My New Category!

In the beginning of May 2007, I received an email from a man with an interesting request. He would soon be celebrating his first wedding anniversary and wanted to give his wife a unique gift -- a portrait. He told me that he was known for his fantastic gifts. What made this portrait so unique and fantastic was that it was of his beautiful Siberian Husky, Lexi.

Now I'd never painted a pet portrait before. Hadn't even drawn an animal in years, but I told my client that I'd be happy to take on the assignment and have it delivered in time for his anniversary at the end of the month. I was nervous, but so excited! I did a search for pet portrait artists to find examples of what a typical pet painting would look like, its sizing and other info, and saw that the majority of pet portrait artists come from the UK. I knew of one artist in particular who I admired very much. Her website features a forum and even before-and-after demos. I emailed her for a little information, which she gladly gave to me, and I joined the forum to ask the other artists a few questions. I met a lot of friendly and extremely helpful people who were very willing to help me with my assignment.

As is my custom, I kept my client up-to-date with photos of Lexi's work-in-progress. I do this because if any changes are necessary, I can easily make them. Everything was going so smoothly and doing a pet portrait was so much fun! A few of the artists at the forum even asked me if I'd do another pet portrait. The answer to that: if requested, sure!

In the end, Lexi's portrait was gorgeous! The painting was delivered on time, and the couple loved it -- particularly the wife. I'd like to thank them for adding a new category to my portfolio: Pets!