Choosing the Best Background

You would think that painting the background would be the easiest part of a pet portrait, but when it comes to creating the perfect memorial of your pet, it’s not so easy.

I often struggle with deciding what objects, colors, and layouts look the best with the different breads that I paint.

After lots of trial and error, here are a few helpful tips.

1) Dark Colored Pets: If you have a dark colored pet, choose a light/er colored background.

2) Light Colored Pets: Same goes for light colored pets, choose a dark/er background.

3) Pair Colors: Complementary colors look great together. For example, a tan/orange cat looks fabulous with a blue background.

4) Adding Favorite Toys or Beds: If you want to add objects to your pet portrait, try to choose ones that have different colors. If you have a black dog with a black or grey toy next to it, it tends to get lost in the painting. Choose bright colored objects or use texture to add contrast.

5) Landscape Portraits: If you want to paint a landscape pet portrait, make sure you complete the landscape first before adding your pet into the foreground. For example, if you have a photo of your dog on the beach, complete the beach scene first, then layer your pet over top to create the depth of a landscape.

6) Abstract Backgrounds: If you want to add polka dots, tie-dye, squiggly lines, or square patterns to the background, just make sure you don’t add so much detail that it takes away from your pet. Make the background unique but simple so that you draw the eyes to your pet instead of your background.

Hopefully these tips will help you decide the best background for your cat or dog. If you need any help at all friends, just email me at rose@laurenelizabethfineart.com.