If there is no sidebar on the left, please click here
 |
 |
 |
Cats, Dogs , Animals and Landscapes in Oils or Watercolour by Isabel Clark - English Artist
TAKING YOUR PHOTOGRAPH
The quality of the photograph you send is of the utmost importance.
To enable me to recreate your pet’s individual character I MUST be able to see their details. The nostrils, lips etc. must be large enough and clear enough to see. Remember, you know your pet’s face by heart but I have to rely solely upon the photograph you send to get their unique characteristics.
If your pet has sadly passed away and you have no clear photo, please select the largest and clearest photo you can find and I will do my utmost. Please realise however, that this will not always be possible as I must be able to see some details.
Try to take the photo out of doors with the light shining on the front of the pet. Brilliant sunshine or Flash is not always best as the features and coat colours can be flooded out. Similarly, if a dark pet is photographed in shade, it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish between where the animal ends and the background begins. It is also very difficult to see how the ears lie against the head. Every pet is different. I have painted many black Labradors but all of them have their own little features so none are alike.
With light coloured pets, again bright sunshine can flood out the texture of the coat and make it impossible to see the actual hair or fur. Just take the picture in normal daylight. In mid summer the morning or evening would give a less harsh light.
Try to have a plain background for your pet’s photo, such as a fence, plain hedge, lawn or wall. If you have a light coloured pet try to take the photo against a darker tone background. If you have a dark coloured pet try to take the photo against a lighter background. This will prevent the details of your pet’s form being lost in the background.
GET DOWN ON YOUR PET’S LEVEL. I have had some lovely photos which, unfortunately look down onto the pet from above which does not make the best pose for a portrait.
Get as close to your pet as you can but make sure you stay in focus. If you would like a Head Study, try to zoom in on the head only. This will give the clearest details.
If you require a Full Body Study, try to fill the entire photo with the pet’s body. Unless you wish me to paint the whole scene the background is not necessary. If you do wish me to paint the whole scene, please take another photo of just your pet, in the same position but as close to your pet as possible so that I can still see all the necessary details.
Some pets will not stay still for a photo. If this is the case, just ask someone to stand behind him/her to hold their collar. If they try to hold the collar from behind their hand should not get in the way and, of course, this person would be painted out unless you requested otherwise.
If you have 2 separate photos of your pets which you want combined in one painting, this can be done. Just try to ensure that the pets are not both facing the same side. This would not be so satisfying visually. This also applies if you require 2 different paintings of pets which you wish to hang together on your wall. It looks much nicer if the pets can be just slightly turned towards each other.
Finally, if your pet has a long tail and the tail is lying outstretched, the painted image will have to be much smaller to accommodate it. If you wish the body of your pet to fill more of the painting, please ensure your pet’s tail is either curled around the body or the pet’s body is facing more or less to the front, not sideways.
I hope the above hints will help you and I achieve what we both want - a beautiful painting of your pet, showing their unique character which you know and love.
Pet Portraits, Dog Paintings, Cat Paintings, Horses and Pony Paintings, Wildlife Animal Paintings People Paintings,
Pencil Portraits and Landscapes, links, animal poems, the artist
Landscape Paintings, Pet Tributes, Price List, Order Form, My England, Customers' Comments
Isabel Clark's Dog Paintings Make Very Special Gifts
|
|
Have you ever been bored by the usual Greeting cards? Then click on the following link and order a unique one created from Paintings by Isabel Clark Bespoke Greeting Cards and Prints are also available on the above website |
|
Your Pet, Person or Place Could Be Featured on Any of these Cards
See more of my paintings on these other websites:-
www.icpetportraits.com - www.isabelclarkpaintings.com
www.icpaintings.com - www.petportraits-england.com
If you would like a pet portrait painting of your pet and your pet dog or cat, or indeed any animal, has sadly died so it is too late to take any clear photos I will willingly look at your photo and let you know if it is clear enough. I love my pet portrait work, but one of the saddest aspects is where an old pet has died and the owner has no clear photo to remember their friend by, or, indeed, to create a pet portrait memorial to their lost one. So take those photos now, even if you do not yet decide on a pet portrait painting of your pet.
The happiest aspect of my work is when my clients have received their pet portrait paintings and telephoned or written to let me know how delighted they are in spite of the tears over their lost friend. I have so many lovely letters telling me how the portrait painting of their pet is now taking pride of place in their home, and how they feel their pet's spirit is still with them whenever they gaze at the painting. So do not hesitate. Order your pet portrait painting today. You will be so glad you did.
Pet dogs, cats, animals or any child or adult can be painted into the scene or pet portrait, even if they were not in that particular photo. Many things are possible. If you have a special request, just ask. If it is possible it can be done.
If you are thinking of buying a present for a family member or a friend, a pet portrait of their pet dog or cat, or any pet animal, is a wonderful present for a pet lover. If their pet has died, a pet painting of their lost dog or cat makes a wonderful memorial and tribute to the deceased pet.
Remember, if you want a really unusual and special gift for a pet or animal lover for Christmas, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Easter, Anniversaries, Retirements, Presentations or any other celebration, a pet portrait painting of a beloved pet is always a unique and very welcome gift. Whether it is a dog portrait, cat painting, horse painting, wild animal painting, bird painting, child or adult human portrait or a painting of someone's home and garden, it will bring delight and surprise to the recipient.
So, if you have no CLEAR photos, get clicking and send your favourite photo to me for that dog painting, cat painting, animal painting, or landscape painting. You will be delighted with the result.
