Creating Pet Portraits

Working from a selection of your favourite photographs and through fine attention to detail, my speciality is to create a sensitive and true-to-life oil pastel portrait of your companion. Throughout the painting process, I send images of the portrait as it progresses, so that your feedback will help the final creation capture your cat, dog or horse as closely as can be.

Being an animal lover myself and having spent my life surrounded by pets of all kinds, I appreciate how important it is not only to capture the outer physical characteristics of your pet, but also the spirit within. My joy is in attempting to bring out the unique personality and expressive characteristics of each animal I paint: the lopsided grin, the rolling eye, the crooked ear. The tiny touches which personalize a portrait.

The focus of each of my pet portraits is the eye, and the story an animal can convey in a simple expression without saying a word. This is where I begin my painting, where I focus my attention, and the base upon which the rest of each portrait grows. Slowly, and with great care, the little details & personality of each subject come to life on the canvas.

I have found oil pastel to be the perfect medium with which to capture the lifelike quality I strive for in my portraits. They are a unique hybrid of painting and drawing, and their versatility and intensity bring out the soft colouring and velvety detail of any pet - whether it be a dog, a cat, a horse, or any other animal companion you would like immortalized in fine art.

Please click on the image to the left to see a more detailed illustration of a portrait in progress. If you are interested in the medium of oil pastel, please visit my oil pastel page for further information on technique & brands.

All images on this site © Artist Sarah Theophilus 1991-2007, no reproductions permitted.
Please contact the Artist for licensing information.