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!