Oil Pet Portrait of Tilly

Welcome to the story of the oil pet portrait of Tilly. We received such a heartfelt and sad email from our client Diane which we have added below. It is always so sad when a beloved pet passes away. We know how emotional and upsetting it can be, we have been through it ourselves and will do again. It’s never easy. We just hope that our paintings and drawings do bring some comfort.

Hi Melanie,
The light of my life went out today. My 14 year old Tilly (mini wire dachshund) I would very much like a portrait of her.  How do I go about commissioning a painting of her from you please
Diane

Tilly was simply adorable and Diane emailed us lots of lovely photos to choose from for the basis of the portrait. One however really stood out to us all and this was the one Nicholas used as the basis of the oil pet portrait of Tilly. Nicholas created an overall very soft focus piece allowing the viewer to really hone in on Tilly’s big eyes and soft fur.

The oil pet portrait of Tilly was created to 14 x 11 size in traditional oils on linen canvas. Our client Diane called the studio and thanked Nicholas personally for creating the portrait for her. We both know that the painting will mean a great deal to Diane as she misses Tilly so much.

Tilly is home!
Thank you so much. Her expression and personality has been captured beautifully
A real treasure and wonderful reminder of her
Diane

Oil Pet Portrait of Tilly in Progress

Here are a few of the stages of the Oil Pet Portrait of Tilly. I took these while Nicholas was working at his easel. Nicholas wanted to really focus in on the character and personality of Tilly right away so he started on Tilly’s face, and only blocked some of the background tones in. This way he could paint the background and the soft fur in to blend them later on.

Nicholas is adding some of the background colours next and the oil pet portrait of Tilly is starting to come together.

You can really see Tilly’s face shining through and looking right at us in this photo. I actually think this photo says more than the final scan. What do you think?

Tilly Framed

We chatted with Diane once the portrait was complete about the kind of frame she wanted for Tilly. We showed Diane a number of options. There is always plenty of choice and it is often difficult to decide! Diane chose our beautiful Highgate frame. This is also a relatively new frame for us and our framers hand make them individually for each of our clients and they are absolutely stunning. Here are a few photos I took before packing Tilly’s painting up safely.

The frame colours really work well with the oil pet portrait of Tilly, we couldn’t have chosen better. If you are taking your oil painting to your own local framer, they will give you plenty of advice on how the portraits should be framed. They will also discuss with you the kind of frame you are looking for and what will sit your home decor. Diane, opted for a pale gold which worked well with her furnishings.

If you have chosen a good quality framer, they will frame the painting without touching the canvas or painting. As you can see from the photo below, the oil pet portrait of Tilly sits snugly in the frame. Nothing touches or screws in to the canvas itself. If your framer requires any guidance from ourselves they are more than welcome to contact us at anytime.

Commission your own oil painting

Finally we hope that you have enjoyed reading about the portrait of Tilly and if you would like an oil painting of your dog, please do let us know. We would love to work with you on a portrait of your dog.

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