Pets

Pets for portraits

Pet portraits are second only to people portraits in popularity,
even though many are produced as copies of photographs. The fact of having a pet immortalised in paint, pastel or pencil is special to all concerned. The preference to art over photography indicates a certain value is placed on having an original artwork produced.

Sculptures of pets are starting to increase in demand as more and more sculptors are making it known that they will accept commissions. Of course, producing a sculpture or wood carving is an expensive business, but there are many who value their pet enough to justify the cost.

Typical pets that are commonly painted are dogs, cats, horses and ponies. There are many other pet species that people keep and are less common as portraits, but some have been painted in the past. Birds are at the top of this secondary list, such as parrots, birds of prey, racing and fancy pigeons and pheasants. Other less common animal portraits requested have been from specialist animal keepers. Species such as koi carp, reptiles and exotic animals. There are a few people that keep big cats or wolves as pets and have commissioned artists to produce portraits of their animals. These are rare but they are pet portraits, all be it exotic ones.

Pet portraits can be produced in all manner of drawing and painting mediums from pencils, pastels, conte’, ink, acrylics, watercolour and oils. Sometimes the consideration given to the choice of medium is governed by the financial budget available. Some mediums are more expensive and take longer to use than others, so this will ultimately affect the cost of the artwork. This is the case for sculptures or wood carvings. The cost of materials and the amount of time involve in the production of a sculpture, is reflected in the overall cost of the final piece.