Frankie the family cat

This is Frankie, a beautiful cat who doesn't smile much... Many months ago I was commissioned through my website to paint Frankie for a birthday present. It turned out that the gentleman who commissioned me is my husband's, father's cousin who while looking for a gift for his wife, came across my site and wondered, with an unusual name like Tugwell, whether we were related. We met at their house and took photos of Frankie: Chester with his super duper camera and me with my little Canon G9, but Frankie was not impressed. The supermodel pose did not happen and although we got lots of lovely detailed shots and had a lovely time, Frankie looked stressed out with the whole 'say cheese for the camera' ordeal and we left knowing that we'd not seen him at his best. Caroline promised to send a photo through as soon as she could catch him on a good day. A few months passed and finally Frankie smiled - it's not a grin, but it's not a grimace either. I had pre-prepared an oval board which I got cut in order to match another portrait they had in their home, triple gessoed it and painted the background. Despite that, for some reason the paint I use just did not want to behave on this surface. It has taken me months to apply layers of paint with a tiny rigger, almost in an egg tempura style, in order the make the fur look real enough as the paint was just sliding around. However, his whiskers went on today and I'm happy that Frankie is finally finished, so I'm smiling too! I have a frame pre-ordered and waiting at my framer's so at long last (and I'm ashamed to say this is the longest time I've ever taken to complete a commission) Caroline will get her birthday present.