What’s new pussycat? (62)

Sorry for the long delay between posts – I’ve recently returned from an unexpected trip to the UK. This is my latest painting and my first pet portrait. I decided to do it as a present for my brother-in-law who celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago while I was in the UK.

I couldn’t think of anything to buy him so decided to paint him a portrait of his favourite cat, Sweep. Mum claimed she had taken a photo of Sweep some weeks before, so I printed it off and set to work. Sweep has very unusual and pretty markings and I worked hard to get them right. When it was finished I was confident it was a reasonable likeness.

However, when John opened his present he looked bemused and asked whose cat it was.
“It’s Sweep, your cat,” I said, amazed that he couldn’t tell.
“But Sweep doesn’t have any white on his face,” John said.
At that moment, Sweep came into the room and John picked him up so I could see. And he didn’t.

So whose cat had Mum taken the photo of? That remains to be discovered. It certainly looks similar to Sweep … but not similar enough! So my first pet portrait worked at an artistic level but not on the most important level – an exact likeness to the subject.