When I started planning the first book, Great Rescues Calendar in 2011, this portrait was one I definitely wanted to feature in it. This image was the best I could get from the photos I’d taken then and would not reproduce well at all! When I met up with my friend Sally about it she said she couldn’t find it but it was likely in one of the frames she had in storage after a move. She never did find it so the best I can do is share it this way. Perhaps someday I’ll be able to use a photo retouch that will clean up all the rough areas, but for now I’d still like to share this unique portrait from 1993.

She wanted a portrait of their two ginger cats Sunny and Ginger and they loved Native American art (and had a good collection of prints and some originals) and colors and patterns, so she would just like me to work a southwestern theme with color or pattern or something. She loved painter R.C. Gorman and I loved the way she used color and pattern with draped or flowing clothing, simple or solid backgrounds, natural colors. Not too many patterns, though.

I knew I wanted that draping effect and a plain, solid background but I wasn’t sure if a draped cloth in a solid color would capture the southwestern feel so I made up a pattern from things I saw in Sally’s house. Hence, a totally fictitious southwestern blanket. To coordinate with the cats and the palette I’d chosen for the blanket I chose a full sheet of maroon Canson Mi-Tientes pastel paper and left that without anything but the portrait, kind of floating in air, it seemed, but it worked for me and Sally.

Lost in time

This portrait was very fun to do all the way back in 1993 and while I’ve featured other artwork I created for my friend Sally I was holding off on this one. Back in those days I took film photos of my portraits, and I often only photographed them matted and framed, because I did the framing myself. Now all I have is 3.5″ x 5″ photo prints, in this case taken through non-glare glass, using a flash. Wow, what an amateur.

I’ve been able to rephotograph or even scan, if I’m able to bring home, portraits from years ago, now with more skill and a better camera and an actual flatbed scanner so I have much better images of those portraits. When I visited Sally and her husband in 2020 we found the portrait below done in 1994, but we never found this one.  Sally has been downsizing after losing her husband and still looking, but she’s been through everything and never found this painting.  They had so much artwork it was possible in a move that one or two disappeared.

I would love to share this painting in other ways, on a tile, card, whatever, but I can’t make a clear print, so they’ll remain just out of reach. Here is just the portrait without the mat or frame, and you can kind of see how the details are a little bit blurry.

I profiled the 1994 portrait in July 2020, included below, when I visited Sally and her husband, who had both rescued and loved cats before they met and continued all their lives together.

The 1994 Portrait

Five Cats By the Window

I visited one of my longtime art customers, and one of the first good cat rescuers I met back in the early 90s, on Monday. She and her husband are moving and while she’s purchased several portraits for herself and as gifts for others, she had seen my painting “Geraniums and Parsley” and wanted a large print of it for her new place. I took the original to meet with her about her art and to visit.

And I was so happy to see this portrait of her five cats from around the time we met, like meeting an old friend and suddenly there I was, 26 years in the past, looking over what I’d done all those years ago. Four of them were rescues from where she worked for most of her career, where many cats and kittens were dumped and she and others worked hard, even before TNR, to trap and spay or neuter them, adopt out the ones they could while caring for the ones who weren’t adoptable. The Siamese in the middle of the bottom row is a full-breed kitty from before she really began rescuing. The others were friendly adults or kittens from rescued litters.

Wow, 1994, so early for me not even being fully acquainted with drawing papers and different styles and brands of pastels, but that was an important year for me, and this woman was a big part of my success that year. I had taken a sabbatical from my day job and was working full-time second shift as a typesetter while working on creating artwork plus art sales and exhibits during the day, and she decided to get herself two portraits plus gift portraits for the several people who fostered for her. I painted all the others for Christmas 1993, then painted the two for her right after Christmas, finishing them in January 1994. Last autumn I featured “Three Black and White Cats” and another portrait which were two of the ones she had commissioned.

I photographed the portrait and some details through the glass, which I’ve done before but there’s a special technique, and even then it’s not always the best outcome. Still, these are clear enough to get a good feeling for the finished work, I think.

