This is a pet portrait of a gray and orange tabby cat named Hasse with a teal background. Acrylic painting on 9×12 inch cold press watercolor paper, completed on May 29, 2025. This painting was a gift, and based based entirely on a single photo of the cat, which was all that was available. The photo was a closeup of her face, and has some distortion due to the lens being so close to her muzzle. I chose to keep the distortion and foreshortening of her face in the portrait, for a couple of reasons. One is that I did not have another photo of the pet to make such corrections. And two, the unusual pose is visually interesting and cute.

Hasse’s portrait was done in natural colors in a realistic style. Her eyes were a vivid green in the photo, so I replicated that in the painting. I chose a muted teal as the background color to complement her eyes. Her fur color appeared to be mostly gray tabby but with some orange areas, especially around her muzzle and eyes. Since I didn’t have any other photos of her it was hard to tell if it was just the lighting (it was clearly taken with a cell phone) or if that was her actual coloration. If that is her true color, than she would be a torbie or tabico (a tricolor cat with heavy tabby markings in the colored patches) with white. Since that is how she appeared to me, and the orange areas were very distinct, that is how I chose to portray her. That is the downfall of being a portrait artist that works from photos without any other references, which is why I prefer owners give me multiple photos of the same pet. Sometimes, colors and even markings can change or disappear depending on the lighting and brightness of the photo.

For Hasse’s portrait, I painted an underpainting base layer of blue-gray on the entire paper, including the background. The background color was a blend of various colors, including blue-gray, aqua green, and turquoise. I blended the colors on the paper, which is why some of the aqua green and blue-gray can be seen. I don’t typically like painting a background as a solid color, since it seems very flat. So I usually include some texturing, a slight gradient, and don’t blend the colors thoroughly so there are patches of color on the canvas.

For Hasse’s base coloration I used unbleached titanium mixed with neutral gray, and layered lighter and darker colors on top for the fur texture and markings. Tabby cats have what is known as an “agouti” pattern in their fur, meaning that each individual hair shaft has bands of color on it, rather than being a solid color. This will appear as ticking in the fur, and if you look very closely at your tabby cat’s fur you can see this ticking and banding. They are not a solid color. For the orange areas, I used a mixture of unbleached titanium and raw sienna. The pink of her nose and the inside of the ear was painted with some rose pink mixed with unbleached titanium and a touch of pale yellow.

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It was my pleasure to paint Hasse. It was a challenge to paint an atypical pose, and also really focus on the fur details in natural colors. It was also a challenge to paint on watercolor paper, which is very different from painting on canvas. Watercolor paper is thirsty, which means acrylic paints dry even faster than on canvas, and they are much, much harder to blend. I also had to be careful not to make my layers too thick, as it makes the paper warp. Overall it was interesting.

If you like Hasse and want a painting of your own pet, please visit my Pet Portrait Commission page for more information about pricing and the process. All of my pet portraits can be viewed in my Portfolio. I do not typically paint pet portraits on watercolor paper; I paint on stretched canvas that is ready to hang. I have been painting professionally since 2017 and have done over 150 pet portraits in that time. I have painted a wide variety of animals, including multiple breeds of dogs and cats, as well as farm animals, birds, reptiles, and small mammals. I work from your photos and would be happy to immortalize your pet in my signature style.