Saluki Pet Portrait in PanPastel and Pastel Pencil

Sometimes, I get a pet portrait that I’m just really excited for. Sometimes it has to do with the great reference photo I’ve been provided, as I often have to deal with difficult photos after pets have passed away. Sometimes it’s a breed I haven’t had the chance to draw before. Sometimes it’s all of the above!

I had to chance to capture Luka, a Saluki, in PanPastel and pastel pencils. If you haven’t read about why I love pastels so much, take a hop on over to my post about how pastels won me over. I was excited to use PanPastel to create some super soft base layers for Luka’s fur. Salukis have this incredibly soft, silky, wavy fur along their ears and I wanted to make sure to capture that iconic look of theirs.

One of the reasons I was excited for this portrait was because Luka’s owner did a great job in working with me to get a good reference photo. As a pet portrait artist, I have to say that reference photos are typically the biggest challenge associated with this work. I have a brief page about photo tips for getting a great photo of your pet that is useful for my work, complete with a few examples of good photos vs. difficult photos. We all take snapshots of our dogs and cats, but we don’t necessarily think about what kind of photo we could possibly need if we decide to have an artist create artwork of our pet. If I look through my own photos of my dogs, most of them are not actually great photos to use for portraits and the reality is that the better the photo (and sometimes having more than one is helpful too!), the better I can capture your beloved pet accurately.

As I said, Luka’s human did a great job by sending me some photos and then hearing the feedback when I sent them some examples of photos that work great for my purposes. I was then given two excellent reference photos and basically squealed because I knew this was going to make a beautiful portrait.

I’m a sighthound geek — most people know that. I love sighthounds. I have had two Italian greyhounds and I would love to have a full sized greyhound or a whippet or a lurcher or basically anything that isn’t long haired. I think sighthounds are amazing dogs. They’re quirky and loyal — sometimes with these big bursts of energy followed by napping pretty hard. Drawing a Saluki was a special experience because I’m not sure if there’s anything in this world that’s quite as elegant as the Saluki.

Thank you to Luka’s humans for giving me the chance to capture and honor Luka on paper. I will make sure to add some Luka/Saluki cards to the shop the next time I order cards. As always, if you’re interested in commissioning a pet or wildlife portrait of your own, please take a look at my custom commissions page and shoot me an email.