Morris’ background is a really rich, beautiful and leathery chocolate brown color. He just kind of “gave” me this color. Let me try to explain how that works, because to me – the background color is just as much a part of the portrait as the subject itself. It is an extension, a mood. Color conveys feeling, and each pet says something different to me. They’re all individuals, so they deserve more than a standard blanket background color that matches the sofa.

Sometimes, the background color just comes to me while I’m looking at the photos I’ve been given to work from. His reference photo is a bit blurry and small, pixelated with a lot of flash. But even though the reference might be bad, the only thing I really need to see his his personality coming through in the photos. Knowing the anatomy of a cat is extra helpful, and I think since I’ve painted so many cat portraits – the anatomy is embedded in my mind now. With Morris, though, it was the personality that I saw that led me to mix this color for his portrait.

I just felt it, and that’s what I love most about what I do.