We should all value our historical houses be they palaces, farmhouses or cottages, they are our links to our past, but sadly, many are being allowed to deteriorate beyond any repair. It would be a poorer world with no physical reminders of our ancestor’s presence. Whenever, I get the opportunity I am out painting and capturing little corners of this England onto canvas or watercolour paper.
I also believe that there should have much tougher laws against the pollution of our rivers and fields, and stricter laws to protect pressured wild animals and green spaces. Imagine a world with only one creature, the human being. What a dreadful place that would be. We must all do our best to alleviate some of the harm man has done to this world and its animal inhabitants. One way is to enforce planning controls for new human dwellings, office blocks and factories that are sympathetic to the natural environment.
The welfare of this Earth's wild creatures is something I feel very passionately about. We have done so much harm to these fellow residents of our planet, who, of course, have as much right to exist as humanity. Wild animals, including the smallest insect have no less right to live out their natural lifespan as ourselves. I still see wild Robins, Geese, Mallards, Moor Hens, Jackdaws, Buzzards, Kestrels, and many other birds, assorted Dragonflies including the large Emperor Dragonflies, assorted butterflies, Wasp Beetles, Flower Beetles, Field Voles, mice, insects, birds, newts, frogs, toads, hares, deers, foxes and many other wild animals but for how much longer if we go on building over their habitats?
We should not attempt to turn all their wild habitats into pretty parks for just our enjoyment. Nature is wild and beautiful in its wildness. Wild animals need to be wild and free and people can find enjoyment in this too.
We cannot turn this, still beautiful, Earth into a controlled, barren environment for the convenience of just one of this world's creatures, ourselves. We can help these animals in many ways, such as not mowing every piece of wild meadow near our towns. No voles, hawks or butterflies can exist on a lawn. These animals need the shelter of tall grasses to hide in and to feed from. Where there are no hiding places, there are no wild creatures. Where the grass is mown no wild flowers can flourish. However, with a little goodwill on our part it is amazing how quickly Mother Nature heals her wounds.
I remember my childhood wandering the countryside and lanes of Devon; with so much wildlife, so many birds and wild creatures and leafy field margins and sunken lanes. Too many creatures are being squeezed out of existence by our constant encroaching onto their home territories. This cannot go on or England will land up as just an offshore concrete car park of the EU.
In the evenings we saw owls gliding silently over the darkening fields. One time, while I was walking my pet dog, I passed under an old tree and looked up. Sitting silently on a branch overhanging the path I was on, was a Barn Owl. He never made a sound, just moved his head around to watch me as I went on my way. It is a long time since I saw a wild owl. The last one I saw was a Little Owl sitting on his usual perch in an old tree. The tree is no more. It was destroyed when the land was built on. Do builders or their bosses EVER consider the wild creatures whose homes they are destroying?!!
In 2011, Hares too, seem much more elusive than even six years before. We used to regularly watch these large rabbit-like creatures loping over the fields nearby. I know the habitat of these Hares was built over but I do not know where any of the creatures were dispersed to. It is so wrong. This planet is NOT just ours and I would not want to live in a land where no places were left untouched for wild creatures to flourish in.
Hedgehogs are another little creature, which was commonplace up until about ten years ago. Practically every child in town or countryside had seen a hedgehog. Not now. In the winter 2010-2011, I fed a young hedgehog for many weeks in my garden, trying to feed him up so he could hibernate in safety. This was the first live hedgehog I had seen for about five years. He eventually stopped coming for his evening meal of cat food and drink of water. I hope he went into hibernation.
The fields nearby were full of hedgehogs at dusk. You could see the lovely little animals dotted about all over the fields but no more. I hope there are still some left besides the one who came to my garden. I am hopeful though. As I said, I had not seen a hedgehog in my garden for about five years. Here's hoping this is the start of many more sightings of them as their numbers build up again.
Birds, which I never saw about five years ago in my area, were Buzzards. Now there are so many of them hardly a day goes by without seeing at least two. Now I often see them wheeling, gliding and stooping in the fields nearby. This must mean that there are enough small animals such as field voles, to sustain them.
There are quite a few Herons in my home area. You see them flying heavily across the skies, sometimes being mobbed by smaller birds. In fact, one Heron was spotted in my garden so I am beginning to think that my missing pet Goldfish Fred was taken from our garden pond by one of these birds.
Another creature, which is comparatively new to my area, is the Harlequin Ladybird. I first spotted one in 2008. The Harlequin Ladybirds (or Ladybugs) arrived in England from France, having spread there from Asia. They pose a real threat to all our native Ladybird species and, in fact, our Two Spotted Ladybird is in fast decline. Harlequins are bigger than our native species. Their colours are varied from red to orange and they tend to have larger spots of black on them and look brasher than our native Ladybird. Harlequins eat our native Ladybirds and other insects and there is a survey ongoing to see what their spread in the UK is so far. The Harlequin appears to spread at about 60 miles per year so there must be billions here now. Huge numbers of them have been found crammed into tiny spaces. When they feel threatened they emit an obnoxious chemical that smells rather like nail polish and marks any surface it touches, so it is not pleasant to find them inside your home.
Remember the warm days of summer as, during the cold days of winter, you gaze at your painting of your sunny garden and home.
Pet Prints, Dog Prints, Animal Prints, Cat Prints, Horse Prints, Wildlife and Landscape Prints from Pet Portraits or Landscape Paintings by Isabel Clark may be found at www.VillageArt.co.uk . Where you may also find A5 Glossy Greeting Cards from Pet Paintings by Isabel Clark may be found on www.VillageArt.co.uk .
All images on this site are in tangible form and are fully copyrighted. None of them may not be reproduced or used in any form or any manner, or displayed on any website or any other forum without the express written consent of the owner, Isabel Clark BA (Hons) Fine Art.
