PAWTRAIT: A Memento of Love

Megha Jalan
The time spent with our pets is unmatched. Those memories remain etched in our heart forever. What if I told you that you can turn those memories into a colorful reality that’ll be a cherished forever? Get amazing customised pet pawtraits done by Twenty-Two Tails and get ready to be mesmerised. –by Megha Jalan
A wayfarer at heart, I spend my time exploring mountains and valleys, gallivanting busy city streets, and drawing inspiration from my travels and experiences. I made my first pet Ginger’s pawtrait as a gift for self, to have something which is a perfect memento of her and that’s what led to the formation of Twenty-Two Tails.

Sweet humble beginning
I developed an interest in sketching and painting at an early age, but it was after completing my Bachelors in Architecture that I decided to pursue my passion for art and juggle my career, both as an architect and an artist.

Twenty-Two Tails is dedicated to Ginger and inspired by the 22 pet-parents bond I have personally known in my life. In TTT, I aim to create paintings, illustrations and products loved by all pet parents and their pets. As an art for a cause initiative, a part of the sales goes towards animals in need and I also aim to use art as a medium to share stories of how animals change our lives in the best way possible, to encourage people to adopt and bring them into their homes.

Happy to be doing doggie mommy duties forever
I can’t imagine a life where I am not a pet parent anymore.
Ginger was our little furry brown pooch. She was my first baby and she was so beautiful and loving. I am sure everyone says this about their pets, but really, she was the most loving dog ever! She would easily befriend everyone, even people who always stayed away from dogs. I was definitely her favourite human, and going for drives was her most favourite thing to do.

Buzo was our wolf-looking baby. He was a sweetheart, innocent little one. He would never leave Ginger alone and loved ice-cream. He also crossed the rainbow bridge to meet Ginger. And now we have Olive, our seven-month-old baby, who we recently adopted. She filled in the void left by Ginger and Buzo. Her naughtiness fills up our day with laughter and fun. So happy that she somehow found her way to us!

Pet Pawtraits – the perfect calling!
The first time I painted a dog was for a school exhibition back in 2007. I remember everyone really appreciated it! In fact, after that, I ended up gifting dog paintings to my friends who didn’t even have pets!
Since then, I hadn’t painted another dog until recently when my furry best friend Ginger passed away. I really missed her and wanted to make something that would make me feel like she is right there in my room, the way she had always been. So out of my love for her I made my first pet pawtrait and realized two things; one that I love making pawtraits; and two that a pawtrait is the perfect memento for anyone who loves their pet.

Pawtraits makes the picture come alive and that is what makes them so much more memorable. When I look at Ginger’s painting, I feel like she is sitting right there in my room, looking at me like she always used to do.

Artsy always
For pawtraits I mainly use oil and acrylic paints to create different styles of work on canvas. Along with this, I am also exploring pen, watercolors and digital art to create illustrations and other products.
Choosing the correct image to work with is both difficult and also very important as it creates the foundation for the painting.

Paintings that reflect the soul
It’s the eyes, always the eyes. As they say, you can see someone’s soul through their eyes; this is especially true for animals.

Animals communicate through their eyes. As a pet parent I know that you connect with or understand your pet through their eyes. You feel the bond through their eyes. So, for me it’s very important to get that right. I make sure that I capture as much depth as I possibly can in their eyes. I think it’s because of this the pet parent is able to connect so deeply with the painting.

For me the bond that pets and pet parents share is the most beautiful and honest thing that exists in the human world. And I am so glad I got a chance to experience it. It’s a friendship that everyone should experience once in their life, because after that, there is no turning back.

The perfect example of ‘Do what you love’
This is the very first time I am going to say this— I love my work! I love everything about it.

I love that I get to hear such adorable stories about these pets. I love that I keep learning something new about them. I love that I get to experience the lovely bond shared between pet parent and their beloved furry friend. And of course the feeling that I am able to make something that’ll be cherished forever is priceless. So many people have told me that they had tears in their eyes when they saw the painting. This is exactly what I would call complete work satisfaction. It’s beautiful, overwhelming at times, and that feeling cannot be expressed in words.

Tapping the power of social media
So far I was reaching pet parents through word of mouth mainly. But now I am also trying to use social media as a tool to reach out to more people. You can find the page on Facebook and Instagram and get customised portraits for your pets.