Another dog portrait in progress – I sketched Emily last week, worked on finishing up Lacy’s portrait and then came back to Emily to work in her background. My client requested a background similar to Cleo, so in order to make that happen – I have to very carefully plan out my palette and store it so that I can add grass to the foreground once her portrait is complete.

One of the deepest hues in the grass is Olive, which can sometimes take longer to dry than Indigo (which is my “black”), so I have to be really patient while I’m working on these oil paintings. If I continue on too early, I could strip the very thin layer all the way back down to the canvas, and repairing it just lengthens the process. I do use a medium which speeds up dry time (otherwise the oils would take 2 weeks or more to dry! Ouch! I’m not that patient!), depending on the color, it can take anywhere between 24-72 hours for each layer to dry.

There’s a little bit of “Painting in Oils” info for you – you’re taking notes, right?