Pet Portrait for Humane Society Fundraiser

Art Completed Projects
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My sister is a huge animal lover and supports the Humane Society where she lives in Michigan. She asked if I would volunteer to do a pet portrait for their current fundraiser.

People donate a fee and then are paired with volunteers, community members and artists who then do some sort of portrait of the pet that is sent to them.

I got a small dog named Nugget.

I cropped and enlarged the head portion of the photo and then drew it on an 8x10 canvas. I basically just started painting and layering. Believe it or not, the under colors are pink, red and blue. It looked like a hot mess and I was totally stressing over it. I knew that I wasn’t going to get an exact likeness…that’s what photos are for, right? lol

I wanted a higher contrast with the dark green background, so I picked colors across the color wheel, i.e., more reds.

Anyway, the entire piece is done with acrylic paint, markers, ink and pencil. Here is Nugget as I see him. I wanted to get his smirk, because I loved it!

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Blown up head for reference:

Kirsten Russell dog Nugget head
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Next year I hope I get a cat… :laughing:

Thanks for looking.

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This is so cool! What a fun thing for the Humane Society to do. Nugget looks great. I think you captured the snarly perfectly!

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Thanks,@gozer. I have so admired your pet portraits, so that means a lot to me! :heart:

… and while I enjoyed this project, it is not really my area of interest. I would do it for a charity, but I would rather stick to scrappy sewing!

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That is so true! Think the portrait looks great, the colours used is wonderful. And how nice of you to help out your sister

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Aww, I think it turned out great! The pet owner will be thrilled.

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Wow! This is so great!!!

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The Humane Society really makes this a low pressure and fun event. They tell the pet owners that they might get something to display or something for a smile. Most of the “artists” are volunteers and people in the community. Of course, it is still a bit intimidating, but for a good cause, a little going out of the comfort zone is good! Thank you. :heart:

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What a cool idea for a fundraiser. You captured Nugget’s personality so well!

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That’s great, you totally captured his expression. I’m sure the owners will love it!

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What a fun project! I like the use of the bold strokes, you did a great job capturing Nugget in all his smirky snarl glory!

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Beautiful capture! Love that toothy grin! :grimacing:

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It looks great! I’m sure the recipient was very pleased!

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This is so cool! Definitely captured the spirit of the doggo :heart: Maybe next time if you’re in a more scrappy sewing mood you could do a portrait in fabric scraps like this if that’s allowed?

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Yes! I really wanted to do that but I just did not have the time. I would also love to try a paper collage portrait as well!

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:fallen_leaf: :maple_leaf: Congrats! This fall-tastic project is one of this week’s featured projects! :maple_leaf: :fallen_leaf:

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This is wonderful! Whilst paintings that look like photos can be amazing, that’s not really the point of a portrait! We have a portrait competition here in Australia and the winners are usually those that take something about that person (like a toothy grin!) and gave their own take on it from there.

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Thanks, Mel. I really admire people who can do more realistic painting, but, I don’t have the patience. Everyone involved knows it is a charity fund raiser so that is the most important part!

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That’s so sweet. I love the teefs! :laughing: Great job! :grin:

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Don’t get me wrong, it looks like Nugget!

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I like it hanging on the wall…

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