Pet lovers everywhere know that their companions’ lives are too short. Over many years, I’ve painted more than three dozen pet portraits. My first three pet portraits (shown below) were done in charcoal in 1980, of my own first pets, Cleo, Ernie, and Pluto. Paintings of my own dogs and cats trigger precious memories, especially after the pets have died. I am grateful to be able to do this for other pet owners as well.
My portrait of Mango was commissioned after Mango had died, as a gift for the pup’s owner by one of her close friends. For portrait purposes, this often introduces a challenge… existing photos of a pet who has died may be scarce, poor quality, or low resolution. From the three photos my customer provided, I chose the one I thought could work, but also alerted him of my reservations. At my suggestion, we decided to keep the painting small, just 8×10. I did major re-working to the reference photo, which is shown below, to isolate and focus on the pup and to clone the background of soft sheepskin. My customer, an accomplished photographer, was delighted, and gave me the green light to start the painting.
I painted Mango’s portrait with Golden Fluid Acrylic paints on a medium grain gallery-wrapped linen stretched canvas. In his fur I saw purple, rose and blue tones, so I used these colors softly in the background and in the painting of the sheepskin cover.
I hope my painting of Mango will give his mom, Michelle, many many years of happy memories and great pleasure.
