I painted a portrait of these two Siberian long-haired cats back in January this year. Their names are Pammy and Purdy. I based the painting on a photo that Ian emailed me, in which the cats are pictured lying on a sofa behind a window. The window frame is casting an amazing shadow on the sofa and on the cats too thus creating a wonderful pattern. The sunshine is strong here and I had a great time capturing all these reflections and shadows with my paintbrush on canvas.
The reference photo I used for painting the portrait
My client, Ian, wanted me to paint this image in acrylic. I asked him for another reference image of Purdy’s tail and paw. Purdy is the ginger coloured cat and some of her tail and paw were not captured in the original reference photo, but I thought it was worth painting the entire body of this amazing animal in the painting. Pammy’s fur is coloured grey. Both cats are looking so relaxed, the way only cats can relax. They are total specialists in taking things easy. We could all do with some schooling here I think…
About the commission
Ian contacted me before Christmas, but my schedule was quite busy at that time. Thankfully, he didn’t need the painting as a holiday gift, it was something for him and his family. Therefore it meant I could take my time with the portrait in January. I really wanted to do them both justice and paint every detail in their incredible fur patterns and of course the patterns of the shadows.
Long haired cats are such fun to paint. I love capturing the intricacies of their fur, especially when a couple or a few colour hues are concerned. Therefore, as you can image, I thoroughly enjoyed painting these two at their leisure. Another aspect of this portrait I really enjoyed was of course painting the shadow areas. The pattern the windows project on the cats’ fur is beautiful, but at the same time I wanted to make sure not to overdo it so the main characters remain just that. I painted a white-long haired cat called Kodi a while back and this was a head painting.
The painting process
I painted the portrait at a medium size of 25 x 35 cm with acrylic paints on fine grain stretched canvas which I order from KM Evans in Dublin. I have been painting on the Belle Arti canvases from their store for many years and I really enjoy the fine grain and texture the canvas provides. It is smooth enough for a lot of detail which I use in my painting style, but has some lovely texture too.
I worked in my usual style in stages starting with a detailed line sketch. I always sketch first to capture the detail and likeness of my subjects. In this painting, I spent a good while capturing the cats’ fur. Therefore I found the process afterwards much easier for me as the basis of the painting was completed.
I used small round brushes for the detail and small to medium sized flat brushes to cover the painting surface.
I added the final detail to the fur at the very end of the painting process. For this I used a size 4 small round brush by Richard Oliver. I order these Irish-made brushes from KM Evans as with most of my art materials.
I have been using these brushes for years and after trying out a few other brands, I always return to these. They are very affordable which is important as acrylic paint is not very kind to brushes.
Client Testimonial
When I was happy with how the painting turned out, I proceeded to scan it on my scanner in my studio. I use a quality Epson scanner to correctly reproduce the colours in any portrait and email this scanned image to my clients. I did this with the cat painting too. Therefore I emailed Ian, my client, and waited patiently for his response. It is always a little nervewracking waiting to hear if my clients are happy with their artwork. Even though I rarely get a request for amendments. Ian’s response was very positive:
Hi Ivana! That looks amazing! Thank you so much!
An then again when he received the actual painting in the post:
Hi Ivana! Received the painting this morning. Thank you so much, it looks amazing! Regards, Ian
Ian about his commissioned cat painting from his photo, Douglas, county Cork, January 2026
I added some business cards in with the painting when posting. I use a different image of my work on every business card to showcase some of my previous artwork. It is a great keepsake I feel for my clients.
I have some interesting work to post here over the past few weeks. One of my pencil portrait drawing is going to be shown in the RHA 196th Annual Exhibiton opening coming Sunday, so that is very exciting too!
I am also accepting commissions for artwork from photos, be it portraits, landscapes, cityscapes and everything in-between. I love to be challenged. Just email me your queries and photos to info@trueimage
