love the contrast in this one. Her eyes are my favourite! The reference photo gave me enough detail to paint the glossiness and reflection her gorgeous green eyes.
3. Archie
My favourite in expression- Archie, the Great Dane. AKA Sir Archibald. If you've thought about what dog a tall, lanky, aristocratic man would look like- Archie would be it, but with the personality of a down to earth, chilled out, dude. I really wanted to capture this in the painting. This is acrylic on wood. The background is comprised of canary yellow and a lighter shade of blue black, loose, wet brushstrokes. Then built up in blue greys and blue black. I paid alot of attention to the eyes, muzzle and cheeks and the detail of the musky orange mid tones give it another dimension and accentuate those features. I included Archies name as a personal touch. After having done writing on the portrait of Midas, I thought it added something different and contemporary to the painting.
4. The Trio (And first paid pet portrait)
My first paid painting was also the most challenging as I painted 3 fur babies from 3 different photo references, lighting ad quality, but I was so happy to get all of my customers cats on one canvas and represented each of their individual personalities.
I got the shapes and base colour paint splashes down, building up layers of mid-tones, shadows and highlights.
5. A Christmas gift (and ginger cat)
The client of my previous commission, commissioned one for a friend of her cat- this was where mini pet portraits started. I wanted to give the same amount of detail and personality in a smaller size like in the bigger sizes. They proved to be quite popular after this one. For this ginger cat, I used blues to compliment the gingery orange.
6. Black Cocker Spaniel
mini commission of the prettiest Cocker spaniel with the biggest brown eyes. My client wanted the red detail as a little nod to the receivers favorite football team. Blue black, shadows and highlights from a mid quality photo reference.
7. Golden eyes, fluffy cat
Another mini. They make great Christmas gifts! Because this cat was all white I decided to give it a background that complimented the golden yellow eyes and it made for a great base coat to build my subject on. This one was where i realised that I loved accomplishing the same level of detail in the smaller paintings.
8. In Memory Of Ebs
Memorial pet portraits are particularly special. It's emotional every time and even more important that I catch their special essence in the painting.
9. A Grandads' pal
his little guy was a Christmas gift for a grandad. He wrote a book all about his furry friends life. I painted the entire form in orange base tones and then built on that with black and purple black and lighter shades of that for highlighting.
10. Maine Coon beauty
A beautiful Maine Coon! I had so much fun painting those layers of floof! At this stage, A3 size was my favourite size to paint! I also loved using this colour palette. Green greys, yellow greys, black, blue black and hints of a burnt orange here and there.
11. Cookie
Cookie doesn't go anywhere without his teddy so I had to include it. This was a tricky guy to paint being all brown and not much highlighting in the photo. Another name personalisation on this one!
12. All wrapped up, Mitzy
Mitzy. All wrapped like I Christmas present and lots of floof. Another colour palette I really enjoyed painting with.
13. I need a Hero
I ran a little pet portrait competition which I will try to do on occasion (watch this space). Hero and those glorious ears! It was a joy to paint his shy face and those bold ears. A little nod to his name and a very popular lyric finished this little pet portrait off perfectly.
14. Pretty Poppy
Poppy, still a pup had a cute, but mischievous look on her face in the source photo which according to her owner described her perfectly.
