It’s raining cats in my studio – this is my second completed cat portrait this week. Morris is an orange tabby and this is also a memorial painting for his furmom. He passed away just a couple of months ago so I hope that his portrait brings her years of warm memories and smiles.

I’ve left my brushes beside the piece so you can see what I use when I work the final layer. Yes – that’s a toothpick, so you can see how small the brushes are. I do paint each piece of fur one piece at a time, that’s what gives my paintings their depth and realism. It may be tedious, but the results are so well worth it to me, and to my clients.

I’ll post the final scan once his portrait is dry & varnished.

Thanks for tuning in to my studio cam, if you had the chance!

Callie’s portrait is complete – I’ll post a scan after the painting is dry. You can view her previous progress shot here. 🙂

I’ve sketched up another cat portrait – this is Rex. He’s a tuxedo kitty, just gorgeous with a Groucho Marx style moustache across his nose. He even has a similar look on his face, too!

I’ll work in this background in the next few days as well.

Jambalaya, aka Jam or Jammy, is a red and white husky. She’s gorgeous – you’ll see that as her painting progresses – in part because she’s got bi-colored eyes. Jam and Badger (recently completed) are in the same family.

I will work in the background while I’m finishing up all of my other portraits – but it will be a week or two before I get to work her underpainting in.

I had quite the giddy little girl surprise yesterday when I opened my mailbox – I received the July issue of DogWorld Magazine. I wasn’t expecting this issue until – well, July. So I was pretty surprised to see it and cannot TELL you how quickly I opened up to the inside cover contents:

Now, this is where the squealing like a little girl part came in. Those of you who know my work know exactly why already, those of you who don’t? Click here, then come back and have another look. If any of you would like to reminisce, you could go back to my blog archives and have a walk down memory lane, and see how Katie’s portrait came to life in my studio.

When I was asked to display artwork in DogWorld Magazine, I was absolutely ecstatic. I had to submit work for consideration, first, and then the editorial team would approve the final artwork selected for this issue. Katie was an obvious choice, she’s a gorgeous purebred Lab. I quickly provided everything they requested and it wasn’t long before her portrait was issued their stamp of approval. So much so, in fact, that they gave her a full page:

From start to finish, Katie’s portrait is “all me”. What’s different about this piece from my other portraits is that I also did the photo shoot with Katie. I selected this composition from my own photography – so it is exactly how I envisioned her from start to finish. Getting down on the floor with her and hanging out with her, seeing how she behaved around her mom, this conveys her spirit in a portrait perfect way, from first hand knowledge and experience.

The greatest part about this opportunity is that it is who it is. Dog lovers, those who have those special connections with their dogs, trainers, aficionados – these are the eyes that will pick up this magazine and see this portrait, so this is such an insane honor. Really. I can’t even wrap my brain around how flattered and overwhelming it is.

Other artists work included in the “Gallery of Dogs” spread include Michael Pfleghaar, Louise Peterson, Nicholas Moss, Paul Boddum, Marjorie Pesek, Lori Alexander and Hilda Spain-Owen.

If you’re in the pet store or Borders or wherever there’s a great big magazine rack – pick up the July (2008) issue of Dog World.

Morris is a short hair orange tabby, so with this rich chocolate background color, he’ll really convey that kind of “regal” air about him that I picked up in his personality while I studied his photograph.

Here’s Simba’s underpainting – he’s a fluffy orange tabby, the fluff will come out a lot more with the finished piece. For now, I worked in the deepest shades into his fur and worked in his eyes pretty well, though they’ll still get more detail with the second session.