Further work on my commission

Here is my further progress on my pet portrait commission. I have tried to punch up the contrast a bit but I am still very unsure of the expressions. My source material is so scant and I barely know the annimals in question having only “met” them once. I guess I will let this dry for a bit and then finish it off.

Cuddles & Minou

I have always avoided commissions (usually by quoting such an exorbitant price that I manage to scare the client away). I was once asked to do something “about this big” (gesture with hands to indicate a piece about 24″X36″) in “browns and blues to go over my daughters bed”. Her budget was around $200, I suggested she visit imagekind and select something she liked. I have finally got a commission that I haven’t been able to avoid though. It is a portrait of two pets, the only “children” of a couple of friends of mine. I visited and tried to get some photographs but was unable to catch them together, I also have a couple of snapshots provided by the client, one is literally of their backs. I have put together a pastiche with Photoshop and am trying to paint something from that. I kinda feel like it is the commission from hell. I have never been a pet portraitist, the only animals I have painted being my own, ones I know intimately and don’t really need photos for.

Here is my progress so far. I will come back to it after the holiday and see if I can pull my ass out of the fire.

8″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

Mitsy belongs to a relative of my husband. She likes to perch on the back of a chair and survey her domain.

3.5″X2.5″ Acrylic on paper

Another one of the little African soapstone carvings and part of a series of Christmas ornaments.

3.5″X2.5″ Acrylic on paper

Well I think it is a tiger. Another in the ornament series, although perhaps not a Christmas ornament, I bought it at Christmas to use with a crèche. This was Purchased a few years ago from that wonderful store Ten Thousand Villages, I believe it is “kisii” or soapstone and made in Kenya. There are several other animals in the collection and they were embarrassingly cheap. I will probably paint some more of them. They are fun to do and well suited to this miniature treatment, only about one inch long.

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5″X7″ Mixed media on panel

In an attempt to loosen up and give myself a challenge I did something new today. I used an oil pastel sketch as a starting point then thinner to spread the pastels and finished with just a little true oil paint. I tried this because Klein is skittish and I was afraid that if I tried to come and set myself up with my full oil painting rig on the bed with her, she would just take off. I am actually quite pleased with the overall effect, I may try it again.

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5″X7″ Pencil on paper

I see this chap (or one of his brothers) most days now that the weather is warmer, he sits out on top of his shed, basking in the sun. Goats have always fascinated me. How animals with hooves can climb like a cat, it still something of a mystery to me.

5″X7″ Pencil on paper

Cats and sunbeams just seem to go together, at least that has always been Klein’s opinion.

This is my one hundredth day of posting these daily drawings and paintings. I am not sure that I ever thought I would make it this far. So far I haven’t missed a day, although it is bound to happen sooner or later.

5″X7″ Graphitint and aquarelle on paper

In the very back of my closet there is a mending basket. This is a favourite place for Klein at this time of year because in the mornings, if the door is left open, there is a sunbeam. What more could a cat want than a basket, a closet and a sunbeam?