I love to create highly detailed drawings, but I can only do that if I have a very sharp, high resolution photo to work from. Ideally the photo of your pet will be well lit (preferably taken in daylight so I can see the true colours), with excellent detail in the eyes and face. If you can send me a few photos, that would be even better. I can then see more of your pet's personality.
Most of the pet portraits I create are focused on the head and neck. That way I can lovingly recreate your pet's face in great detail and make them truly come alive in their portrait. I particularily love drawing highly realistic eyes, so do try to get a photo which shows as much facial detail as possible. If I can't see it in the photo, I can't draw it.
Losing our beloved furry companion can be heart-breaking. Remembering and celebrating their life with a realistic pet portrait can help us to remember the wonderful times we shared with them. If you would like to commission a portrait of a deceased pet, you can send me the best photos you have of them and I will do my best to capture their spirit and personality.
I use the very best materials available. The coloured pencils I use are German-made Faber-Castell Polychromos and Swiss-made Caran d'Ache Luminace. They have the highest light-fastness ratings and drawings created with them will last, without fading, when proper care is taken. The finished art-work must never be hung in direct sunlight, and use of UV protecting glass is highly recommended.
My love for art started when I was about three years of age. I can clearly remember spending hours drawing and painting. I was always asking for little paint sets and I had a blackboard on which I would draw and redraw the same little scene, until I was happy with it. Yes, I was a perfectionist even at that young age!
Art was my favourite subject in school. I even did after-school art classes. In secondary school, we had an end of year art competition each year. I think I won first prize every year. When I left school, I went to art college in Cork City (my home town!), but that was a bit of a disappointment to me. My love for detail and realism was not in vogue and was not appreciated. There was an emphasis on a more expressive and abstract style. That was not a direction that I wanted to go in.
In the last few years I have started to rekindle my passion for drawing. I was surprised and delighted that I seemed to still have it! In fact, even though I took a long break from art, my drawing ability is far better now that it was when I was younger. I was lucky enough to come across the internationally acclaimed pet portrait artist, Bonny Snowdon, and I joined her academy where I have learned to fine-tune my skills in colour pencil drawing.
Creating pet portraits is now central in my day to day life. I absolutely love it! It’s wonderful seeing someone’s reaction when they see the portrait I have created of their much loved pet.
Grafix archival drafting film is one of my favourite surfaces on which to draw. It allows for incredibly fine detail. An excellent choice when your reference photo is well focused and highly detailed.
If you are looking to have a beautiful, custom frame made for your pet portrait, check out Strand Framing. They are based in West Cork and they offer amazing custom-made frames. I find their online ordering to be simple and straight-forward. Then again, I AM from Cork, so maybe I biased 🙂