The Pet Portraiture Project

Well, I haven't been working in my sketchbook lately. Actually, I do a lot of "sketching" on my computer. I think that should count.

Anyway, I've had this idea for a while, an idea that came about after I did a painting of Murphy and Molly, two golden retrievers belonging to my friends Linda and Tamar. They had hinted about my painting a portrait of their dogs for a long time. Then one day, I got out the disk of photos that they had given me and went through the hundreds of pictures of their dogs, compositing the right Molly photo with the right Murphy shot (it's a good thing I know Photoshop!) Anyway, much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed painting the dogs. So much so, that I decided that I would, at some point, offer my services as a pet portrait artist.


Of course, I would need more than just this one painting of my friends' dogs! So the plan has always been to develop a portfolio of this type of work, then do some self-promotion and get people to commission portraits of their beloved canines. Naturally, real commissions and all other forms of paying work always seem to take precedence, pushing this project back, but it's always been there, on the back burner, and this last week I actually got back to it…

I did some photo research and came across an image of a Boston terrier that I liked. I took it into Adobe Illustrator and masked it, tried some different backgrounds, decided where the pooch's name should go and proceeded to transfer my idea to paper. Then I painted. And I had the same experience that I had with Murphy and Molly, that of thoroughly enjoying the painting process.


There was only minimal frustration when painting Roxy (a name I took from the first Boston terrier I found online). In the beginning, it didn't look like the dog but I knew that if I just kept at it, it would transform. There comes a magical moment for me whenever I paint something in the style of realism—that point where the subject "comes to life". I love that moment! Everything just comes together and for a fleeting moment the deal about being an artist seems a truly good one and I am always filled with gratitude. Too bad it's only fleeting, soon enough I return to self-doubt. So here is my finished painting. The only finished one of the week. I am quite happy with it.