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 Welcome to Pet's CornerIf you're a new visitor to the site via a search engine, welcome.....you've arrived in the Pet Portrait area of Twinning Fine Art and we sincerely hope you find your visit rewarding. Artist John Twinning has created work on a variety of themes and for a range of customers and organisations; both locally and throughout the UK. Animal Portraiture is one of his favourite subject areas. Commission your own Pet Portrait !John is always interested in discussing new commissions. Contact details are further down the page.  Latest Pet Portraits• Click this link to view my most recently completed pet portrait of Border Collie 'Ffion'. Before you ask....This is not a photograph! It is in fact another stunning animal painting by John Twinning, in his almost photorealistic style. Buy a print of 'Molly's Portrait' or See how this painting was created below If you want to have a look at some more striking examples of Pet Portrait artwork by this accomplished artist, just visit the animal portraiture gallery of the site. Here you can see pet portraits of Border Collies, Jack Russells, King Charles Spaniels and Tabby Cats. John Twinning contact detailse-mail : telephone : 01543 670172 in writing to : 9 Gilwell Road, Cannock Wood, Rugeley, Staffordshire, WS15 4RQ.  John Twinning's Animal portraits are just one example of this artist's wide range of subject matter which you can see by going to the main gallery area.  How it's done.One of John's most detailed pet portrait commissions of recent years was for a family in Staffordshire of the their beautiful Golden Retriever, 'Molly'. A rough guide to John's approach to this piece is given below. Molly's owner said "she was bred by Guide Dogs but sadly rejected by them at a very early age because of a problem with her legs. It was diagnosed as a rotational problem in her hind legs. Instead of puppy walking her, we kept her as a family pet. She has taken part in a few fund raising events." Molly, as you can see from the photograph below, was an extremely affectionate dog and I really enjoyed getting to grips with this lovable canine. I say was, because sadly, since the painting was completed in December 2009, Molly has had to be put to sleep. I outline below some details of how I approached this work. Directly below is the photograph I used as my source reference for the painting.  Molly reference photo The pictures below show the work in early stages of development. When you consider the finished piece above, you will see that the early stages were not really quite so appealing to the eye. The first image in the series is in fact just the skeleton of the piece and needed to be considerably “fleshed out”. The initial drawing was sketched in using pencil and the painting was established with thin washes of gouache to mark positions of important features such as the eyes and nose etc. Concentration on positioning the eyes was particularly important as it is surprising how much information the eyes and their position give in identifying a subject - human or animal. Layers of thicker gouache were then added and the details built up. One of the reasons I rate gouache so highly is its ability to be over-painted. However, one must be careful not to work the paint too heavily or one can mix and drag up the colours underneath into layers above.  Molly painting in early stages of development.  Molly painting at about 38 hours of work. Below is the preliminary sketch which I completed earlier using a limited palette of black, white and grey pastels on a neutral brown/grey pastel paper. Prints of 'Molly - pastel sketch' are available to purchase in the Animal Portraiture section of the Gallery.  Completed pastel sketch. back to top of page |
Molly Click here to zoom in on the detail of this picture Original - gouache on paper © John Twinning 2009 & 2010
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