Having rekindled my love for painting and drawing I found myself quite busy in the first few months of this year painting pet portraits for people. I am enormously proud when I am asked to paint someone’s beloved companion and indeed feel very honoured that they have chosen me to paint for them.
However there are times when I find I am at a loss as to what to paint next, this is when my own animals become the subjects. As there are a number of people writing blogs about their pets, (indeed there are a good few cats and dogs writing their own, and taking their own self portraits… frightfully clever) I therefore thought it would be nice to introduce Archie Cat and Rocky Dog… my muses! Not actually sure if you can have a male muse, and I have no idea what the male equivalent would be… but hey they are my inspiration.
Archie, he’s an old boy now, 17 years old. I recently did a graphite picture of Archie. He’s a lovely cat but he doesn’t do much these day but lazy around.
In comparison Rocky, the boxer dog is a mere pup at 6 years old, but hates the camera. I can never get him to look at the lens unless I have a biscuit in my hand of course. I occasionally manage to get a good picture of him, but it is usually treat induced. His whole world revolves around 3 things: food, especially the cat’s food, walks & getting on the sofa.
If I am not painting or photographing Archie or Rocky then the chickens get to be models. How hard are they to photograph or paint? They are hardest models of them all, they never stand still.
If anyone would like to see some of my recent paintings I have some on my website… only if you fancy a browse. www.beverleycaspall-artist.co.uk.
Beverley Caspall - Artist 