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Making a better portrait The cats are finished. Because of the perspective (stairs get smaller as they go farther away from you) each cat would be significantly smaller than the previous one. I made the cats closer to the size they would be to eachother in real life. That is not technically correct. But it makes a better portrait. The perspective of the stairs is mathematically correct, each step proportionally smaller than the previous one. Your “mind’s eye” tells you theref

Working on Octavia's hair. The size of portrait the Chans ordered is 12 x 16 inches. It has two full-body figures in it, so some of the details in it are quite small. Some smaller than a sharp pencil point. There is a lot of detail in this portrait. So the challenge of portraying fine detail accurately, that small, will continue. 🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Honeysuckle” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 12 x 16 inches. "Penny & Octavia", in progress Portrait of Octavia Stensen and Penn

January 5 I'm starting a new portrait, of Titan for Alicia McCarthy. This portrait has a very touching story to it. I’m working on “Sky Grey” Canson paper. A beautiful paper that has little flecks and fibers in it. I like using that for a portrait on a plain-color background, it lends interest to an otherwise plain, flat background color. Titan portrait in progress 2 You may remember when I worked on the beautiful memorial portrait of Wishes for Alicia last year. While we we

Bonnie, the middle cat is finished, and I'm working on the third cat, Morgan. When Tammy asked for a portrait of her three cats and sent photos to me, one of them showed two of her cats on stairs. That gave Tammy the great idea for this portrait with each of the three cats on its own step. Two of the cats are still living, Grace and Bonnie. Morgan has gone ahead to the Rainbow Bridge. This is Morgan: “Three Cats on Stairs” (Grace, Bonnie, and Morgan) Commissioned by Tammy Cun

Last week I shared the three portraits Greg and Theresa Chan commissioned of Westminster Best in Show winning Doberman, Penny, to be given as surprise gifts to members of “Team Penny”. We began working on the portrait for Octavia in January….before Penny won Westminster! (Westminster was to be the last show of her impressive career.) The creation of a portrait always starts with choosing the right photos to use for reference. 1 The Chans suggested this photo of Octavia with P