Robyn Millar

During the Christmas season I was contacted by a client to purchase a Gift Certificate for her sister. She wanted to give a pet portrait of little Bella, a Teacup Yorkie, but wanted her sister to have the option to help select reference photos of her sweet pup. (This is the type of scenario that Gift Certificates were totally made for!)

In early January I was sent photos of wee Bella, and narrowed it down to an adorable shot of her plunked down sat on the floor. In the planning stages we were going through background colour options, and she selected a nice medium bronzy brown tone. Shortly after, I had a lightbulb moment! How cool would this colour look in a metallic version? I ran it by her, and she was as excited as I was, so I started experimenting with different iridescent paint mediums to give the background colour a subtle pearl effect. And so we have here my first ever metallic background colour, which I’m pretty excited about!

It was difficult to capture the metallic paint sheen on camera (as seen in the photo above), so I opted to take a quick video with my phone. Although the resolution isn’t great, it manages to capture the effect at different angles nicely:

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‘Lucy’ | 10″x10″ | acrylic on canvas

During the winter I was contacted by a client to paint her son’s Beagle as a belated Xmas gift for him. She knew her grand-pup wasn’t doing so well, and wanted to give him a portrait of Lucy. Since the painting was to be completed after the Christmas holidays, we thought it’d be fun to do some “in progress” shots to give her son in the meantime (like I had done with ‘Jamie’ the silver lab last season):

Sad news is Lucy passed away a couple of weeks ago, only a few days before the portrait was scheduled to be finished 🙁 . After the painting was given, I received this note:

‘He liked the portrait of Lucy very much… he has decided to hang the portrait in his office where he says “she gazes down upon him all day”.’

Which was so sweet to hear <3

Last weekend Lincoln‘s step mom texted me a video clip of him opening his birthday gift. His reaction is one of the cutest I’ve ever seen:

(if the video isn’t displaying properly, it can be viewed HERE.)

Thank you again CB for having me paint this for you guys, for sharing this moment with me, and for letting me share this adorable vid! 🙂

This painting is the result of a Pet Portrait certificate donation I made to the Chefs for Unicef gala in 2012. The recipient contacted me to redeem it at the peak of my Christmas rush, but was so very kind and understanding, moving it to my post-Xmas line up instead which was very sweet (and oh so helpful!! lol) 🙂 .

Last week I was able to meet Tucker, her Golden Doodle, in person and take a couple quick snaps of him sniffing his painting which was pretty cute. And this is a close up of his happy smile:

To view Tucker’s full painting, please visit my Pet Portrait portfolio, or Donations page.

Today is Lincoln’s birthday – which means I get to reveal his custom portrait, yay!!

Before Christmas time, Lincoln’s step mom contacted me to paint this piece as a surprise for his birthday. And if you know me then you know that painting people is totally scary for me lol, but as soon as I saw the photo they wanted painted I just couldn’t wait to paint it! So cute.

Last summer when I painted their family pup Carlos, they let me know that their son and him are best buds and that it’d be very special for Lincoln to have his very own painting. They had family photos done, sent me their favourite shot of the boys, and I got to paintin’! And here is the finished portrait of Lincoln & Carlos together:

This is my first people portrait in colour actually! My previous one (which also happens to be my first ever portrait) was in black and white, so this one of course had a whole new learning curve – but all in all I’m super stoked with the turnout! Linc’s parents let me know that they love the piece (they snuck a peek last night 🙂 ) and I hope he likes it too! Happy bday L!

Earlier this month I got to send this painting of a beautiful Cane Corso to its home in Victoria BC:

‘Ozlo’ | 10″x10″ | acrylic on canvas

Sadly this gentle giant crossed over the Rainbow Bridge just days before his portrait arrived on the Island 🙁

Ozlo and his sister (Beatrix – a little Brussels Griffon, whose portrait I had painted in the Fall) couldn’t be more opposite in size, but also couldn’t be cuter as cuddle buddies! Here is a pic of a pen & ink sketch I did of the two that was sent in the package as well:

When I first started painting Ozlo’s portrait, I found it challenging to map out his beautiful Brindle fur pattern – but the closer it came to completion the quicker it fell into place, and the more I fell in love with this handsome boy. I wish I could have met him in person!

This charming Yellow Lab‘s pet portrait painting was ordered as a surprise gift from husband to wife for her birthday (which happens to be on Christmas day!!) last month.

When Barney’s dad first got in touch, he sent over a variety of cute photos of their youngest addition from when he was a pup (approx 6 months old). Both of our favourite pic was this adorable shot of him on a pathway during one of their walks. I was also asked to include the background in the painting, which compliments the doggy’s colourings very nicely.

And not only did my client post a pic to my Facebook Page of Barney’s painting up on their fantastic family collage wall (this pic can be seen under ‘Posts by Others’ in the right side bar there), he was also so kind as to take these adorable “Animal Doppelganger” pictures too – which I just love:

To view a full image of Barney’s painting, please visit my Pet Portrait portfolio gallery.

These kitty sisters are lovingly referred to as “Grey Wool”, as one is named Grey C (left) and the other Woolley (right). This set of two cat paintings was ordered as a surprise Christmas present from wife to husband this past season.

Grey’s reference photo was set in lush grass, so when we were in the initial planning stage for this set my client let me know that she’d like Wool’s background to incorporate grass and blue sky (vs the area carpet from the reference photo). She also requested a ladybug in the foreground in line with Wool’s gaze for some added fun, which turned out really cute I think.

She was so kind as to send photos of the paintings being investigated by her kitties after Christmas too. Below is a collage showing Woolley (top two pix) sniffing her portrait & posing beside it, a close up of the ladybug detail, and on the bottom is Grey C posing next to her portrait then a detail shot of her eyes in the painting:

Full images of the finished paintings can be viewed on my Pet Portrait portfolio page. I also hope to get together a flip-book style video of this set shortly!

With today being New Years Eve I can’t help but sit and reflect on this past year with a big smile on my face! So many firsts, techniques learned, relationships made, and so much more… I feel so very grateful.

And now that I’ve had a chance to recharge over Xmas break after a full tilt holiday order season, I’ve tallied it all up, and 50+ Pet Portraits were completed this year!!! Wowzers! Which is the most to date, so I thought it’d be fun to put together a little video. Below is a clip show of them all, condensed in just a minute & a half 😀

(If the video is not displaying correctly, you can also view it HERE.)

Thank you so much again for your continued support, and for helping 2013 be my best year to date 🙂 . HAPPY NEW YEARS!!