My First Custom Portrait AND Blog Post EVER

My First Custom Portrait!

First, I would like to say that my coworker and friend, Julie and her boyfriend, Jason are such fun loving and wonderful people. I am thankful to call them my friends. 

Jason works for an airline and gets certain perks. He told me that he sometimes trades buddy passes for things or services. Some of the services he mentioned are related to car repairs...I'm no mechanic! Well, I got to thinking of something I could possibly trade for a couple buddy passes. My one talent is my art work. Who doesn't love a custom piece? 

They lost their beloved dog, Wrigley, a year ago. Otherwise known and will be referenced to as "Piggy." 

This was my first time doing a custom portrait in exchange for anything. Dogs are always tricky. You want to capture the personality of the dog in a way that the owner recognizes. This is the photo I based my portrait from:

When piggy wanted something, his floppy little ears would fall backwards. The length of his hair gave him the shaggy appearance and I portrayed him in a whimsical manner. I was especially nervous and ended up taking a picture of the work in progress on my crappy little cell phone camera and brought it to show Julie. I wanted to do Piggy justice! This was the work in progress:

When I showed it to her I got quite the reaction! I think she was surprised. She half whispered "That's my piggy" and then started to cry. That was answer enough for me.

I wanted to add more depth, less gray, richer brown tones, and a more solid background. Once I finished it I got my butt to Hobby Lobby and got a simple black wood frame. I put it on a chair in my living room and sat farther away from it with a wine glass in hand. I would glance at it from different angles and spots in the room. I was happy with it and wanted to finally show Julie and Jason. 

The finished product (photographed from my point and shoot Nikon): 

11x14 oil pastel original

The big reveal!

I went into work and made sure that Julie didn't get a peek. I was nervous and excited to show the finished Wrigley. I knew Julie would love it but with guys you never know what they are thinking. Jason stopped in after lunch and I made my pitch. "In exchange for two buddy passes I would like to offer a one of kind." I turned it around and he mouthed what I think was "wow" and then he was quiet. 

Julie was laughing and crying at the same time and looking between Wrigley and Jason probably wondering what he was thinking as much as I was. I told him since I wanted two buddy passes I would do a custom portrait of their cat, Punkin. (That will be posted separately at a later date.) He agreed to the trade! The portrait made him cry a little bit too-in a good way. I hadn't realized how nervous I was to see what they thought! I was shaking head to toe but with a smile on my face. 

So two happy owners of a custom portrait:

I won't always trade for custom portraits, however it was an awesome experience so I won't say that I won't do it again. 

With love,

Jessie