The Portrait of Jessie Blue

Jessie Blue, acrylic, 16" x 20"

Blog 27

When I was approached by my friend Francine to paint her beautiful ragdoll cat Jessie Blue, I was very excited. I had not painted too many animal portraits lately, even though this is my biggest passion.

I went to see Francine and her cat to take pictures of Jessie Blue. I took about 20 pictures in different poses. Some with flash, some without. In addition, Francine gave me some of her favourite photos. After looking at all the photos, I picked the photos that seemed best for the project. It was up to Francine to make a decision. I told her my plan to take the pose of the body from one photo but with the head from another because I wanted Jessie Blue to look directly at the viewer.

This step is very important. We all remember certain poses of our pets when we think about them. For example, I can still see our dog Candy nudging me with her snout, looking at me with big eyes, when she wanted to be petted.

While Francine liked all of the photos, she did not recognize her Jessie Blue in all of them. In some she looked too dramatic, in others the pose I captured was not one she often struck.

Once, we had decided on the photos I would use for the portrait, I started my sketch and block in of colours. I was happy with my progress but wanted to compare the colours I had used with the real colours of Jessie Blue. Even if you use a very good camera, the colours of your pictures might be slightly different from reality. I was also concerned about her eyes that just did not look right.

It was time to visit my model a second time. I brought the painting along to compare the colours. It was so wonderful to see how excited Francine was about the painting even though I was far from finished. This is such a treat for an artist.

When I met with Jessie Blue the second time, I made sure to concentrate on her face. Among the 25 photos I shot this time, I found the perfect one for her face. I adjusted the colours of her fur which were slightly too dark, then worked a long time on her eyes. Ragdoll cats like Jessie Blue have very light blue eyes. I painted over the eyes several times until I was happy with their shape and colour. For a while they turned out either too blue or too white.

When I was ready for the final adjustments, I met Francine again. She was very happy with the painting and had only a few suggestions for slight changes which were easy to accomplish. However, one of the hind legs seemed to be a problem. No matter what I tried, I did not get it the way Francine thought it should be, until she sent me another picture of her cat. While I had captured Jessie Blue with the bottom of her paws showing which are rather light, Francine envisions Jessie Blue's dark brown paws when she thinks of her. Once, we figured this out, it was easy to make the final change. That is why I encouraged Francine all along to make any suggestions. The portrait should not show my vision of Jessie Blue but be a reflection of Francine's vision. I am very happy that I was able to capture that.

I would like to thank Francine for allowing me to write a blog about the creation of the portrait of her cat. If you are interested in having your pet painted in order to have a precious keepsake of your dear companion, please contact me at kpeters@domingoinformatics.ca. I will gladly discuss the process with you. In case you live far away or your pet is already deceased, I would ask you for a couple of photographs and would talk to you about his/her personality and your relationship to get a better knowledge of your bond.

Mimi and Momo

Blog 6

For many of us February is the month of love. Valentine’s Day is often considered the ultimate day to celebrate the relationship between lovers. Many people buy expensive gifts, such as large diamond rings as symbols of their love for each other. However, there is also the instinctive form of love between parents and their children. This is, however, not only limited to the human world. There are many stories of love in the animal kingdom. The story behind my 8” x 10” acrylic painting “Mimi and Momo” is one of these love stories.

Mimi and Momo, whom my children and I named despite my husband’s advice of caution, were two little kittens who were part of our family for about two weeks. We don’t even know whether they were male or female, we just liked the similar names for the tiny creatures who only had each other.

Our Australian Shepherd Alex must have found them a couple of days before we realized something was hiding in the little cave under some big rocks. We had noticed for a couple of days that Alex always gravitated to the same spot in our yard and despite being a well-trained dog, hardly followed our commands when we called him. Finally, we followed him and saw those two tiny kittens. We don’t know how old they were, and how long they had been abandoned.

They were crying and seemed quite starved. Therefore, we decided to take care of them, and they eagerly ate the kitten food we bought.

While Alex cared for them like a mother, knowing instinctively what to do, our female Golden Retriever Candy clearly did not want to be involved. Her motto was “Stay away from me, and I will not bother you.”

I don’t know whether it had anything to do with Alex being a shepherd, but he made sure that the two little ones stayed close. He carried them back to the kitchen or closer to the house if they wandered off on the lawn. He licked them clean, watched any of their moves.

For about two weeks we had our pleasure watching those two little kittens discover the world. The black and white kitten Momo was quite timid, but Mimi who was grey and white was very curious. They were just so cute to watch.

They really seemed to thrive until they suddenly got very sick. When Momo died within hours we were very sad but took extra special care of Mimi who seemed fine. However, she also got sick about a day later. We tried to get help for her but she did not survive either. We were told that the two little kittens probably did not have enough antibodies from their mother’s milk.

We were all quite upset but Alex was devastated. For days, he kept looking everywhere for them. We were just glad that the two did not infect Alex.

A couple of weeks later, we found out from a neighbour that the their mother had even more kittens. We don’t know what happened to them after their mother was found dead at the side of a road. Mimi and Momo probably were the strongest ones and therefore lived the longest. I am still sad when I think about them and angry when I consider that so many people still do not sterilize their cats. There are so many stray cats fighting for their life, the humane societies are overrun with them.

Nowadays, we have another cat at home, a former stray that we adopted from a young woman who had taken him in from the street. We got Miko when we had so many mice in our basement that I refused to go down anymore.

Alex always likes to chase Miko during the day when he moves too fast while Miko reigns over the house in the evening. He even gives Alex the occasional sniff and kiss. However, since Candy passed away about half a year ago, the two of them have come closer. Alex tries to play with Miko but so far Miko is not interested. It would be nice if they interacted more because I know Alex misses Candy. We do a lot with him, but sometimes he still seems lonely.

This year, I finally plan to finish my painting of Candy and Alex that I started two years ago but I am sure I also have to do a portrait of our cat. My daughter is constantly asking me to paint Miko. She is right, a portrait of him is more than due. I took many photos of him so I should find some that are good reference photos for my project.

If you have a furry family member whom you would liked to have painted please do not hesitate to contact me by email at kpeters@DomingoInformatics.ca. It would be my pleasure to discuss the options with you so you will have a unique lasting memory of your pet.