Meet Perry, a beautiful Birman cat from San Diego, CA! Perry is a Twitter Critter friend (@PerrytheBirman). His person (@debweeva) commissioned his portrait after getting to know us on Twitter and seeing my artwork online. It was a priveledge to paint this beautiful creature!

Alas, I have never actually met Perry, although I would very much like to, as he is so amazing in photos. I created his painting from photos posted on his person’s Flickr page. This particular photo was striking to me, and was the general basis for the painting.

I initially thought that I would paint the basket, but I decided against that later. I prefer an element of fantasy to my pictures, and the basket didn’t really lend so well to that.

I made a preliminary drawing onto a black canvas and started blocking in color. As you can see, I left an area for the basket that I later filled in.

I made some changes to the eyes, added some whiskers, and put in some grass. I kept adding layers of color. People often ask how I achieve the intense color that is the trademark of my paintings. I do this through a process of building up color by painting many layers of varied colors on top of each other, always leaving some trace of each layer.

Finally, the painting is finished!

Painting Perry was a great adventure, and now, I off to paint his canine house mate, Samson!

Life is an Adventure!

Would you like a custom pet portrait of your pet? BZTAT will paint your animal for a very reasonable price. For information, email her at bztat@artadventuresstudios.com.

Follow works in progress by BZTAT on Twitter by searching #bztatptg.

Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.