I painted Sherry from a selection of photo reference.  The pose I used of her was shot inside, but I had pictures of her outside in their garden too so I used the light and setting from those.

The finished painting, pastel on velour 18″x14″

 

My line sketch transferred onto the yellow velour and blocking in
the darks in the background

 

Building up the background but keeping it quite subtle.

 

Working lighter in tone everything is lit from the left.

 

 

 

I love Unison BV7 for white highlights in shadow.
I have some really treasured shards of this colour
as well as full sticks.  But I use the shards more to
make smaller more controlled marks.  I’m definitely
not afraid to break them as nice as they look with their
papers on…this is how I need them!

 

 

The undercoat colour here is Unison A19.  A lot of
the colours I mention are in the Unison Animal pastel
selection.  They really are my most useful shades.

 

I’ve used a lot of Grey 27 in the highlights and saved the actual
white for the very lit areas of the coat which make it obvious the
light is coming from the left.

 

Again this paw is in the shadow of the dog so
using a cooler off white.

 

Once the grass comes up around her she looks well planted there.
I tend to keep grass quite loose and make it less detailed as it
disappears into the distance out of focus.

 

Sherry in her frame ready to be gifted for Christmas