Tag: custom pet portraits

Custom Portrait: Painting of Three Dogs in a House

Recently, I started painting on site at Canine Action Sports Dog Training Center on Thursday evenings. Since people seem to enjoy watching me paint, and I enjoy painting dogs, it is a great place for me to meet fellow animal lovers who are interested in my work.

One of my biggest fans is the owner of the center, who commissioned me to paint a whimsical painting of her three dogs, Mattie, Rosie and Tasha.

Having seen a drawing that I had made previously, she asked if I could do a similar image with her dogs in the windows of the house. She also requested that the piece be done on a textured wood that adds to the whimsical effect.


My models from the left: Mattie, Rosie and Tasha

I began the painting as I always do, by painting the background black and blocking in colors for the basic shapes. I use a process of building up color by painting many layers of varied colors on top of each other, always leaving some trace of the underneath layers.


As you can see in the last image above, I ended up changing the base of the house, to make the black dog seem a little more plausible. The thinner house base made her head look too big for what we imagine to be her body hidden from view.

It takes many hours to paint a painting such as this, ranging anywhere from 15 to 25 hours and more, depending on the difficulty. This one was a bit more difficult, as it required some detail and had 3 animals featured. As you can suspect, every artist has intense thinking going on during the process, sometimes reflecting joy and confidence; sometimes insecurity and trepidation. It is all a part of the process.

I sometimes “tweet” some of these thoughts on Twitter as I am working. Here are some of my random thoughts that were captured in tweets as I painted this painting:

@BZTAT I’m looking at this painting and thinking…Even a whimsical painting requires some degree of plausibility, and I am not there yet.

@BZTAT When ya gotta sing, ya gotta sing, or in my case, when ya gotta paint, ya gotta paint! (in reply to a message from a musician)

@BZTAT thinks she is really not made out for detail painting. Just sayin’.

@BZTAT I am working on a piece with more detail than I am used to at the moment, and it’s making me cross eyed!

@BZTAT is painting on the wild side–wearing clothes that, thus far, do not have paint on them. (That changed real quickly…)

@BZTAT Sometimes I think I really don’t know how to paint. I just slap the paint on, and on, and on…until it finally works.

Despite the insecurities, I eventually worked through various dilemmas and finished the piece to my satisfaction. My patron has not yet seen the piece; I hope that she and her pooches enjoy it!

BZTAT with a young fan painting on location
at Lehman’s in Kidron, OH

Now, on to the next portrait–a dog named Boomer, who recently went to the Rainbow Bridge. I feel very honored to paint this very special portrait.

Life is an Adventure!
BZTAT

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

Art Adventures Studios
Buy Artwork and Gifts by BZTAT
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography.

Custom Portrait: painting of a Boy and His Cat


“Boy and His Cat“
Original painting by BZTAT

Recently, a woman I met on Twitter (@Zissy4PetTalez) asked me if I could paint a portrait of her grandson and his cat as a gift for him. With some trepidation, I said yes.

I have been an animal painter for as long as I can remember. Painting people has never really been an interest of mine, so I never really explored that genre artistically. When I began using Photoshop, however, I realized that I could design some portraiture images that I kind of liked.

“Jack” Digital Photo by BZTAT

I created this picture when a woman asked me to create an image of her dog. Her nephew came along for the photo-shoot, and his mother asked me to do an image of him as well. I was quite surprised when it turned out so well!

I liked it so much, I used it for the basis for a painting that I did for the Domestic Violence Project in Canton, OH. The painting was selected for the Best in Show Award.

“Rediscovery” by BZTAT

So when my friend from Twitter asked me to do her grandson, I was a little nervous, but I had been successful with one child portrait, so I had a little bit of confidence to do it.

The cat was quite easy to paint. The boy did present some challenges for me. He kept looking sort of cartoonish to me, which I did not want. There is a fine line between whimsical, abstract, and cartoonish. I wanted to stay on the side of whimsical and abstract, but still capture a likeness of him.

I struggled with this painting more than most, because of these challenges, but then, I do tend to fuss about all of them…Anyway, once I finally finished it, I was pretty happy with the result. So was the boy when he received his gift!

Now, I feel much more confident about doing child portraits. It’s a good thing. Another Twitter friend has asked me to paint a picture of her daughter and her pug! Here is a sneak peak of the Cookie Monster (still in progress), commissioned by @BayChildCare on Twitter! (For the child’s security, I am only posting the image of the dog, per her mother’s request.)

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.

Info about pet portrait prices can be found here.

Life is an Adventure!

Art Adventures Studios
Buy Artwork and Gifts by BZTAT
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OH near Second April Galerie and the historic Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography.

Oscar The Cat: The Ultimate Twitter Critter


From Brewskie Butt, official spokescat of Art Adventures Studios…

Hi Everybody. It’s the Brew. I am feelin’ very sad today. My dear Twitter friend, @OscartheCat, passed over to the Rainbow Bridge today. It is strange, since he and I never actually met in real life, but we became best pals on Twitter, and it just feels awful now that he is gone.

You may remember that I wrote about Oscar back in February here. Here is some of what I wrote back then:

I met Oscar (known on Twitter as @OscarTheCat) early in my days on Twitter, but it wasn’t until one fateful night that we became best pals. Someone nominated us both for one of those crazy Twitter popularity contests that they have, and he and I both got kinda silly with it. By the end of the night, we were in first and second place! Our friendship was cemented.

Oscar is one cool cat! He is always encouraging other cats and other critters by passing out *nosetaps*, and he has developed a special website just for Cats Who Twitter! Oscar wrote about me on his first “Blogger Tuesday” feature! He also has a blog called The Furry Tripod, so named because of his being a three-pawd cat. He lives with a slightly irreverent younger cat named Henry (known on Twitter as @Quadpawd), to whom he is trying to teach manners and the finer ways of being a cat. It’s a big job, but he takes it in stride.

Oscar has been struggling with kidney disease since February, and he has defied all the odds. Just when the vet would say that it was time for him to go, Oscar would rally back and show his human mom that he was not ready yet. Today, though, his 18 year old body finally wore out, and he left this world. he will be greatly missed by his family and his friends on Twitter.

Oscar was not just your ordinary cat on Twitter. He was a friend to all, and he was the first “anipal” for most of the Twittering Critters. He was very special, always giving support, but also quick with a joke. We can only hope that his little “mancat in training” brother will pick up his legacy and keep his spirit alive.

BZTAT painted the picture above as a tribute to Oscar back in February, and she made it into a Get Well card that was signed by many of his anipals. You can see it here. The posting page only displays the last 25 comments made, but there were many, many more. BZTAT sent the painting to Oscar’s mom a few weeks ago, because she just felt that was where it was supposed to be.

To all of Oscar’s friends, please feel free to leave a comment or final *nosetap* here for our dear friend. To Oscar’s family, I thank you so much for sharing your dear fellow with us.

And to Oscar–We are gonna miss ya, pal. But, we know what you are saying as you look down upon us from the Rainbow Bridge: “It’s all good!” *nosetaps* t0 ya pal. We luv ya.

The Brew

Life is an Adventure!

Art Adventures Studios
Buy Artwork and Gifts by BZTAT
Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OH
near Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.