Some pet portraits take longer to paint than others. Seamus Finnegan’s portrait seemed to take forever for me. There are some reasons for that.

First of all, I traveled to Denver during the time that I was painting Seamus for the BlogPaws West conference, which kind of interrupted the flow of it.

Second, his breed (Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier) is one of the tougher ones for me to paint. Animals with shaggier faces are the toughest for me, as it is more difficult to abstract their countenances into shapes and colors and still retain the character of the animal.

But probably what delayed me the most was my own  desire to capture this particular animal in a very special way.

Seamus’ owner commissioned his portrait after he suddenly passed away in April of this year due to a blood clot. His loss was heartbreaking.

Seamus was Mr. Exuberance, with a huckster’s grin on his face most of the time, according to his owner. he was a very charismatic and “charming Irish rogue” according to his Twitter profile.

His owner shared that his veterinarian became tearful about him when she brought her cats in for a routine visit recently. Some animals have a way of working their way into every heart they encounter, and Seamus was certainly one of those animals.

Those of us who chatted with Seamus on Twitter miss him greatly. We do enjoy tweeting with Air Beardie, however, who has continued the family legacy.

The in-process photos of Seamus’ painting are featured in the slide-show below. You can see that I experimented and painted in a lot of different directions until I finally settled into a groove with it. To celebrate his Irish heritage, I added the shamrock in the final stage.

Rest in peace Seamus. We will all look forward to seeing you at the Rainbow Bridge someday.

Do you know someone who would like a custom portrait of their pet painted by BZTAT? Pet portraits make great gifts for friends, family, and corporate clients. Information about commissioning a custom pet portrait can be found here.