Having received the commissioned birthday present from her beloved, the recipient commissioned me to create a similar piece of work for his own birthday.

The first painting is called Feline Fun, which you will find in my gallery.  You won’t help but notice the very different style from my other works.  This is because I was given specific instructions for Feline Fun.  I had to paint a picture that easily distinguished the client’s three cats.  I was given stimulus of three photographs, one of each cat, and a postcard giving guidance as to the style required – a very two dimensional image.  It was emphasised that the finished piece was to be much brighter than the stimulus.  Keeping this in mind I chose to paint in blocks of fresh colour avoiding the temptation to merge them.  The finished outcome was received well and I believe I achieved the objective very well which is supported by the request for a second commission.  When I asked for instructions for this second commission, the answer was to ‘please paint Mia, but it mustn’t be in a realistic style.  She must be recognisable, but the rest I’ll leave to you.  You know the style he likes.’  I certainly did.  It was nothing like my own! I do love a challenge though, so set about creating the scene.  I had a photo of Mia but she was in the garden.  I knew she like to walk on the beach, so I positioned her on the sand with a ball to play with.  The stylised clouds, rocks and rock pools are completely from my own imagination. I had so much fun designing this piece.  Originally Mia’s fur had more pink, mauve and blue, but she clashed a little with the scenery, so, risking the ‘keep it bright’ instruction, I toned her down.  I was so happy I did because the whole painting looks much brighter as a result.  If anyone has a particular piece in mind and would like to place a commission, please don’t hesitate to ask.