This is an acrylic painting of Aine, a very happy owner of two golden retriever dogs called Cassie and Millie. I painted their portrait as a birthday gift commissioned by Aine’s husband Declan. My client contacted me last year and I completed the painting at the end of November. The painting is 40 x 80 cm in size, somewhat unusual. I suggested this size to the client for something a little different in terms of format and size.
The photo I had to work from just lended itself to this size. The perspective is drawing the eye into the landscape to travel from the road and mountain on the left to the beach and distant hills on the right, resting in the middle on the portrait of Aine happily hugging her two pet dogs in the centre.
The photograph was taken in August 2024 during the couple’s visit to the beautiful spot in the west of Ireland.
I painted the portrait in acrylics on stretched canvas. I used a fine grain canvas surface which allowed me to capture the detail and features of the main characters. I worked the background more loosely to allow the eye to be drawn to the focus of the painting in the centre.
The location is just spectacular and I wanted to do it justice. Flaggy Shore is a beautiful spot in county Clare. It is the most northernly part of this county. I wanted to capture the raw beauty and of course the wind blowing through the grass and Aine’s long hair.
The client, her husband, was delighted with the finished painting:
Ivana, What a talent you have, thank you very much , it looks brilliant, love it, no doubt Aine will love it too… Painting looks great, looking forward to getting hold of it, my two sons have seen the last picture you sent me and were very excited about it.
Declan on seeing the scanned image of the painting, December 2025
I ordered a frame for the portrait and before posting it, inserted the painting into a lovely limed wood tray frame. I took some photos of the painting both in progress and when finished.
My painting process started with a detailed painted line sketch of the main subjects and a loose sketch of the background. I moved on to initial colour blocking when happy with the sketch. After the colours were laid down on the entire surface of the canvas, I moved my concentration solely onto detailing the lady and her dogs. There were a lot of elements here using several pigments. I used the same colours in the background to achieve a harmonious painting overall.