Featured Artists

GUEST ARTIST: “Painting Pets” by Rachel

Written by Charlie O'Shields

 

This awesome collection of doodlewashed dogs comes to us from Rachel in New Orleans, Louisiana (follow her on Instagram!). From top left and moving clockwise, meet Lola & Deuce (sort of a double doodlewash!), Charlie (great name this one!), Wilson (seriously, those eyes!!), and Rambler (oh you need a tummy scratch!). 

Rachel is originally from California where she studied art in college. Now she teaches visual arts to K-4th grade at an elementary school in New Orleans. For as long as she can remember, she has always loved animals and painting.

Kitty in a Cup

“I love animals,” she says, “because they are sweet, innocent and sometimes hilarious! I enjoy trying to capture their unique personalities in my paintings. I’m currently a foster mom to a 4 week old kitten, Delilah. She inspires me every day because, even though she was separated from her mom prematurely, she’s still growing, curious and full of love!” (okay… a kitty in a cup? That’s the cutest thing on the planet!)

Recently Rachel got the idea to combine her two loves and start her own pet portrait business! Each portrait is painted on 140lb watercolor paper using a combination of watercolor paint and ink at a size of 8×8″ (unless otherwise specified).

She begins her process by examining the photo(s) of the furry friend provided to her by the families who are commissioning portraits. Rachel says, “I use a light tracer to mark the top/bottom of the animal as well as lights and darks. Then I sketch the animal in ink (never did have patience for pencil sketches) before switching over to watercolors. As far as painting, I use several different layers and brushes to get the desired fur textures and hues.”

If you’d like to have Rachel doodlewash your furry best friend, click here to learn how to get your very own (and extremely affordable) custom pet portrait! And if you’d like to see more of her art (of the non-animal persuasion), be sure to check out this area of her website. Thanks so much for being a guest doodlewasher, Rachel, and best of luck on your new venture!

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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27 thoughts on “GUEST ARTIST: “Painting Pets” by Rachel”

  2. Awww, cute things! I have drawn one of my cats before, but had never done a piece on either my other cat or my dog. Now that they’re both dead, I’ll have to pull up some photos to do their portraits. A PSA: draw your fur babies while they’re still alive and can pose for you! 🙂

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  4. Wow, Rachel’s work is great. I love all her animals, but those two dogs in the tub slay me.

    Charlie, You are the ambassador of blogland. Thank you for bringing so many people together and of course for showing all of your fab work.

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