The portrait above, an 8″ x 8″ oil painting, is a custom portrait of my client’s pit bull terrier, Josie, who passed away last summer. This piece is still wet on my easel – and I took progress photos throughout my entire painting session today, about 6 hours.

I thought I’d show you the entire progress of Josie’s portrait, from start to finish. If you’d like to watch her come to life on canvas, just keep reading! For those who are just learning how to paint fur, this may help you learn my process, and understand the detail and layering involved in achieving better dimension in your own paintings.

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This is the last progress shot of Josie’s portrait – just the underpainting.
Posting this so you can quickly refer back to see the eye progress:

The eyes are complete, ready for fur – starting from the left:

I’ve gone halfway across her head, and wanted to share what it looks like from underpainting to actual fur.

You can see previous progress shots here. I’ll be working on her portrait more tomorrow – so I’ll share more progress, or better yet – the finished painting!

Don’t forget to enter to win a custom portrait in my weekly giveaway!!

I’ve just completed Josie’s underpainting, you can see her previous progress shot here. Since her coat is so dark, I started with a pretty dark base. I blended indigo and raw umber together for the deepest shadows, and it looks like there’s some reflection on the wet paint – so the photo might be a bit misleading. There will be many layers of fur to come, once this underpainting has a day or two to dry.

As for me – I’m fighting a cold (it’s winning, so far) so I’m drowning myself in Spice Chai Tea with honey and lemon, and trying to stay quiet. (That’s no easy task, let me tell you!!)

Will update again soon with another new tiny painting.

Don’t forget to enter to win a custom portrait in my weekly giveaway!!

Meet Josie – again, for those of you who recognize her, this is her second portrait. The first was a pencil drawing, now featured on my blog button, you can see her first portrait here. Josie was a gorgeous and much loved pit bull terrier, and I’m delighted to be painting her in oils this time. Her brindle coat color is going to make her portrait really neat to work.

I’m sharing two progress shots, since I got approval from my client to proceed with the crop of the original photo – I wanted to get as much done today on her portrait as I could, so I can dig in with the underpainting next week. The sketch, above, and the background color, below:

I’ve got a really nice, natural gradation going for her background color. It’s a combination of yellow ochre, naples yellow light, burnt sienna, burnt umber and a touch of raw umber here and there. Very earthy, very warm. It will really draw attention to the lighter shades in her coat as well as her eyes.

Stay tuned for the underpainting progress shot!

I’ve finished Taysia Blue’s portrait this afternoon, and will get a better pic up once the painting is dry.

I’ve also chosen my weekly graphite giveaway winner – and this week, I am going to make you wait. Check back Monday to see the winner’s portrait!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I finished Taysia’s underpainting today. This is the scary part, for those of you who might be seeing one of my underpaintings for the first time. These are the darkest darks, the colors that I see in the shadows of Taysia’s photo.

My palette is the same as always – I think that gives my work consistency and makes each piece recognizably mine. If you’re looking for a natural earthy palette, try these colors: titanium white, yellow ochre, naples yellow light, magenta, french ultramarine, sap green, indigo and raw umber. I sometimes add and subtract just depending on the coat or eye color of the animal – but for the most part, that is my palette!

The indigo always extends the dry time – even with a medium to help dry faster, indigo is the slowest to dry. Since there is so much in her coat, it may take a couple of days for this underpainting to dry before I can proceed.

The next session will be the last – I will work the painting to completion and share the photo when she’s complete!

I’ve worked in Taysia Blue’s background color – which is a gradated combination of yellow ochre, burnt sienna and burnt umber. The photo makes it appear a little darker than it is – it’s a beautiful warm amber color. I pulled the ochre and burnt umber into the mix because I’ll use those in one of her bi-colored eyes (one blue eye, one brown) and it’ll make her eyes pop.

Taysia reminds me of a Husky named Sam that I met when I was a kid. Sam belonged to one of my childhood friends, she was so beautiful and I was so captivated by her – I swore that one day I would have a Husky of my own. I’ve learned quite a bit about the breed since then though, and know that they really require a special environment for their well being – so I will continue adoring the breed through art and photos!

I have to say – my client has been spot on in background color suggestions so I’m excited to see all of her portraits together on a wall with just vivid jewel toned backgrounds. It’s going to be lovely!

I’ll be working on an oil dog portrait this week of Taysia Blue, a beautiful Siberian Husky (black & white) with bi-colored eyes. Taysia’s family portraits include Elsie, Badger, Jambalaya and Kona.

I’ll post another progress shot when I get the background painted in, if all goes well – that will happen either late today or tomorrow morning.

I wanted to share this final custom dog illustration alongside the photo so you can see how I’ve turned my client’s pretty boy, Ruby, into an illustration that he can use for his business! He was such fun to doodle, and I’m delighted to add Ruby to my illustration portfolio!

You can see Ruby’s illustration in action at MyRealtorJake.com!