I’ve completed Emily’s portrait and it’s out for proofing, so there may (or may not) be minor tweaking going on – but overall this portrait is complete and back under the fan. I have to say – painting white poodle fur is very interesting. Especially getting the shadows of the fur just so, there’s a little depth but not too much – the fine wisps of fur on her tail and ears – the grass coming up around her, a very enjoyable painting to work. I’ll post the final scan and painting details once she’s dry.

I’ve completed Emily’s underpainting today – the shadow of her white fur is basically what you’re looking at. I also roughed in her eyes, nose and mouth. They will be further enhanced with the next layer of paint. I’ll set the fan on her tonight so that I can speed up dry time and if all goes well, I’ll finish her portrait tomorrow.

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?

Lacy’s portrait is almost complete. This is the “proof”, where Lacy’s mom gets a larger digital image of the painting and has a closer look at the details and has the option of requesting any revisions to the painting. This also gives me the opportunity as the artist to step away for the evening, allow the portrait to dry a bit, and make any additional revisions that I see needed in the morning before I sign her – the final act in completing a painting!

I know I’m a little biased, but *woof* I wanna fluff this pup right up. She must have 3 inches worth of depth to her fur! And her eyes – I could gaze into them all day.

Good girl, Lacy. Good girl. :pats on head:

Once she’s totally complete, the painting will have time to dry, it will get a nice coat of gloss varnish, I’ll scan the piece and you’ll see a much better representation of her portrait. Stay tuned, that usually takes a couple of days – so I should have the final scan images up for your viewing pleasure on Friday.

I’ve worked a bit more on Lacy today, this time deepening the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. If all goes well and this is pretty dry tomorrow afternoon, I’ll start working on her fur and possibly finish up her portrait by Wednesday.

This is Lacy’s underpainting, sitting beside the photo I’m working from. You can see she’s a beautiful white American Eskimo, and her portrait will reflect that as I add more layers of fur. Right now, she’s the color that I see under that top layer of fur. Since I paint so thin, this layer will dry and then I’ll begin applying thousands of fine brushstrokes, building layer upon layer of fur until I reach the whitest whites in her portrait. I’ll also be enhancing her eyes and nose, deepening and brightening the color and – as is the very last thing I do with every portrait – applying lashes and whiskers.

To be continued…

Lacy is an American Eskimo, fluffy and white and I just want to dive into her fur and hunker down for the winter. She’s going to be a pressie so “sssshhhhh”, keep her portrait progress on the down low until after Valentine’s Day. Seriously – what a nice gift to get from your Honey on Valentine’s Day, a custom portrait of your dog! Personally, I’d bawl. So knowing that, I’ll be sure to package her portrait up in something water resistant.

Two white dogs portraits in the studio – Lacy is also an 8×10 and will be painted in oils.

Stay tuned for more studio progress this week!

I’ve worked up a couple of dog portrait sketches today, this first one is Emily. She’s a lovely little white poodle that I’ll be painting on an 8×10 canvas in oils. She’s going to be sitting in grass, similarly to Cleo, a custom dog portrait I completed a couple of years ago. I’ll show you the painting as her portrait progresses, of course.

See, power outages can be a good thing. I had received this commission to paint a pencil portrait of Moggie in a 4″ wide by 10″ high size a couple of weeks ago. Peeling myself away from the online part of making my living can be pretty tough, and honestly? I have a confession to make. I procrastinate. For good reason, I think (sometimes).

I haven’t drawn a drawing since High School.

Seriously, a true graphite pencil start to finish full drawing in its final form this is IT piece of artwork – it’s been about 18 years. You’d think that since I’m an artist for a living, I would produce more graphite drawings. I’ve worked in colored pencil, watercolor, oil, acrylic, even india inks – but it’s rare that someone asks a graphite of me. I always attributed that to not having any in my portfolio, I guess.

Once in a while though, I get a client who asks “can you do this?….” and of course I never decline. I will, however, procrastinate at least a little out of sheer fear that I’m totally inept and unable to create something with a certain medium on a certain ground.

I know, it’s crazy. I should know by know that this fear of mine is all in my head. This God given gift just flows through my hands out onto whatever is in front of me with whatever tool I have in my hand. I am so humbled by that. I finished Moggie lastnight (well, almost – she is in proofing stage and still needs whiskers and her tag wording, and then of course my signature) and when I took my hand away from the pad I thought “Woah. Well. There she is.” And when you finish something and see it through your own eyes but know it happened not because of anything you learned in school or taught yourself, it’s a sort of euphoria that you can’t feel from anything else.

It’s when you crave that euphoria that you find yourself doing what you’re meant to do more often, and feeling a sense of peace and calm in your life that you can’t attain any other way.

This is what dreams are made of, and this is how you live them.

Get in the Christmas Spirit!
Now Playing : God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
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