Pet Portraits

Yellow Labrador Portrait
Marley

Yellow Labrador from Shaftesbury in Dorset.

Hi
This looks great. Marley’s coat was only ever slightly golden to begin with, mostly on his ears and slightly on his back otherwise he was mostly white. I am more than happy with this first draft and think you got his eyes perfectly.
Adam

Flat Coated Retriever Portrait
Twiggy

Flat Coated Retriever from Reigate in Surrey.

Hi Penny
Gosh Twiggy looks absolutely amazing, it made me cry when I saw it.
Maybe you could just get some of the grey from around the top of her nose a bit but other than that I’m thrilled with it.
Also could you write Twiggy in the bottom right hand corner?
Many thanks
Alexandra

Bella

Patterdale Jack Russell cross from Colsterworth near Grantham in Lincolnshire.

Absolutely SUPER!
Well done Penny, we are delighted with the painting of Bella.
She now hangs next to Pepsi who you painted many years ago.
Anthony and Rachael.

Rufus Yellow Labrador
Rufus

Yellow Lab from Bedale in North Yorkshire.

Hi Penny
Picked up the painting. Just opened it to have a sneaky look before giving it to my mother in law. It’s amazing. Thanks so much. I love it and I’m sure she will too. Can’t wait to give it to her. X Sarah

Dog Portraits Fife Scotland
Boydie, Sandie and Mac

Dogs from Fife in Scotland.

Penny! 
Wow! I am so so impressed and it’s much better than I ever imagined. Thank you so much. It honestly looks amazing!  
Jess 

Puppy Painting
Buddy

Puppy Painting from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

Hi Penny
It’s beautiful!! Honestly my brother and I cant think of any changes, we think it’s perfect already!!
Thank you so much,
Katy and Stephen

Corgi Painting
Tia Maria

Corgi Painting from Medbourne near Market Harborough in Leicestershire.

Hi Penny! 
The painting of Tia Maria is magnificent!
Both Martin and I cannot believe how well you have captured her. Well done!
Cilla.

West Highland White Painting
Hamish

West Highland White commissioned from Staffordshire for friend in Clydesdale.

Message from my friend. She loves it! 

..Annabel…this is the most beautiful and thoughtful present..thank you so much..I’m so touched…it’s amazing as are you..love this love you..thank you xxx 
It is absolutely lovely and amazingly life like…it’s incredible when you look at original picture.. very talented… I am over whelmed xxx 

Ps obviously the comment about talented is not directed at me!
Best wishes 
Annabel 

Airedale terrier oil portrait
Jenny

Airedale Terrier from Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

Hi Penny

We are all agreed that this is an excellent likeness of Jenny and we don’t need to change anything. I think you are right, we don’t need to have Jenny’s name on the portrait as it is already there on her name tag. Please let me know what the next steps are.

Regards

Helen

Springer Spaniel Portrait
Belle

Springer Spaniel from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire.

Hello Penny.    We are just home from Devon yesterday evening and just catching up with correspondence this morning.      Regarding the portrait of Belle, just to say we are both absolutely delighted with it , you have captured her exactly. We both shed tears looking at her as if she were sitting in front of us . We will take great comfort from her being back home . 
Kind regards,
Ian and Gill

Spaniel South Wales
Fred

Springer Spaniel commissioned from Ammanford Carmarthenshire Bridgend in South Wales.

Oh Penny,
it’s absolutely wonderful. You have brought my special boy to life. I cannot see how it could be improved. It is my Fred.
Thank you so much.
Liz

Gorgeous Vivacious Doodle
Bertie

Gorgeous Vivacious Doodle from Windsor on the River Thames in Southeast England.

Hi Penny
Wow 🤩 You have captured his eyes and nose spectacularly. I love it. Thank you. 
Best
Paula 

West Highland White Painting
Barney

West Highland White from Yarnton near Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

Hi Penny
No need for any more proofs, this is perfect thank you !! 
We really like what you have done. You have captured him exactly, so cute, which is what we hear all the time on his walks .

Please can you advise cost of limited edition prints unframed, we are thinking of three, subject to cost.
Many thanks
John and Ruth

Staffordshire Bull Terriers
Buster & Tia

Staffordshire Bull Terriers from Illford in London.

Hi Penny and John 

The painting arrived safely and I just wanted to drop you a message to say thank you! It is amazing and looks just like Tia and Buster! The frame finishes it off beautifully. We all love it! 

Thanks again! 
Vicky x 

German Shepherd & Black Labrador Painting
Jerry & Woody

German Shepherd & Black Labrador from Sleaford in Lincolnshire.

Hi Penny
That’s great – Jerry looks spot on. With Woody, the only thing I would like to change slight is his nose, which looks lighter on the picture than in reality – I suspect that it is the sun reflection in the photo.  Is it possible to darken the white line that runs around the bottom of it and also slightly darken the top of it?
Many thanks Karen 

Thanks Penny – painting arrived today.  He’s going to love it! Xx
Karen

Alsatian Dog Portrait - Woking & Guildford
Commissioned by Adrian & Lesley Abberley from Peterborough for there son who lives in Surrey.

Alsatian from Woking in Surrey.

Pet Portraits Peterborough
Woody, Chester, Arnie & Groucho commissioned by Shannon Johns of his mothers animals.

Family Pet Portraits from Peterborough.

Labrador West Midlands Birmingham
Ralph

Yellow Lab from Birmingham in the Midlands.

Black Labrador
Tess

Black Labrador from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

Dog Portrait Rutland
Billy

Pet Portrait of Terrier from Empingham in Rutland.

