Cali

Callie
by Sharon Whitley the rambling artist

This is Cali - she is Gary's mum's much loved golden retriever who I've painted as a gift for her.  It's always a pressure when you are painting for someone else especially when it's a portrait - and you desperately want them to be pleased with it. Cali is one of those dogs who always has sad looking eyes so I've tried to capture that side of her and she's always lying down!  Don't worry she is a happy dog though! - some dogs are like that aren't they, always looking at you with those doleful eyes!  Gary's mum also has another dog called Charlie who is next on my list to paint. I do enjoy painting and drawing people's pets and have had a few commissions to do them - usually as favours for family and friends - I'll never make a business woman lol!  When I do accept paid commissions there is never any obligation to buy if the customer isn't happy with the result - that sort of takes the pressure off a bit!!   The most important thing for me is to capture their personality and as I've said before I always start with the eyes - the soul of the painting.

Here are a couple of WIPs

You may also like this post about painting pet portraits

and this post of Holly my black lab

Thank you for dropping by - comments are welcome as always - it's always a pleasure to hear from fellow bloggers - and I've figured out how to turn off that annoying word verification thing so you don't have to faff about with it!