Back in the fall, I wanted a pair of rats. But then I got a few messages from my friend asking if I wanted a ferret. And messages from her girlfriend about what a good ferret parent I would be. And snapchat after snapchat of said ferret. And assurance that the ferret was potty trained and the perfect fit for me as a person and... well, his name is Fenrir and I love him.
Look at that little face!
So my little project last week was painting a portrait of him in his natural habitat- trouble.
He inspired it, fittingly, by ripping the packaging open on this canvas while he was hopping around, chirping like a little jerk.
I covered how I tackle pet portraits last post, so I want to focus on what made this piece especially fun.
The little toe prints that he's "in trouble for" in the painting.
To get the ferret print effect without the fear of everything going to hell, we took Fen when he was placid (a rare occasion) gently dabbed his front paws on an ink pad and then pressed them against a sheet of paper. I cannot express that the only thing that made me feel more ridiculous than fingerprinting a ferret, was the fact that he went along with it so willingly. We took him to the bathroom to wash his little paws after and he grabbed the washcloth and wiped them off himself. It was criminally cute.
Armed with the prints, I carved little stamps of them. To make the prints on the canvas, I used the stamps and a very rough fan brush to lightly drag the paint like his fur would.
I was beyond happy with the end result. It ended up being the perfect cross between weird creativity that I crave and a flex of my technical skills (I even got to slip one of my hands in there.)
Love it. It's a compilation of cool.
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