Terrier Portrait - Harrogate
Lexi

Terrier Pet Portrait from Knaresborough in the borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

That looks amazing! You’ve really captured her. No alterations needed I think its great!
Stuart

Labradoodles Painting
Labradoodles

Labradoodles from Swayfield near Grantham in Lincolnshire.

Dog Painting Kent
Alf the black and white dog
Mia the brown and white bitch
Tink the Black and white bitch
Amber the liver/amber bitch

Dog Painting commission from Brede near Hastings in East Sussex.

Short story about the dogs.

It difficult to express just how special/different ..unique this little family is and that’s not just me looking through rose tinted glasses..truly the story is quite something.

And so.
Over thirty years ago now My then new wife wanted a dog, something I had not just not wanted but by my own upbringing had  disciplined me to afford them some distain….’shit machines’ a quote from my farther!.
However Depending on your point of view I had my own faults and preference one of which was shooting ( just the mention of this subject can produce disruptions in the equilibrium of life)  that said I have now revealed the sole reason for being persuaded to having a dog..and of course the breed.

What a bloody shock a Springer is!…‘probably the best dog in the world’ that is if you are mad, maverick eccentric exuberant FIT and want to give up all things clean in your life. And so over the years we have always had a Springer, one particular dog Flash, formally trained but abandoned due to its looks became our best friend.
The dog was truly clever fearsly competitive and loved to belittle other dogs, especial on shoots, which it learnt to do with aplomb. In order to preserve some of its knowledge and traits we succumb to a second dog, a pup which in our stupidity we expected  would get on with and learn from Flash.
Another BIG learning curve…however it was not a total train crash and so with perseverance this has been the status quo in our house for the dogs until…things went wrong.
Our older dog ( by then George) developed a tumour and died leaving the recently introduced pup without a friend… that pup turned into, sadly, a frail and week dog but with the most endearing character unlike any other Springers that we had had. loving and I suppose dependant( not a trait normally used to describe one) .
The animal was a struggle besides costing a lot in vet fees and we could see that its days were going to be limited….yes we could not leave it to die on its own so we rescued a Springer , 9 months or so old, apparently ‘trained’ but rejected by previous owner due to its exuberance….this is a story in its self , so just to say we rescued it anyway.
The dog was bonkers..but so happy that someone wanted it..ho and it had a friend..Joe the week dog, which it befriended in the most astonishing manor, developing Joes endearing side….weird we now had a Springer  like a normal dog at home but utterly hyper when out doing its thing.
inevitably Joe died a year or so later……then the real tragedy started.
Whilst out shooting rabbits a flook accident, too complicated to go into, resulted in Alfs front left leg being smashed to pieces.
Our vet simply gave him a sedative and told me to take him to the RVC some 60 mile away.
Ok, loose the leg or maybe for around 9k we could try to fix it…what they did not tell us was that we had to re-build our kitchen and turn it into a make shift hospital room for 12 weeks too.
Suffering MRSA, more bits of exoskelital metal work and open wounds than expected we quickly turned into vet nary nurses….and yes he still has his leg!
Once fully recovered…with a slight  limp, still bonkers and even more affectionate we decided to get him a friend.
Another rescue attracted our attention, a young bitch…we had never had a bitch but being soft in the head….yes Mia arrived.
So many people warned us not to go there…both would need neutering and they will fight and the heavens will fall around us.
Not so….far worse!…they got on very well Alf really took to having a young friend and they rapidly became inseparable….so what’s bad about that?
MIa started to get week and ill. our vets could not find out why….in the end we asked them to refer her to Fitzpatrics…maybe the Super vet could help?
Yep.. she had a liver shunt…her liver had grown a bypass tube through it and she was gradually poisoning herself…..you cannot believe how much this very rare operation cost.
All credit to these people…they were fabulous and did the job and a few months later we decided that the pair should have one go at…well what dogs and all other animals do.
‘It never works first time’ and, ‘you cant have both parents together with pups’ and all manor of put off advice was bestowed upon us by the knowing.
The obvious bit went well…as friends to us it all worked out and both dogs seemed happy.( nearly there….just hang in for the ending)
After some months of anxiety the day arrived and at 10pm her waters broke….at 11pm we called the Vet.
She was breached and the pup was dead..only one option…emergency C section to save the Mia…the pups maybe.
At 12pm we get a call, Mia is ok but only two pups are alive….but one is not moving and is probably brain dead due to oxygen starvation and the other is cleft so will die in the next few hours anyway, should we euthanize them now or would you like to see them first?
We went and collected Mia and her pups and I set about devising a way of inserting a feeding tube into her ( Tinkerbelle’s) stomach….the other pup (Ambe)r Denise encouraged to suckle.
Over the next 6 weeks Tink needed feeding every 1.5 to 2 hours and amber swelled up to resemble a fat guinea pig…compared to Tink’s tiny frame.
Tink was always lively and as soon as she could see she learnt to stand…amber just slobbed about and got fatter after all she could have every teat to herself.
Now 18 months on we have two adorable dogs…Amber was just ‘ an ugly ducking’ and turned into a fantastic animal and Tink defied all odds to become one of the few living dogs with a cleft pallet
After one year when Tink was fully grown she underwent surgery to correct the worst of the cleft… that was successfully and has made her life and ours much easier.
This story, as you can guess is  the extremely condensed version of events ….I told you that A novel would be needed to cover just this families short existence.

In line with all the best stories though….things worked out fine in the end.

Shopping Basket
Scroll to Top