Pet Portraits & Wildlife Illustrations

14th July 2021

During lockdown last year I started drawing again for the first time in years. Initially this was for some valuable “me time” (months in lockdown with a young child became rather stressful at times!), and I did a couple of realistic style drawings of family dogs just for fun. After much persuasion from my family that my drawings were decent quality, I set up a Facebook page to advertise for pet portrait commissions, and things took off from there! I have since completed over 20 pet portraits for people all over the UK (and one in France!), including dogs, cats, horses and guinea pigs.

In between pet portrait commissions, I have drawn a number of wildlife pieces, including red kites, meerkats, horses, a reindeer and a squirrel. All of my work is in pencil (usually graphite but I am developing my skills with coloured pencil too) as I love the level of detail that can be achieved with this medium.

I have recently had some of my drawings printed up as fine art prints, and am currently selling a few giftware items featuring my work too. This year’s Christmas card designs are in progress, as are some of my handmade Christmas decorations, which I will be selling online and (hopefully!) at some local Christmas markets later in the year.

If you are interested in my work, I am on Facebook and Instagram (Catherine Connors Illustration), and have an Etsy shop.