Australian kitties

Well, hi there.

I was sat in the studio in sunny Scotland and thought to myself, why don’t you tell the story of your paintings.

Frequently, folks ask me to tell the stories behind my wide and varied paintings, so here goes.

The Australian kitty

What better way to begin something new than to talk about a furry friend? Well, this one means so much to me. The lady who will be known as Linda, ordered two custom art pieces, started out life as a client, and has now become a friend. This lady who battles Parkinson’s disease (which according to mayfieldclinic.com can be summed up as a degenerative, progressive disorder that affects nerve cells in deep parts of the brain called the basal ganglia and the substantia nigra. Nerve cells in the substantia nigra produce the neurotransmitter dopamine and are responsible for relaying messages that plan and control body movement)

 

Starting at the beginning

This story begins like so many. Linda found me on Facebook, saw my artwork, loved it, and wanted her very own custom painted portrait.

We chatted and as usual, I asked her what photo she had in mind for me to paint for her? So she sent me this.

I don’t recall ever seeing a breed of cat quite like this one before but I fell in love with the idea and began work. When Linda told me about this, her love for animals, and my artwork I was just drawn to work with her. She sent over the photos that she would to be painted and before we knew it, the painting was complete. She loved it

We continued to keep in touch. At this point, I didn’t really have many cat paintings under my belt so I was very thankful for the experience. Our conversations continued and she told me she had a second cat. Well… (You know what’s coming.) Once I had seen the photo I told her how awesome it would be to do another custom piece for her of this cat. This second piece would be even more amazing than the first and it was.

Getting to work

I particularly loved this piece because of the breed of cat, the colours, and the position in which the cat is situated.

These are all things I look for as an artist. Speaking of things I look for as an artist… here are some of the things that I look for when working with a client.

 

What makes an awesome project?

For me, an awesome project begins with two things. The client and the photo…

The Photo

• Because my work is so photo-based, it is important to me that the photo of my client’s supply be the very best they can be.
• The perfect pose! leads to a great composition in my mind which then leads to a great painting. I find poses like the one above to be perfect as it focuses in on the subject and eliminates all the fluff and noise in the background.
• The photo needs to be clear and not blurry. You would be amazed at the number of photos I get sent every single week and around 45% of them I have to inform the customer that they aren’t clear enough to work from.
• Ideally every subject to be painted to be in the one photo. I’m honestly not the biggest fan of creating paintings where there are tons of subjects included in one canvas. In my experience, it’s just not something I enjoy as much.
• Each project is unique. What worked for a previous custom order may not work for the next. It is my job to get the client the painting that they desire. It is their job to supply the photo necessary, which brings me too…
• The client to be understanding and willing to take my direction. There is nothing worse than someone who tries to tell me about my job and how to do it. I have been in this business and vocation for 18 years now. Yes, clients know what they like and know what they have in mind, however, sometimes what they have in mind is not always the best that it can be. I won’t spend a long time on this now but portraits of people, for example, can be the hardest because of a variety of reasons, some people aren’t photogenic, some are harder to paint than others the list goes on and on so I build up trust with my clients so they know I will give them the best possible art piece that I can.

 

Thankfully, Linda is just about as awesome as you can get and it is always a pleasure to communicate with her and work for her. The proof is in the pudding when client and artist work together amazing things can happen. When the client trusts the artist amazing art will happen.

Hey, who knows what the future may hold but for all who would like to know more about ordering their own custom painted pet masterpiece come visit me at https://www.paintourpet.com

Until next time.

Take care and God bless…

John