Last Autumn I was delighted to work with Barbour and offer a competition to celebrate their AW17 Coastal campaign and the launch of Barbour Dogs. Part of this also entailed an interview with me at my studio with my own dog Tara and that blog post can be read here. I had a great time and I love how Tara was none too impressed with having her photo taken.
The competition asked people to send in or post pictures of their dogs at the beach and even though I only got to see a selection of some of your beautiful canine companions I really enjoyed looking through the photos. I had the pleasure of choosing a winner from a short list sent to me and I picked the gorgeous Astrid who is a duck toller retriever. She just had such a happy face which summed up the joy most dogs have at the beach.
Upon deciding on a winner I also wanted to document the journey of painting Astrid. I love painting all animals (as you may have guessed) but I particularly enjoy painting peoples' pets as you're not just painting any old dog or cat. It is important I capture the essence of the pet and their unique characters. Consequentially, pet portraits tend to take longer than a painting of a stag or hare for example.
Astrid has such a sweet expression and the photo was fantastic, which always makes my job easier. I set up my camera in my studio and you can see the whole process sped up in a video at the bottom of this blog. Below is a slide show detailing some of the steps and processes involved in painting a pet. Hover over the images to see details about the process depicted.
Overall Astrid was a joy to paint. I hope the painting brings her owners much joy and I've captured her character. Dogs (and cats, horses, birds, snakes etc) are such a huge part of our lives that for me its important I get the paintings perfect. I think a painting can capture something which a photograph can lose. Sometimes that is a memory of a specific time but I can breathe life into a painting that can be lost in a snapshot on your phone or camera.
Enjoy the video and I'd love to know what you think of her. Tweet me @JinaGelder or comment on Facebook. If you're interested in commissioning your own beloved pet please get in touch or more information is available on this website.