Pet Poetraits
Personalized art and poetry to celebrate your precious pets
Your beloved companion is so much more than a pet...
...and a Pet Poetrait is so much more than a portrait!
Meet the Pet Poetraits Creative Duo
Melanie and Umbra connected on the Internet through their mutual, life-long love of animals. They are over six thousand miles, an ocean, and a generation apart, but their creative styles are very closely aligned. The two very successfully teamed up to create an illustrated book of poetry about the foster cats and kittens of Kitten Academy, and so enjoyed collaborating that they decided to expand their creative partnership. That’s how Pet Poetraits was born.
About the Poet
Melanie was introduced to poetry, as a preschooler, by her grandmother, who had a passion for both poetry and astronomy. She was, herself, a prolific amateur poet, her poetry inspired largely by her fascination with the cosmos. She would read her own poetry, as well as that of the great poets, often to her little granddaughter. She even had her memorize some favorites, an exercise Melanie thoroughly enjoyed. Unsurprisingly, Melanie began writing her own poetry when she was only seven-years-old. As she continued to develop her writing talent, throughout her teens and into her adulthood, she became a very skilled and prolific amateur poet, like her grandmother, writing both profound and light poetry in various styles.
From early on, one of her favorite subjects was the pets that were always such a big part of her life. To date, Melanie’s four-legged family has included a total of sixteen amazing cats (as many as eleven at one time), as well as several German Shepherds, many of whom she has celebrated in poetry. They have been her muses, and not only has she written poems about them, but she eventually began writing poems in their voice.
Melanie enjoyed this creative process so much, that she began writing pet poetry for her friends, who, for years, encouraged her to make it a business, along with her other creative endeavors. However, she continued writing poetry only for her own enjoyment, until she wrote an entire volume of kitten poetry, so beautifully illustrated by Umbra. It was then that she decided the time had come to take it to the next level and she came up with the idea of Pet Poetraits.
As well as being a writer, Melanie spent many years as a classical musician, composer, and performer, working in small ensembles, most notably as a duo with her sister, since childhood. Their album of unique and beautiful arrangements of music for the Holiday Season, is available on CD and MP3 downloads, from Amazon.com.
Melanie makes her home in the beautiful Conejo Valley, in Southern California, USA.
About the Artist
Umbra began demonstrating her artistic inclinations as a child, eagerly drawing everything in sight, including cats, insects, flowers, buildings, and typical household items. She especially enjoyed drawing comic book characters. Umbra never had formal training, but her consistent and enthusiastic application, combined with her obvious natural abilities, enabled her to develop her artistic skills over time.
With her adventurous spirit, her vivid imagination, and her passionate interest in, and affinity for, the natural world extending far beyond planet Earth, Umbra was never at a loss for inspiration. In her early to mid-twenties, she focused her artistic efforts on watercolor paintings with celestial themes, and pencil drawings of romanticized robot thematics. In the next few years, she discovered Kitten Academy on YouTube, and the foster cats and kittens became her frequent subjects. She had begun by using traditional media, and then purchased an inexpensive tablet, in order to experiment with digital art. The experiment was successful, as she continued to increase her skills.
In 2019, after having seen Umbra’s artwork online, Melanie asked her to illustrate a 150-page book of Kitten Academy poetry she had written. Umbra happily agreed and produced over one-hundred-and-twenty-five illustrations. When the book was published, it was extremely well received in the Kitten Academy online community. Melanie has already written a second volume and Umbra is presently working on the illustrations.
Although Umbra graduated from college as a landscape designer and florist, she has chosen to make painting pet portraits her career (as well as one of her favorite pastimes, along with playing electric guitar). She experiences great joy and fulfillment in capturing the spirit and essence of domestic animals with her art, and continues to expand her portfolio, as she joins forces with Melanie to create Pet Poetraits.
Umbra shares her home, in Moscow, Russia, with two extremely pampered bunny rabbits and one very independent cat.