Bernese Mountain Dog Portrait
I completed this larger-than-life portrait of Cheyenne, a bernese mountain dog, a couple months ago. These dogs are gorgeous and huge so it’s only fitting that her portrait is 3 feet by 3 feet. It was a gift for my client’s daughter and now hangs in her bedroom. Cheyenne is also the portrait featured on my ad in this month’s Bark Magazine!
Back from the blogging graveyard
I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I last posted! It’s one of those things that easily gets sidelined the busier I get, and man have I been busy. Every since the uber fabulous Heather Armstrong of dooce.com fame posted the portraits I sent her of Chuck and Coco, I’ve had a steady stream of orders. Because dooce is international, I’VE gone international and have since shipped portraits to Canada, Hong Kong, London and New Zealand! I love the idea that my portraits are not only scattered all across the United States, but across the WORLD!
Needless to say, working on the commissioned portraits have taken a front seat to blogging, photo uploading and just general maintenance. I am trying to find a little balance in my business and I have decided that I need to dedicate time each week to updating my blog, sharing recent portraits that I’ve completed, keeping my facebook page more active, etc. I think the longer I go without updating, the more daunting of a task it becomes. So I’ve decided that I’m taking the pressure off and just need to get back into it. No crazy long post, no particular reason for posting, just to start sharing more images and more insight into my daily life as I continue my quest to be the most sought after pet portraiture artist IN THE WORLD!!! Wa ha ha ha ha (evil laugh).
I hope to get into the swing of things with my new, highly sophisticated scheduling system (re: blog once a week on either a Thursday or Friday morning), so that as the holidays get closer and I get much busier, it will be something I can keep up with. That way when I promise my clients that their pets’ portrait will be displayed soon, I actually WILL display it soon.
So, without further ado, I leave you with some recent images of portraits I’ve completed in the past year. Definitely only a small sampling, you can see more on my flickr page or, of course, my website image gallery.
Grown up Fitz poses with Puppy Fitz
Congratulations!
I recently finished these two portraits of Winnie, which were commissioned by Anne, a bride-to-be to give to her husband on the day of their wedding. Anne let me know that her husband loves them and it really made for the perfect gift and surprise. A portrait (or two) of your best friend certainly beats a pair of cuff links! In my opinion, anyway. 🙂 Congratulations to the newlyweds!
New Card Sneak Peek!
My other company, The Kiwi Tree, is about to unveil some new cards and bottle tags. They’re not on the website yet, but I thought I’d give a sneak peek of one of my favorite’s of the newbies. And big surprise, it’s part of our dog line. Although my illustration of the little guy isn’t nearly as detailed as commissioned portraits, I still think this Boston is super cute. Probably because I think the breed is pretty cool. I may even go as far as to say I think they’re awesome. Wicked awesome. Click on the Boston Terrier to purchase or to peruse through the rest of our cards. Guaranteed for at least a laugh or two.
Larger than Life Bulldog Portraits
These portraits are my largest to date sized at about 7 feet long by 3 feet high. Bulldog mama Deanna saw my ad in Bark Magazine and contacted me to inquire about a size that big. I let her know it would be no problem, so she sent me a couple pictures and I got to work. She originally only ordered one (of Stanley) but luckily liked it so much that Douglas got one, too! These portraits were a gift for her husband’s birthday and will soon decorate the walls of his home office.
From Deanna:
I received the portraits, and of course they are amazing…. My husband was completely blown away. He can’t stop looking at them, they look SOOOO much like the dogs.
I can not thank you enough, you have a great eye and your creativity is amazing.
Sam looks on as Stanley printed canvas arrives and is revealed
One down. One to go. Wrapping Douglas's portrait
Sam and Makai hang with Stanley
Makai and Sam pose with the final portraits
Stanley’s canvas arrives!
So I’ve mentioned a few different times that I recently completed my two largest portraits yet, two bulldogs displayed at a whopping 7 feet by 3 feet! Their mom and commissioner of the portraits has promised me a picture of the portraits hanging in her home (I’m holding you to it!) so I’ve been waiting to post that photo to show them.
But for now, I thought I’d show a shot of when I received the first canvas print in the mail as kind of a sneak peek. This also shows a little bit of my process. Since my artwork is graphic illustrations, I print the final digital file on high quality canvas. I purchase wooden stretcher bars separately and once I assemble the bars into the frame for the artwork, I wrap the canvas and then I have my finished portrait ready for delivery!
Here, Sam checks out the canvas while Makai remains unimpressed. Probably because I’m paying attention to something other than her.
Doghouse Pet Portraits Blog 
