I’m always so touched when people have me paint Pet Portraits for them to give as gifts to their friends & family… but when I was approached this May to paint a dog portrait for a client to give to her fiancé as a wedding gift I felt truly honoured!
When she contacted me she let me know that their beloved Nanook had passed away a week prior… I almost cried! So I thought “Ok this is going to be the most sentimental gift I’ve ever painted for anyone! Pressure is on… bring it on!” I was so excited to paint this for her.
Completed ‘Nanook’ painting, 10″x10″, acrylic on canvas
About a week later, I got an email from a fellow asking if I could paint a Pet Portrait for his fiancé to give to her for their wedding… so of course my first thought was “uh oh!…. wait… no, it can’t be (what are the odds???)” and once they each emailed me the pet pictures it confirmed that it wasn’t a husband and wife to be giving portraits to each other lol. PHEW (not that wouldn’t have been cool, but that would have been a super crazy coincidence and potentially a little awkward! haha).
When he contacted me he let me know that his fiancé’s three puppies mean more to her than anything and he would love for me to paint all three on one canvas. To date I had only painted one subject per canvas, so I was super excited to take this project on! He emailed me a bunch of super cute puppy photos, some group shots, some individual, and then this magical gem appeared:
reference photo used for ‘Lexxy, Sky, & Bailey’ multiple pet portrait painting
What are the odds of three little bundles of adorable energy posing so nicely together? It screamed PAINT ME! So I proposed we paint this picture (vs combining three individual pictures and frankensteining them together), we picked a background colour, and away we went! Here is a fun photo reel of the progress as it came together (which I hadn’t documented before, so was cool to try out! Lots of firsts here lol):
sequence of progress pictures showing ‘Lexxy, Sky, & Bailey’ coming together
Both clients got married this July, and I couldn’t wait to post pictures and tell a little bit about their portraits! I was sooo happy to help with these sentimental gifts for them to give their fiancés, congrats again to the lovely newlyweds!
To view my whole Pet Portrait portfolio, visit http://robynmillar.com/portfolio/pet-portraits/
Robyn,
Ryan absolutely loved the painting of Nanook! It brought everyone to tears, as he was such a big part of our family. Thank you so much for the painting – you captured exactly what he looked like to us and most importantly you captured his spirit!
Thank you, thank you!
Tanis
Thanks so much for your lovely note Tanis! You are so sweet.
It was so touching to see your reaction when you opened the painting for the first time, it even got me a little teared up!
I’m really happy to hear that Ryan loved his gift, and I hope you guys enjoy it for many years to come 🙂
NEW – Check out a video that shows the process of how ‘Lexxy, Sky & Bailey’ came together: http://robynmillar.com/lexxy-sky-bailey-video/