I thought I would follow up the "Dog Portrait Deconstructed "post I did about a week ago with some adorable photos Luckie's owners sent me ...
Here she seems to be sizing it up and deciding whether she approves or not...
And happily it was an enthusiastic YES. Phew! Dogs can be such harsh critics.
I just finished the commissioned dog portrait I have been working on since February. I did a post about it then when I had just begun the painting and I thought it might be fun to post the stages leading up to the final. She has such a beautiful intensity about her and I must admit I am going to miss having her around the house, so to speak. I do tend to get attached to my portraits and it can be hard to let them go at the end!
I begin with a series of sketches, this one made the final cut.
The next step is stretching and priming the canvas. I like to begin on a mid-tone ground and work out the light and shadow with white and umber instead of working down from a white ground.
The next step is always the trickiest for me as I begin to add in color and form. I have to keep the final vision in mind as I know the painting takes on a life of it's own at this stage. I go back and forth a lot at this point so that I don't have to make any big adjustments later on. I spend a lot of time sitting and staring at it, sometimes weeks to be sure to catch little things that aren't quite right.
At this point I added in the collar and also brought the tone of her fur way down so that I could then go in and add more light. The back and forth of dark and light is what gives the painting a sort of glow. I learned this classical approach to painting early on in art school and it has stayed with me ever since.
Then on to the final stage where I added back some lighter tones to her ears and fur and of course put in her fuzzy little whiskers and it was finished!
