Hi!  I'm Robin.  Welcome to my Portrait and Animal Art site!  My pet and childrens portraits are hand "painted" from your photos in vibrant, professional grade colored pencil to get the tiniest details to convey their unique personality.  Here's just a few samples of my portrait work.  Please visit my "Pet Portrait Gallery" page for lots and lots of samples. 

"How do you "paint" portraits in colored pencil?"  I push the medium to do things it wasn't invented to do!  I use colorfast, professional grade colored pencil.  It's the same pigment as paint or pastels, but the "vehicle"...the way the pigment is delivered...is wax and oil encased in a wood pencil casing.  So I can sharpen it up and use the side of the "lead" to use broad strokes or the point for the tiniest details possible!  I feel it's those tiniest of details that make the portrait personal and to look exactly like our subject..your pet or child.  There's more variety in humans, of course, but for pets, I want your golden retriever's portrait to look like YOUR golden retriever, not just "a" golden retriever.  Those tiny details make that happen.

   "Robin, tell me something about you and your art".  I make art that I love to make! It's truly that simple.  I began drawing family members while experimenting with "painting" with colored pencils.  Then, I "painted" Brutus, the boxer dog portrait on the chair.  I took his photo while he pouted in the chair while humans were "oooohing and awwwwwing" over a new human baby.  He was my first pet portrait!  And from Brutus, I started getting word of mouth commissions and my pet portrait business was born and grew. 

Now, I am able to work full time on my art and have begun to go back to being able to accept commissions for children, as well!  I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a 1920s bungalow with my family and our Otto, a 10 and a half year old boxer/pitbull mix dog.  I love animals, kids, organic gardening, knitting and old black and white movies walking Otto and hanging with my family.  More info on the "About Me" page, button at the top and bottom of this page, including the awards I have received from the only times I've ever entered my work in a show.  Portraits are my specialty.

Only a few samples are on this page, please visit "The Portrait Galley" for more of dog and cat portraits and "Kid's Portraits" for children. 

"Robin, how do I commission a portrait?  And what do I have to do?"   Just call or email me at robinzebleyartist@comcast.net.  I price by size so once you have made a decision about what size you wish to purchase, your deposit of 25% will hold your space in line.  Then, gather photos that you like...you never send me too many.  When I begin to work on your portrait, I'll be asking you to tell me about our "star" who's portrait is being painted because I honestly feel that I can convey their personality when I know more about them.  And that's what makes a pet or childrens portrait really special and personal.  It's not the hair...or fur...it's what's coming through their eyes to me, and back out onto the paper...forever.  I'll chat with you and we'll decide together exactly what and how I'll paint your portrait commission.  My prices and more info are on the "Commission Info" button at the top and bottom of this page.

"Robin, I have a whole family, can you do multiple pets?"  Yes, I love to create a portrait that has the whole family in it!  And yes, I know they are not going to all pose nicely together!  Just send me photos of all of them and I will compose a portrait that looks like they did!  Same with the humans!

"What about gift giving?  I don't have any photos, but I'd love you to do a portrait!"  I offer gift certificates to make gift giving really easy!  I've been offering them for the past 4 years and they are really really popular.  We can do it all online, almost instantly, so it's a great last minute (ooops???) gift.  I'll work with your lucky recipient to get the photos, make the decisions, and will mat and mail the completed portrait directly to them.  Another great thing about portrait gift certificates is that you can get the whole "gang" to "go in" with you on the gift commission and so can give something way more meaningful than you might be able to do separately.  The "Gift Giving" button on the top and bottom of this page will tell you even more about how to give a Robin Zebley pet or childrens portrait as a gift.

"Do you do artwork that's not a commission?"  As time permits, I like to!  I recently have begun to do handpulled woodblock prints, the most ancient form of printmaking, but of course, it's all animals with me!  I also like to do teeny miniature painted canvases and other pieces.  Email me if you'd like to be alerted that I have something new for sale! robinzebleyartist@comcast.net.               

"Are all your pet and childrens portraits on this site?"  No.  I don't have room!  I rotate portraits from time to time so be sure to bookmark me and come back often!  And besides dog portraits, I do cat portraits and horse portraits.   And of course, I am not limited "humanwise" to children.  I have also done portraits of adults.  From time to time, I've been asked to paint portraits of houses and vacation spots, too!  It's fun to me to create what YOU have in mind!

Thanks so much for visiting my site!  Please take a few moments to visit my other pages.  I welcome...no, love!... comments and questions.  Call me or send me an email at robinzebleyartist@comcast.net.  My phone is on my commissions page.  And if you could, I'd really appreciate your sending a link to this site to all of your friends and family you think might possibly be interested!  I depend on word of mouth and really really appreciate the wonderful people who help me in this way!  Thanks!! Robin