Common Garden Rat - PRINT 5x7 in brass frame

Framed print of : 

"Common Garden Rat"
altered painting by Heather Castles

“Well, hello, Peter.” —Professor Lupin

That moment in HP when you realize that Ron’s old tatty rat was actually an old tatty man pretending to be his pet… EW! 

With this alteration, I wanted to capture the process an animagus goes through to transform into another creature. Bones break, hair changes, teeth grow, cartilage stretches… it’s a gruesome process! 

I painted it starting from the human form, and then painted right over top of each stage to gradually morph it into the tatty rat who spent twelve years hiding in plain sight in the Weasley household as their pet. 

It was a bit disturbing to paint this way, but I did so to film it so you can watch him transform in this reel. Let me know what you think! My kids all said “ew!” 

Now the painting is complete, as a portrait of a common garden rat. But you now know who he really is! 

 The original was a printed portrait of Beethoven from a vintage book. 

Frame details : Reclaimed brass oval table top frame. 

Print details : 5x7 print on matte photo paper.