Back to the Canvas

A few weekends ago my partner’s brother asked me to paint a portrait of his beloved cat, Hootie.  Not just any regular portrait, but a Regency themed portrait with Hootie in a suit and ascot!  I was immediately excited about this commission!  However, I was also a bit nervous.

              Since starting this business with my Mom I’ve been so occupied with painting on denim and other fabrics that I haven’t painted on canvas in maybe years.  But still nerves aside, I was excited to do this for my partner’s brother and to get back to my roots of stretched canvas and acrylic paint.

              Michael, the brother, sent me two reference photos, one being a picture of Hootie and the other a regency portrait of a cat.  I took to Procreate on my tablet to put Hootie’s head on the regency portrait and with that finally pick up my brush.

              It was quite a process and for me.  Actually the hardest part of it was getting the background color right, funnily enough.  First it was too dark and I did a lot of futzing but I finally got to a happy place with it and started on the dashing Hootie.

              The rest of the painting I felt came together pretty seamlessly.  And it reminded me of how peaceful and meditative I feel while painting.  I literally can’t think of anything else, and focus solely on the brush strokes.  Hardly anything else I do gives me that same feeling and I relish it.  So not only was I happy to paint this for Michael and Hootie, I was happy to get back to peaceful painting on canvas.