From Canvas to Frame: The Journey of a Japanese Akita Pet Portrait Acrylic Painting

​This Christmas season has been exceptionally hectic with commissions, and I fear I may have taken on more than I could handle. Today, I completed the final commission of the year, feeling rather tired after many early mornings and late nights spent crafting beautiful dog portraits for their loving owners.

This Christmas commission is one I can share since it was presented early, allowing Kita's owner to select the frame for her beloved dogs' memorial portrait. With years of experience in pet portraiture, I was able to incorporate more into the painting than the photograph revealed. Given that Kita's owners had limited photos of him, and considering the exquisite detail that acrylic portraits can achieve, each hair was meticulously painted with a very fine brush to achieve the desired level of detail.

The reference photo

The acrylic painting

The customer had only a handful of photographs of Kita, having recently lost him, and I was restricted to using photographs taken with flash. Although the reference image captured a good pose, the flash altered his colour and limited important details, so I conducted online research on the breed and applied some artistic interpretation.

Although the image was slightly out of focus, I discovered that by intensively working on the fur, I found that I could enhance the details by meticulously refining the fur, resulting in a final portrait that was more lifelike than I had anticipated. The completed painting was set in a black frame called Brockwell.

The progress of Kita's portrait can be viewed here. After finishing the portrait, I applied two layers of satin varnish, framed it with 'Brockwell' moulding, packaged it, and dispatched it to its new home. Upon its arrival, Kita's owner sent me the following message:

"I just wanted you to know that I absolutely love my painting of Kita. You have done the most amazing portrait of him, he was my best friend and my little boy. I love him so much and the painting of him has been put up in the living room so we can all admire him everyday!!!
Thank you again" xx
Rachel

​Receiving such feedback is always special, and I eagerly wait to hear how my other portraits have been received this Christmas. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

How to book your own bespoke portrait:
For those interested in commissioning a custom portrait of your pet, a loved one, or any other subject, information on the commission process is available here. Feel free to explore my Pet Portraits page or Art Gallery to see more examples of my work. In addition to acrylics, I also create pieces using coloured pencils and oil pastels.