This is a portrait of a gray cat named “Debbie Snackcakes”. Acrylic painting on 8×10 inch canvas, completed October 16, 2025. This is a very unusual name for a cat! She has part of her ear missing; this is a result of a trap-neuter-release, where they tip the cat’s ears so that people know she had been spayed. She was ultimately adopted by a family, so her stray days are over.

Debbie’s portrait was created in a natural realism style, with a creamy yellow background. The background of the reference photo had a yellowish tint to it, and I thought it would be lovely to replicate that in the painting. The yellow complements the yellow of her eyes, and also contrasts with the cool gray tones of her fur. In the reference photo, she was sitting on a wood table top, so I kept that in the photo so she would be grounded. The owners wanted her entire body painted in the sitting pose, and provided extra photos of her to supplement the main reference, which had stopped abruptly at her ears. So this painting was a composite of two reference photos. I do love the classic ‘cat’ pose that is reminiscent of a statue.

The background color is a blend of several colors, mixed together to make this pale desaturated yellow color, with a bit of golden brown near the bottom for shading. I prefer to use gradients in my work for the backgrounds, rather than a single solid color, because it gives the background more depth and makes it more interesting. For her body, I made an underpainting of neutral gray mixed with blue gray, and added layers of ivory black for shading, and layers of parchment and some titanium mixing white for highlights. I used this technique for an earlier painting of a gray cat and I really liked how it turned out so I used it again here.

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I hope you enjoy this unique painting of a stylish gray cat! If you want one of your own pet, please click on the Pet Portraits tab above. I have been working as a full time pet portrait artist 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 archival 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.