Marjolein Kruijt also works in commission. She’s an accomplished (pet) portrait and wildlife artist with over 23 years of experience in commissioned artworks with clients worldwide. She has made several live dutch television appearances demonstrating her artwork, which made her artwork in great demand. On the following pages you can read about the process of a commission. In case you wish to order, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

Portraits with a soul
Capturing a character isn’t the only thing that makes a portrait a ‘good’ portrait. Marjolein finds that each portrait painting needs to recall a personal moment, a memory which evokes the connection between the client and their (deceased) pet.  This goes beyond photographs. Designing a portrait is complex: a finished painting only radiates ‘life’, if everything ‘fits in’: the composition, posture of the animal, use of color, anatomy, the glance in the eyes, the light and background, just to name a view aspects. In case of pet portraits, Marjolein also works with a description of the pets’ character. Which helps her to feel the necessary connection with the animal during painting: making the final painting come to life. 

Marjolein gives each commission a lot of personal attention. With her clients she discusses which sphere a painting has to capture, which part of the pets character needs to come forward. Then she starts to design the painting, often making multiple mock-ups to show you the possibilities. As you notice, Marjolein doesn’t prefer working ‘blindly’ from photographs. Simply because photographs lack aspects of the living colors, life and character. It’s an artist view to add those details which makes a portrait come to life, details that are missing in photographs.

Special details
Marjolein is specialized in capturing the resemblance, even when reference materials are poor (in case the pet is deceased). Removing the camera flash light, changing the background, position of the ears (especially with dogs) or combining other important body or eye details. All can be altered in a painting. Working with multiple designs beforehand gives you a safe feeling how the portrait will look like, since you choose the final design.

To complete your information a decision upon size and technique is made, which fits best to your portrait. In case you find it difficult to choose, it’s a good idea to trust your first impression on the artworks on this website.

More about reference material and how Marjolein works?
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Paintings can be ordered in oils, pastel, watercolor, acrylics, pencil (graphite) and charcoal. Marjolein has made over thousands of portraits in commission, this website shows only a small selection. If you wish to see more, let her now. It’s more than usual that she informs you about which technique and size would be best for your portrait. Viewing artwork in real life before choosing is also possible. Feel free to make an appointment to come to the studio.

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