I remember this one being an interesting composition. She wanted all five in one place, by a window, but they didn’t really snuggle except the two at the top.

They had to either be positioned in a long line, like on the back of a couch, or on two levels. The best I could come up with was the idea of shelves in front of a window. To eliminate the distraction of things outside the window I added a sheer curtain. I have to say I wasn’t entirely happy with it then, nor am I now and I know I’d come up with something quite different. But we aren’t born running though we have the potential, we have a lot of learning and strengthening to get there, and creative efforts are no different.

I ended up with some awkward spots no matter what I did so I asked if there were any other cats or things she might want to add. She asked to work in some artifacts with a Native American theme or style that she loved so much and also collected from tribes she supported, and maybe some begonias, which she liked.

I am grateful for the people who helped me along the way who are still customers as well as friends. She was also the person who helped me find homes for Tess and her boys, and was also the person who found fosters for any of the difficult cases, like Ysabel, or neonatal kittens I rescued since I often couldn’t bottle feed or give critical care with my schedule, usually trading an adult or two or an older litter for my rescues. Even now we reference each other when we have rescues, and she is one of those who supports my TNR and rescue efforts today. A portrait like this one has so many memories tied up in it, and my friend and I can still go on making more memories.

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Read about other current Commissioned Portraits and Featured Artwork

I also feature artwork which has not been commissioned, especially my paintings of my own cats. If you’d like to read more about artwork as I develop it, about my current portraits and art assignments and even historic portraits and paintings, I feature commissioned portrait or other piece of artwork on Wednesday. Choose the categories featured artwork.

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Take a look at other portraits and read other stories

Read articles on The Creative Cat featuring current and past commissioned portraits.

Read about how I create commissioned portraits.

Visit my website to see portraits of my cats, commissioned cats, commissioned dogs, people and a demonstration of how I put a portrait together from photos.

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Download a Brochure

My brochure is an 8.5″ x 11″ two-page full-color PDF that half-folds when it’s all printed out, showing examples of portraits with an explanation of my process and basic costs.

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Purchase a Gift Certificate

I offer gift certificates for portraits in any denomination beginning at $50.00, which is the basic cost of a small monochromatic portrait.

The certificate itself is 8.5″ x 11″ and features a collage of portrait images with the recipient’s and giver’s names, printed on parchment cover stock. The whole thing is packaged in a pocket folder and includes a brochure, a letter from me to the recipient and several business cards.The certificate package can be easily mailed or wrapped as a gift and shipped directly to your recipient.

I can also make it downloadable if you’re in a hurry.

Certificates are good for up to one year after issue.

You can purchase gift certificates here or from Portraits of Animals if you are also purchasing other animal-inspired merchandise.

I prefer to look over the work and price the portrait according to how much work will go into it, as described above, but you can either set a budget or get started by purchasing a certificate for yourself or as a gift.

How to Order

• “Certificate A” is for a minimum-size 8 x 10 black and white or monochromatic portrait with one subject.
• “Certificate B” is for a minimum-size 8 x 10 color portrait with one subject.
• Choose “A” or “B” depending on whether your portrait is black and white or color.
• If your portrait will be larger or have more subjects, add $50 or $100 or more to your certificate value with the drop-down below.

CERTIFICATE A $50.00

• Size: 8 x 10
• Subjects: One
• Color: black and white media such as charcoal, pencil, ink, or monochromatic media such as one color of pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, etc.
• Background or objects: none but shading or colored paper

CERTIFICATE B $100.00

• Size: 8 x 10
• Subjects: One
• Color: full color media such as pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, etc.
• Background or objects: none but a color or colored paper

Add to your certificate purchase

You can use the second drop down to add $50.00 or $100.00. For amounts over this we’d probably have a conversation and I can set up a custom certificate for your purchase.

Visit Portraits of Animals to purchase your certificate

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Great Rescues Calendar and Great Rescues Day Book are published by Beauty of a Moment Publishing

Site designed by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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Tagged cat artwork, cat rescue, commissioned cat portraits, commissioned pet portraits