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Aug 22 2006
Cherie Vergos’ love of animals combined with her passion for
drawing brings pet photographs to life.
The artist, who owns Pet Portraits by Cherie, recently moved to
Bremerton from the East Coast with her son and husband, a lieutenant
commander stationed at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, and offers her
unique, hand-drawn pet portraits locally.
Drawn from a photograph, her goal is to capture the animal’s
personality in her artwork.
“People are amazed at how realistic and true to life my portraits
are when they see them,” Vergos said of her customers’ reactions.
“I include as much detail as I can get.”
Animals drawn by Vergos include dogs, cats, parrots, horses and
exotic pets. In her 15 years as a pet portrait artist, she has drawn
her share of interesting pets including a pot-bellied pig, a
“beefalo” (half-cow, half-buffalo) and a sugar glider, which
Vergos says looks like a squirrel. And although she gets requests for
portraits of exotic pets like birds and iguanas, the majority are
dogs, which are her favorite animals to draw.
“They have a lot of expression in their faces,” she said with a
smile.
Vergos uses colored pencils (Prisma Color) as her medium of choice
and heavy drawing paper.
“I can get a lot of detail with colored pencils,” she said.
“I find them a lot easier to work with.”
As for the background of the portrait, which can be the actual
background in the photograph or another of the customer’s choice,
Vergos uses pastels.
She is often contacted by people from all over the United States
and internationally who send pictures of their pets either via e-mail
or postal mail.
Several happy customers have posted their comments on Vergos’ Web
site www.portraitsofanimals.com.
“Cherie really captured the beauty and the personalty of my two
dogs,” said Shannon of West Palm Beach, Fla. “She listen(ed) to
what I had to say and created a(n) everlasting tribute. I would
recommend her to anyone looking for this special kind of gift.”
Unlike photographs, Vergos said, hand-drawn portraits can be
created to the customer’s liking. She explained how a customer may
have a picture of their dog that they like, but the dog is looking the
other way. The customer can supply a second picture of the face which
Vergos can superimpose on the body.
“I can do a lot that photographs can’t do,” she said.
Portrait choices range from small, an 8-inch-by-10-inch, to an
extra large, a 16-inch-by-20-inch and can be a portrait of the
animal’s full body or just the head.
With the busy Christmas season just around the corner, Vergos
advises potential customers to put their orders in early. Gift
certificates also are available for those who don’t have a picture
of their recipient’s pet.
Portrait orders or more information can be found on Vergos’ Web
site. She’ll be demonstrating her artwork from 10 a.m. to noon on
Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Verksted Gallery on Front Street in Poulsbo.