Schnauzer Harry is painted just for fun.

Harry looks longingly at his birthday cake.  I was inspired to paint him after my dog Rosie’s birthday in May.

In the painting, he has a similar doggie edible cake as Rosie had, not that she was interested so much in the cake. She was definitely very fond of the Cheez Whiz icing though!

I found “Harry” at unsplash where I often find inspiration for florals or pets, my latest obsessions. Alvan Nee is the photographer.

Learning through trial and error.

Painting just for fun, and of course, to experiment, is all part of the continuous learning process for me as I am not art school educated.

With Harry's portrait, I wanted to see how I could incorporate texture into the painting. I also wanted to try rub on stickers. The result? Meh…I prefer to paint my own butterflies, but I will have to practice a lot more.  As for the textured background, definitely not to my liking. Harry might just disappear behind a fresh coat of paint.

Other pet portraits just for learning.

Over time, I have painted several pets, some published, others not. Of the ones I published I am most happy with Kanuk, painted on paper, also from a reference photo by @dandrew at unsplash.com.

Kanuk, acrylic on 9 x 12 watercolour paper.
Kanuk, acrylic on watercolour paper with gelli printed collage maple leaves.

And then there was Ginger, a Corgi, painted from a reference photo by Nataliia Kvitosvska.

painted Corgi
Ginger.

I painted Ringo based on Charlotte Yealey’s photograph of a Boxer on Pixabay, another great source of photos that are copyright free.

Ringo, the star Boxer.
Ringo with collage background and elements on face..

Both Ginger And Ringo involved experimenting with collage.

Below are experiments in watercolour and pastel.  I even experimented with an app to see the difference it might make with Sunny. With Kirby's portrait, I was playing with colours. For most of my portraits, I also invent stories.

Visit my Custom Pet Portrait page to see more of my painted fur babies. On my website, you will also find testimonials, my price list, portraits on wood slices, and much more.

Have a great week!

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