I made an oil pastel portrait of my mother-in-law’s cat, Peaches, for her birthday back before I was married to her son. I knew the cat was very near and dear to her heart and although the cat had passed over the rainbow bridge many years ago and I didn’t have the blessing of meeting her, my work gave me a special closeness to her. Looking into those majestic eyes, pouring over the photo references my husband — then boyfriend — smuggled to me, I felt like I had spent considerable time in her watchful presence.

My mother-in-law loves the portrait and hung it in her living room where Peaches can gaze down on everything, like a queen surveying her domain.

Pink carnations are my mother-in-law’s favorite flower.

I used Sennelier oil pastels for this piece. They are a joy to work with! They glide on so smoothly and blend by the simple act of drawing a stroke on top of another. It’s almost like using oil paints, my favorite medium for two dimensional work. The only difficulty I have with them is getting the end of the stick sharp enough for getting those tiny lines for the fur and whiskers.