A portrait painting of a tortoiseshell cat named Itty Bitty. Acrylic painting on 8×10 inch canvas, completed on July 25, 2025. This is the second portrait I have painted for the same pet. I painted a brightly colored portrait of Itty Bitty in 2019. I wanted to practice painting a tortoiseshell cat in natural realistic colors, and the owner kindly gave me permission to do so. It is rare that I will paint a pet portrait without an order, but sometimes I will do so if I want to practice or as a gift for someone I know. This was both.

Tortoiseshell cats, also known as torties, have a coat color that is a mottled brown and black with patches of orange, and they typically have no white patches. A tortoiseshell with white is usually referred to as a calico or tricolor. Tortoiseshell and calico cats are almost entirely female. This is due to the genes for coat color (orange and black) being carried on the X chromosome. Since males only have one copy of the X chromosome (XY), they can only be either black or orange but not both. Females have two X chromosomes (XX) and so can express both copies of the gene. A male calico or tortoiseshell is XXY (in humans this condition is called Kleinfelter Syndrome) and they are sterile. Because of X-chromosome inactivation, the color is expressed in patches throughout the fur. Read more about tortoiseshell cats here.

Itty Bitty’s portrait was painted with natural, realistic colors. Her eyes are a bright green with some yellowish colors along the margins. I muted the colors a bit with green-gray so they were not so vibrant, and more natural. In the black areas of her face, I used a mixture of ivory black and raw umber to paint the underpainting, and layered black and ivory black, along with a bit of blue-gray, on top. In the brown areas I applied an underpainting of burnt umber, and layered ivory black on top. I also used parchment and unbleached titanium to add highlights. The orange areas were painted with a mixture of raw sienna and unbleached titanium. The area around the left eye (right on the painting) and on the chin was painted with unbleached titanium. Overall I am pleased with the outcome of this painting.

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I hope you enjoy this wonderful painting of Itty Bitty the tortoiseshell cat. If you want a pet portrait painting of your own pet, please click on the Pet Portraits tab above to get more information on sizes, availability, and the process. I have been painting pet portraits professionally since 2017, and have painted over 150 portraits of all kinds of pets, including dogs, cats, sheep, lizards, birds, rodents, and many more.

I create my portraits with high quality acrylic paints on stretched canvas, ranging in size from 5×7 inches to 48×60 inches for rectangular shapes, and from 6×6 inches to 30×30 inches for square shapes. I work from your photos, and communicate the entire process via regular email updates. I typically book out 2-3 months in advance, so if you want a portrait for a gift, please contact me in advance to reserve your spot on my calendar.