I painted Kali last year just before Christmas. She was a Husky dog that my clients owned for a long time of more than 15 years. She sadly passed away last year and Jennifer, my client, decided to commission me to create a painting of her as a keepsake for her and her partner’s home. It was a Christmas gift for her partner. Many years ago I painted a portrait of another one of their dog and she wanted something in a similar style and the same size. The paintings are now hanging beside each other in their home.
Jennifer emailed me a lot of photographs of Kali. It was difficult to find the one for the portrait. Jennifer had a memory of Kali looking up at them with a certain expression in her eyes and she wanted me to capture this in the portrait. Kali’s fur colour changed a little as she grew older and it was the colour she had in her middle age, my client wanted me to interpret in the painting.
At the end, I had an indoor photo for Kali’s posture and expression, but I used some other outdoor photos as references for her fur colour.
I thought at first Kali was a german shepherd dog, and I still think it when I first look at the photos. She was however a Husky dog. She had a dark coat similar of that of an alsatian.
Hi Ivana! That look great, you really captured her…Thank you
Jennifer on the finished scanned image of Kali’s pet portrait, Limerick, December 2025
My client decided on a full colour acrylic painting of Kali. She was considering a pencil drawing, but I thought a colour painting would capture her fur colour together with her likeness. I painted her portrait on stretched canvas at 50 x 40 cm. Jennifer collected the finished painting before Christmas. It was unframed.
I have many more commission I will be sharing over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out on the blog to see more… why not contact me through my contacts page or by email to info@trueimage.ie with your own portrait ideas.
