Portrait of Shumai

It seems to be a bad year for my little cat friends. An old buddy/ex-bandmate, John Skaritza, from Richmond asked me to paint a portrait of his ailing furfriend, Shumai. She passed away before the portrait was finished, but hopefully this will serve as a nice memorial. The fact that she's primarily black and the reference photo was kinda blurry made this especially challenging, but I think it turned out pretty well. Shumai, you will be missed!

New Chihuahua Portrait / Cats Rule

I struggled a lot with this little guy's face, but I think I finally nailed it. The background color palette harkens back to the days when I'd use harshly bright primaries right out of the tube, but in this case I think (hope) it works.

I also started a portrait for my old pal John Skariza from Richmond. His little buddy is very sick, but hopefully she'll muddle through. This portrait should be very challenging since the photo is somewhat blurry and the cat is mostly black. We'll see what happens!

Another good friend (and talented photographer) Aubrey Edwards' poor kitty, Harry, had to be put to sleep this week. I know it's never an easy decision, having just been through it with one of my cats, but sometimes you have to let them go so that they don't suffer. Here are a couple of portraits Aubrey snapped before heading to the vet. R.I.P., Harry!