You’ve captured the face that I know and love! It’s lovely. – C.B. of Maryland

Canela’s Portrait is an original painting commissioned by a client in Maryland whose darling companion recently passed away. He had rescued her from the streets of Mexico and wanted to remember her in this wonderful way after so many lovely years together.

It was a joy to paint this gorgeous dog. Those eyes… When she was hanging in my studio, drying, I kept glancing over at her being amazed at how real she looked. Sometimes I need to start working on another project to appreciate something I just finished. Aren’t we all like that when we are knee deep in what we’re working on?

The client sent me a bunch of great photos of Canela that I used to grasp as many details as possible. I enjoy capturing a very detailed portrait, as you already know. Some paintings are more detailed than others, and it depends on the quality of photos I have to work off of. I believe, no matter how accurate the painting is though, my art is a representation of the animal’s character, an energy stamp of its soul. That’s what I really enjoy the most with my pieces. And no matter what, it’s always difficult to convey that through a computer, some photos taken by a camera, and much easier to appreciate when you can see each brush stroke and feel the energy off of the canvas you’re viewing.

Since Canela’s colors are so gorgeous, I wanted to keep the background very neutral and there’s a slight change from a warmer light gray to a colder darker gray – representing the light source coming from the left.

The painting measures 12 inches x 12 inches and is painted on a 1.5 inch (4 cm) deep gallery wrapped canvas. All sides are painted with the background color.

View more finished pet portraits in the gallery or learn more how you can commission your own pet portrait.