Border Terrier and Lurcher Pencil Portrait of Hettie and Loxley

Welcome to my latest blog post about the Border Terrier and Lurcher Pencil Portrait of Hettie and Loxley. John Bowley commissioned this special 20 x 16 inch double portrait of Hettie the Border Terrier and Loxley the Lurcher as a surprise gift for his wife and children. The family had recently lost Hettie, and John wanted to honour her memory by asking me to draw both of their beloved dogs together. John’s message from the start…

“I have been looking for a while for an artist to draw our 2 dogs. Sadly we lost one of them about a month ago, and I know my wife and children would be ‘beyond thrilled’ to have a picture of them together on the wall.”

John timed the drawing to coincide with a very personal family moment, the scattering of Hettie’s ashes and planned to reveal it once everyone returned home.

Composition and Planning

John was wonderfully involved throughout the process. We discussed details like the balance between the two dogs, their collars, the text on their tags and whether Hettie’s little tufts over her eyes should be included or not.

“Yes, I think you’re right, best to remove those tufts of fur over her eyes… they look like windscreen wipers!”

However when the portrait was complete, John pondered the earlier decision!

“It seems very clinically clean otherwise, if you see what I mean… Perhaps not having them removes her rufty-tufty nature… and so removes her character.”

Of course, I reinstated those subtle whiskery tufts and Hettie felt like Hettie again. Sometimes it’s those tiny details that capture a dog’s whole spirit.

Legacy and Layout

John raised an interesting question during the process that no other client has ever raised before. What if, one day, his children both wanted the portrait? Should we draw the dogs far enough apart so the portrait could be divided? Or create two individual portraits from the outset? After chatting about it, in the end John beautifully summed it up…

“The dogs were such a team, it would be wrong to break them up. I love how you have put them together, and it feels right that we leave them as you have set them.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The Big Reveal

John kept everything a total surprise. Not easy with a house full of teenagers home from cricket tours and university, but he managed it! He wrote…

“It has landed, and is safely hiding in my bedroom… My daughter should fly back from a cricket tour approx 2pm, so after lunch the family will have the surprise of surprises… They had better not spring any surprise on me!”

And after the unveiling:

“Well, they loved it! We were all together – at last – and could open it together. We are going to go into St Helier tomorrow and choose a frame, and work out quite where is going to be pride of place on which wall… It’s a great day, we have opened some fizz!”

What a perfect moment.

Drawing Hettie and Loxley

Creating the pencil drawing of Lurcher and Border Terrier Hettie and Loxley together was an absolute joy. Both dogs were totally different to draw with their fur textures. If you are thinking about commissioning a pencil portrait of your own Lurcher or perhaps you also have a Border Terrier too, just drop me a line. You can see more information about my commission process on my website.

Looking Back

John has been one of my most thoughtful clients, and working with him on this portrait of Hettie and Loxley will stay with me for a long time. I’m so pleased it will hang proudly in their home and perhaps, one day, become a legacy passed between generations. You might also like to view one of my earlier pencil drawings of Three Dogs together.

Finally, thank you for reading my blog post about Border Terrier and Lurcher Pencil Portrait of Hettie and Loxley.
If you’d like to commission a portrait, feel free to get in touch via my contact page. I’d love to hear about your pets.

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