This is my cat Colby. She is 11 years old and was recently diagnosed with mouth cancer, so I thought that there was no better time than the present to paint a portrait of her. I am still considering this a work in progress, but I'm not really sure what else I will do to it yet. Most likely try to continue to add more contrasting values, and work on that paw. It's just bugging me and I'm not sure why. The proportions maybe?
When you lose a pet, sometimes I feel that artwork can capture the essence of that pet better than a photograph. When I am painting a deceased pet, I imagine in my mind the time in their life when they had the most vitality; when they were at their happiest, I guess you could say.
This hasn't been the easiest portrait to paint by far. I'm a perfectionist by nature, and I want to capture my sweet Colby cat as I see her in my mind's eye. Even though I feel that this portrait is far from perfect, I am submitting it here anyways, and maybe sometime in the future I will come to accept it as it is.
