This portrait of ‘Shere khan’ was the second oil painting comission I completed in December. The client wanted a Christmas present for their mother, and requested a portrait of her bengal cat. The client also loved my Victorian animal series and asked for the cat to be dressed in a Victorian outfit. I studied photos and video that the client provided in order to get an idea of Shere Khan’s personality, and suggested an explorer theme for the painting.
I also added native New Zealand plants and flowers in a forest setting so Shere Khan could be an early pioneer explorer in the New Zealand bush. This fitted with the explorer theme, and worked really well because the client’s mother loves native New Zealand plants and flowers!
The oil painting process for this A4 sized piece took about a month and a half to complete including preparation and varnishing.
Commissions are now open for 2019, for more information and to submit a request please visit the sign up form: https://squibble.wufoo.com/forms/commissions
Two sizes are available:
- A4 ($250 NZD + shipping)
- A3 ($500 NZD + shipping)
For commissions that will be Christmas presents – this year the cut-off date will be September first, 2019. This will allow a good amount of time for the oil paint to cure and be varnished before being wrapped and packaged for shipping.
Thank you very much to the client for the opportunity to work on this painting, it really pushed me to improve my background painting skills and I enjoyed adding all the little botanical details!