Pet Portraits that have special meaning

Enzie Shahmiri
2013-10-04T06:13:00-07:00

Custom Pet Portrait of Border Collie

Enzie Shahmiri Portraits and Fine Art

This Custom Pet Portrait of a Border Collie is titled The Gardeners Companion and shows the dog in a landscape setting, surrounded by flowers and trees. This painting of a Border Collie named “Nacho” started out with photos that had several limbs missing. I usually ask my clients to submit any photo they might have to see what I can work with and combine different photos to get the items I need for the painting. I also like to probe around a bit and get a feel who the pet’s owner is and what hobbies they might have. Nacho’s owner for example loves to garden and that gave me the idea to create a fantasy garden setting . Anyone who know about dogs, know that they love to plant themselves right in between the flowers and that’s exactly where I chose to put Nacho.

With an idea in mind it was time to figure out what to put where. A quick sketch – more of a doodle actually helped with visualizing what I wanted to do. Once I blocked in the color, I send my client the “Mock Up” and told her what I was planning to do. With a green light to move forward, the actual painting started.

~ I needed to plant flower beds and trees ~

~ and had tons of fun with my brushes building up texture ~

~ then Nacho was allowed to dig in his paws and get comfortable ~

Then it was Nacho’s turn to get groomed. I worked on his fur and especially that handsome looking face. I noticed that in my reference photo his right eye was not clearly visible. That had to be changed so I made sure to add a lot of extra highlights to make his eyes be much more expressive. Love that little tongue, don’t you?! Lastly the background had to get worked on as well. As you can see it is kept very loose and atmospheric looking. This is done to keep the viewer’s attention in the foreground, right where Nacho is lounging in the dirt.

This painting took a while to complete, but I think it was well worth the effort. I can't wait to hear what my client thinks of it and see photos of the painting when it is hung at their home. If you like to order a print of this painting click here and if you like me to paint your pet then visit

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