Pet Portraits

DSCN1437 (600 x 450)Would you like me to paint a portrait of your pet?

Well, this is a bit of a new departure for me, but I have always loved painting – animals in particular.

If you would like me to paint a picture of your pet from a photo, then please contact me for details.

Here is an example of my work, a portrait of my three dogs Gassi, Maia and ZsaZsa. It’s done in acrylics on canvas board.

DSCN1443 (450 x 600) This is our dear departed little terrier Mikey. We found him abandoned and living in a box. He followed us home and we gave him a sausage which he promptly buried in a pile of builder’s sand nearby. He lived with us for ten years.

He always had a wild streak, not in the sense of being aggressive, but in always escaping. We often got calls from people saying ‘we have your dog with us. He’s very nice, but can you come and get him.’ Once Alan had to drive 15 kilometres because he had followed a group of cyclists touring Lake Trasimeno!

Mikey died as he had lived. Late one night he escaped into the field behind the house. He often did that and we weren’t worried. But he didn’t come back and this time we knew something was up. I didn’t sleep well and got up at five to look for him. I found his little body speared with porcupine quills. Not lethal in themselves, but he had tried to crawl back under the fence and one had pierced his heart. That was three years ago now and we still miss him.

 

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This painting is of Jimmy climbing up a tree in the garden when he was a kitten.

Jimmy is one of four kittens born to Monica, a feral cat living in and around the garden. There are a fair number of these feral cats around and we feed four of them at the moment.

Sadly Jimmy is the only survivor of the litter. Two female kittens were taken when just a few weeks old by a fox, and then his brother Jerry Lee (Alan named him!) died suddenly when nine months old. Apparently this can happen to male cats under two years old, the feline equivalent of cot death.

 

Portrait of Casentino deer

I’m not sure this fits into the category of a pet, but I’m starting a series of wildlife portraits as this area of Tuscany is packed full of it. I’ve started with a female deer rather than the more obvious stag. Not sure what will be next  – a wild boar maybe!