pen and ink portrait artists
Pen and Ink Portraits of a Different Kind…
… and of a different era 🙂 Here are two illustrations that I did quite long ago (in 2003) and they belong to a genre called fantasy art. The one I loved best was that of a woman warrior. I had got it framed too, but some years ago, our office was robbed and the […]
Pet Portrait Commission: A Handsome Lhasa Apso.
Another portrait that I did for a Christmas gift was this handsome Lhasa Apso with a devil-may-care attitude. It was a challenge to get those eyes right, because they were often hidden behind his fur, but in the end I did get them right, and got an approval from Ike’s human dad, “Yep, that’s Ike!” […]
Christmas Gifts of Pet Portraits – A furry pawsome reason for not blogging enough.
You can tell when an artist blogger is busy. It’s when she isn’t making any new posts. Unlike writer bloggers who don’t have to get out of their writing-mindset for making a blog post, we artists need to break the flow of our artistic endeavors to step into our awkward writing shoes, before we make a post, […]
Presenting the Portrait of Her Furry Majesty, Ms. Khyra of Pennsylvania!
Ladies and Gentlemen of both furry and non-furry kinds, I take immense pleasure in introducing you to one of the most beautiful Siberian Huskies in the world. Please meet Ms. Khyra a.k.a. Ms. Fluffy Tail, who rules the heart of Ms. Wise. You can meet her at Khyra’s Khorner (http://khyraskhorner.blogspot.com) I always, always, always wanted […]
A Pen and Ink Portrait from a Photograph.
First, the story. Quickly. This portrait is of an FB friend of mine and it was inspired by her avatar image (which you see as an inset in the following picture.) I love drawing people too and though this blog has so far not displayed many of my people-portraits, I have done many in the […]
The Bengal Tiger – Beautiful and Mighty
“For millions of years, on average, one species became extinct every century…. We are now heaving more than a thousand different species of animals and plants off the planet every year.” – Douglas Adams  Author of “Last Chance to See.” Portrait of Bengal Tiger Bengal Tiger is the name the given to a species of tiger which […]
Portrait of the Super-awesome Pup – The Pet Portrait Artist gets the Commission of her Dreams.
My dog had been hounding me to do her portrait. No, she hadn’t approached me directly. That definitely would’ve been beneath her station. She did what pets always do. She sent her dad for the negotiations. Here’s the result: You can see the details in the following picture. Portrait of Oorvi – A Custom Commission If […]
Portrait of a Horse and Poetry in Motion
“The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit, and fire.” – Sharon Ralls Lemon Portrait of a Horse Horses were first domesticated more than four thousand years ago. Except some in North America, almost everywhere else, the horses you find are […]
The Feline Mystique – A Young Cat with Hypnotic Eyes.
“Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed the Great Cat.” – Inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes. Portrait of an adolescent short-haired tabby Cat Cats have always been considered […]
The Caring Protector – The Rottweiler
“I have a dream that one day I will not be judged by my appearance…but by the content of my character.” –  Though based on martin Luther’s speech, this was adapted for the Rottweiler by Anonymous. Portrait of the Rottweiler Rottweiler have been named after the ancient town of Rottweil in Germany. (I sometimes […]
The Cute and Fun-loving Chihuahua
A Chihuahua is the littlest dog you can find anywhere. I am sure that Edith Wharton was talking about us the Chihuahuas, when she wrote this: “My little dog – a heartbeat at my feet.” But why at her feet, when we could easily snuggle into her lap and she wouldn’t even feel the weight? […]
The Gentle Giant – The Mastiff
Sydenham Edwards, wrote in 1800 in the Cynographia Britannica: “What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his […]
The Spirited Springer Spaniel
This is what the author Larry Shook said about my kind: “The spaniel heart is warm. The soft spaniel eye brims with love. If ever the world’s diplomats and arms negotiators learn the spaniel gaze, there will be peace on earth.” I am an English Springer Spaniel. Portrait of the English Springer Spaniel First, a clarification. […]
The Beagle – An Incorrigible Sniffaholic!
“So much to sniff, so little time to bay. A pack of beagles sounds like a symphony with individual instruments–a low oboe, a staccato bell, a bicycle horn, a stuttering trumpet, crescendo and decrescendo until there is just the oboe…and then little whoops…then silence when the scent is lost.”– Stephanie Lilley, Regency Romance Writer, Beagle-lover, and […]
A Dapper Dog – The Cairn Terrier
I am a terrier… more specifically, a Cairn Terrier – but as the first terrier on this blog, I take the responsibility of introducing the entire terrier-kind to you. While I don’t ascribe any ill-intent to the statement “I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat,” made by Alfred Edward Housman the […]
The Kooky Kitten – A Short-haired Tabby
“A kitten is the delight of a household. All day long a comedy is played out by an incomparable actor.” – Champfleury, The Cat Past and Present. Portrait of a Kitten My Ma says, I shouldn’t be telling you who I am because we shouldn’t brag. Ma says, calling yourself a cat or a kitten is bragging. […]
The Graceful yet Lionhearted Poodle
This is what the author Louis Sabin said about my kind: “Even the tiniest poodle is lionhearted, ready to do anything to defend home, master, and mistress.” First things first. We poodles are beautiful. In the world of dogs, we are the equivalent of mystery, elegance, and luxury. We are simply breathtakingly awesome. Keeping in […]
The Wirey-Cute Dachshund Pup
“The Dachshund’s affectionate He wants to wed with you: Lie down to sleep, And he’s in bed with you. Sit in a chair, He’s there. Depart, You break his heart.” –E.B. White Portrait of a Dachshund Pup I am so cute that artist drew a full-body portrait for me 🙂 I’m a Dachshund pup – […]
The Forever Pup – The Boxer
I am a Boxer. Writer Stephanie Abraham wrote the following words for me: “He will make you laugh; he will make you cry; he will try your patience; he will outwit you when he can.  And he will love you with intensity that will surprise and amaze you.  He will be your canine soul […]
The Majestic Short-haired Tabby Cat
I don’t have to tell you that I am a cat, because unlike dogs, we don’t suffer from any sort of identity crisis. In fact, a human called Mark Twain had this to say about us.: “Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one […]
The Gentle & Sensitive Rough Collie
There was once a man whose eulogy for a dog named Drum moved a courtroom jury to tears. This is what he said: “The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog….He will kiss […]
The Gallant German Shepherd
Do you know your German Shepherd a.k.a. Alsatian? Here’s who he is. “He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such […]
The Glamorous Golden Retriever
This is what Dean Koontz once said about my kind: “Golden retrievers are not bred to be guard dogs, and considering the size of their hearts and their irrepressible joy in life, they are less likely to bite than to bark, less likely to bark than to lick a hand in greeting. In spite of […]
Shafali's Pen & Ink Portrait Art 