New pet portraits by Terry Albert

I have several new pieces to share with you that I created for an upcoming show. The Canine Art Guild will debut its "5 x 5" show on April 1, but I wanted to give you a sneak preview of my entries, plus a few more.

Every piece in the show is 5” square, and I found I love this small format. I really got on a roll, and produced 5 paintings, but I can only enter 3, so you get to see a couple of extras. Each is for sale for $95 framed (except for the Lab, which is not for sale).

This beautiful Viszla, Sherman, spends lots of time flopped on my couch, and I could paint him in about 10 different poses, all a jumble of toes and nose. He’s a frequent visitor, and I love him.

This one is not in the show, because I finished it after I had already entered the others. I took a photo of this scene almost 20 years ago one morning in Huntington Beach. I was taking picture of my brother Dan surfing, but you know me, always sidetracked by dogs. I loved the silhouette against the bright morning sun. These two were having a great time together. 

This Chow was photographed at a dog show while his owner brushed out his piles of fur. It’s a long laborious process, and he patiently endured the primping. This painting is also not in the show.

Tally is one of my favorite Labs, and she has been a pet sitting client for many years. As you see she is the happiest dog on earth, and I loved capturing that in this painting. She is actually a Lab/golden mix, bred for Canine Companions for Independence. Her puppy raisers kept her when she didn’t make the cut, and she is a beloved pet. I did another painting featuring a CCI Labrador many years ago for the Labrador Retriever Club National Specialty Show.

And last but certainly not least, this little sheltie is my Bonnie, I call it “My Bonnie Lass.” I adopted her from Sheltie Rescue about 5 years ago. She is enjoying a quilt I bought at an estate sale in Kansas City several years ago while sightseeing with my Aunt Bobbie. I love bight colors, and this quilt and the dog are very special to me.

I hope you enjoy my latest creations. Contact me if you are interesting in purchasing one of these works. Thank you!   

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.

A new pet portrait: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Meet Bella, a sweet cavalier who is now 12 years old. Her owner, Kim, wanted a classic style formal portrait of Bella, portraying her when she was younger. She gave me an example of what she wanted and a pile of photos.

My first challenge was the photos she provided. We can’t go back and take pictures of the young Bella, so I had to work with what I had. The best pose was in a photo where Bella was 3/8” tall! I scanned it and blew it up, but it still was only a little over an inch tall to work from. ACK!

I was amazed at how much detail I was able to get. Other photos showed me markings that were covered up by Jerry’s (Kim’s husband) hand. And the little red spot on her head didn’t show in most pictures, but I felt it needed to be included in order for it to truly look like Bella.

The hardest part is to start. I always do a wash of the basic colors just to get something on the paper. Once that is done, I can methodically start working. At some point, not too far into the painting, I have to sit back and be sure nothing is out of whack. In this one, one eye was too small, and one ear was too short. She looked totally out of balance. Those are major changes.

I love working in watercolor because you can lift the paint. I love pencil because you can erase it, and I love acrylic because you permanently cover up your mistakes! So it helps my confidence to know nothing is “unfixable”. My work is truly mixed media.

I used photos of other cavaliers to figure out the white curls on her chest, and I had Kim take a photo of Bella straight on so I could see her curls too.

When it was all done, I wondered if it truly looked like Bella, since I had only know her as an old dog. Kim said yes, definitely. And she loved the little “lozenge” on the top of her head.

The goal of any artist is to improve over the years. I have painted several cavaliers, and I think this one is probably the best one I have done. To see more of my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel paintings, visit their page on my website.

© 2009 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.