Genista Pawtraits: ABOUT PASTEL PORTRAITS

WELCOME TO GENISTA PAWTRAITS

"Genista Pawtraits" is where you can find samples of my work which I mainly do for pleasure, family and friends. However, I have recently started taking commissions for Pastel Pet Portraits. I aim to create exquisite pastel pet portraits from your photographs that bring out the spirit, character and personality of your beloved and cherished other family member, with their unique personalites, cheeky grins, they make us laugh and smile and love us unconditionally. What would we do without them?

I am a pet owner and animal lover myself, and I understand how much pleasure and comfort an original pastel portrait can bring, either by celebrating an adored pet or remembering one we have sadly lost.

A commissioned pet portrait or gift voucher makes a unique birthday, Christmas, wedding or anniversary gift that will be treasured forever by the recipient.

I hand paint each portrait using photographs as a guide. I am not trying to make the painting look like the photograph but hopefully to enhance it to bring out your pets personality and character as a painting. Several photographs can be used to get the required pose and changes can be made to remove e.g. a hand, collar, "red eye" etc. It is important to use as clear a photograph as possible as a guide as the quality of the photograph will directly influence the detail of the painting.

I love to paint/draw, it is my refuge at times and a celebration at other times. I paint/draw in many styles/mediums as you will see over the coming months. Please take a look at all my pages on this blog.

For Available Artwork please take a look at my pages and/or my Website. Visit my "Prices/Sizes" page and"How To Commission A Portrait" for information.

Please leave a comment if you have time or maybe even become a follower, you are more than Welcome......

Hillary Rose - "Genista Pawtraits"

(The House Of Genista)

UK

When painting animals/wildlife/people my preferred medium is pastels, for which I use, soft pastels, hard pastels, oil pastels and pastel pencils for adding fine detail. I love their rich, vibrant colours and find them perfect for rendering all sorts of textures in my pet portraits: a sleek, shiny coat, a soft wet nose, long shaggy ears etc. I use only the finest grade of pure pigment pastels for all my portraits and always work on good quality papers usually velour or Ingres pastel paper but I do prefer velour. When properly framed under glass, your "Genista Pawtraits" pet portrait will become an heirloom to treasure and will not crack, discolour or peel over time.

Getting the perfect photo of your pet is a real challenge as they can be very tricky to photograph. Often the colours don’t come out right as we know only too well, the lighting is poor, the background not quite right, the picture fuzzy or the flash bounces off their eyes. All of these problems can be fixed in a portrait. I can work from several of your photos to develop a portrait that captures the true character and personality of your beloved pet and creating a delightful portrait that brings your pet to life.

EXAMPLE:

A Good Clear Photo

Pastel Portrait

Pastel Portrait Matted And Framed

A portrait is a great alternative even if you already have the perfect photo of your pet because it looks different to a photo. I pay close attention to detail and work slowly and carefully to capture everything exactly as I can as these finer details are the things that distinguish your pet from any other. The beauty of working in pastel is that it allows one to create rich textures that give the portrait a fresh and lively feel which receive comments such as "The eyes looks so real!" ," I feel like I could reach out and stroke his fur!", "Is that really a painting!". There is nothing more pleasing to hear such comments. The finished portrait is not meant to be a photo but it will however, look unmistakably like your pet capturing the expressiveness and unique character/personality of your pet, ensuring a true likeness.

If you are not happy with the finished portrait, then neither am I which is why you will be able to preview your portrait online prior to making your final payment. This gives you a chance to make any comments or suggestions and if, for some reason, you are still unhappy with the portrait, you will be under no obligation to make a further payment and purchase the portrait. Your small deposit however is non-refundable due to the cost and time that will have gone into creating your portrait.

To find out a bit more about PASTELS, please click on the link.

Thank You

Warmest Wishes

Hillary Rose

"Genista Pawtraits" at The House Of Genista