By Lori DeBoer
I’m always thrilled to have the opportunity to paint the portrait of a beloved pet, and Malcolm was no exception. He is a sweet Border collie with the most beautiful pale blue eyes imaginable and he has a large personality. I did a drawing and a casein painting of him and sent them to Shannon, in his owner, and she was nice enough to snap a couple of photos of him with his portrait. She was really thrilled with how they turned out and I was, too.
I did an initial study of Malcom using mixed media, including soft pastels, ink and acrylic paint pens on Canson toned paper. The paper I used is not really meant for soft pastels, as usually you need a paper with more tooth in it to hold the pastels. That said, I think this initial study turned out well and I was happy to send it along with the actual portrait.
I painted Malcolm’s official portrait in casein on an Ampersand gessoed panel. I really love how the casein flowed on the Ampersand panel and was gratified to see that I could get the same kind of expressive brushstrokes you can achieve in oil. Casein itself is one of the oldest mediums in the world, as it was used in early cave paintings. It is making a comeback in recent years, due in part to a few ambassadors of the medium, particularly James Gurney, who is an artist who wrote and illustrated Dinatopia. There are a few other artists I admire working with casein, including Stephen Quiller, who wrote a book on the subject that I hope to put my hands on soon. Quiller is another artist who lives in Colorado and you should definitely check out both his and Gurney’s work.
If you are interested in having your pet painted, please read my information page on custom pet portraits and then send me an email. I am happy to set a time to talk about your portrait. My 2021 holiday commissions will be closing at the end of November to allow enough time to finish and mail them.
Thanks for stopping by!
