Almost 20 years ago some little girls holding a basket of kittens knocked on the door. They said their father was going to drown the kittens so they wanted to find them all homes! The woman who answered the door decided she could adopt one and chose the little calico. She had considered another kitten, possibly one of the little orange ones, so the calico would have a feline buddy, but she already had a little dog and decided that was enough, and the kitten could be friends with the dog.

She named the calico kitten Minnie, and she was friends with the dog and everyone else. She was the queen of the house for almost 20 years.

Minnie is a recent portrait, from this spring. Her portrait was given as a birthday gift commissioned by the woman’s friend. Being able to create a portrait of a beloved companion for someone is my pleasure, and knowing that portrait is a gift for another is truly an honor.

The portrait is 8″ x 10″, and one of the rare portraits I’ve painted from just one photo—but it was a really good photo. It was cropped very closely and her toes were trimmed off in front, and there was a bit of foreshortening from the angle. Sometimes I’ll sketch these out, make the adjustments, and just get a start but with all her markings, but taking it easy on my vision, I scanned and adjusted it in Photoshop, then printed it out to size. I’ve been using the technique that works best for detailed realistic portraits and illustrations: a light pencil then watercolor sketch on heavy lightly textured illustration board done from the enlargement to block out the areas of color at which time I added the background, just gentle waves of light and shadow adapted from the bits around her in the photo in colors and shapes that would compliment our subject. When that was ready I could finish with shading and detail with two layers of pastel so that I could blend them for the smooth finish in rich colors of fur, the soft pastel sticks then details in pastel pencils. And just looking at her face, she had quite a lot of detail—and fantastic whiskers!

In the original photo she was looking upward at an angle that would be above a human’s head. I decided she should be looking at her person so adjusted her pupils for that expression.

Also, be certain that I am supurrvised as I work. Mimi sits on my lap and watches my every move as I apply the first rough pastel.

I am sadly losing the fine detail of my vision, even with glasses, but these guides help keep me in line, and I work as much as possible during daylight so that I have all the natural daylight from my studio window along with my table lights. But you can be sure some feline will point out that I’ve made a bad mark of some sort, as Mr. Sunshine observes the second layer of pastel for detail.

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Read about other current Commissioned Portraits and Featured Artwork

I also feature artwork which has not been commissioned, especially my paintings of my own cats. If you’d like to read more about artwork as I develop it, about my current portraits and art assignments and even historic portraits and paintings, I feature commissioned portrait or other piece of artwork on Wednesday. Choose the categories featured artwork.

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Take a look at other portraits and read other stories

Read articles on The Creative Cat featuring current and past commissioned portraits.

Read about how I create commissioned portraits.

Commissioned Cat Portraits Samantha, pastel, 1994 © B.E. Kazmarski

Commissioned Dog Portraits Sophie and Ellie, pastel, 2009 © B.E. Kazmarski

Portraits of My Cats After Dinner Nap, pastel, 1996 © B.E. Kazmarski

Visit my website to see portraits of my cats, commissioned cats, commissioned dogs, people and a demonstration of how I put a portrait together from photos.

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Download a Brochure

My brochure is an 8.5″ x 11″ two-page full-color PDF that half-folds when it’s all printed out, showing examples of portraits with an explanation of my process and basic costs.

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Purchase a Gift Certificate

I offer gift certificates for portraits in any denomination beginning at $50.00, which is the basic cost of a small monochromatic portrait.

The certificate itself is 8.5″ x 11″ and features a collage of portrait images with the recipient’s and giver’s names, printed on parchment cover stock. The whole thing is packaged in a pocket folder and includes a brochure, a letter from me to the recipient and several business cards.The certificate package can be easily mailed or wrapped as a gift and shipped directly to your recipient.

I can also make it downloadable if you’re in a hurry.

Certificates are good for up to one year after issue.

You can purchase gift certificates here or from Portraits of Animals if you are also purchasing other animal-inspired merchandise.

I prefer to look over the work and price the portrait according to how much work will go into it, as described above, but you can either set a budget or get started by purchasing a certificate for yourself or as a gift.

How to Order

• “Certificate A” is for a minimum-size 8 x 10 black and white or monochromatic portrait with one subject.
• “Certificate B” is for a minimum-size 8 x 10 color portrait with one subject.
• Choose “A” or “B” depending on whether your portrait is black and white or color.
• If your portrait will be larger or have more subjects, add $50 or $100 or more to your certificate value with the drop-down below.

CERTIFICATE A $50.00

• Size: 8 x 10
• Subjects: One
• Color: black and white media such as charcoal, pencil, ink, or monochromatic media such as one color of pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, etc.
• Background or objects: none but shading or colored paper

CERTIFICATE B $100.00

• Size: 8 x 10
• Subjects: One
• Color: full color media such as pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, etc.
• Background or objects: none but a color or colored paper

Add to your certificate purchase

You can use the second drop down to add $50.00 or $100.00. For amounts over this we’d probably have a conversation and I can set up a custom certificate for your purchase.

You only need to enter an address if it is different from the address I’ll receive when you order. These are often surprise gifts and need to be shipped away from the home address to make sure they are a surprise.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.

Sign up for e-newsletters

You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.

Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.

Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.

For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.

See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.

See daily photos as I post them on Today.

Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.

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© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.