I was asked to paint this gorgeous boy who passed away and I hope I’ve managed to create something special to remember him by. The photo reference was a lovely shot but only available at low quality so I used other photos of Kona to work the detail. It also required a bit of squinting at the photo and judging what was there as it was quite grainy when I zoomed in.
We were touring around Connemara in Galway at the time of painting him so I’ve included some shots from the back of the motorhome where I was working as my view most days was pretty spectacular.
The finished painting 20″x16″ pastel on velour |
The photo reference. A lovely shot with great light but only available at low res. I added the tips of his ears on to improve the composition and made the background a bit more plain. |
My setting for today’s work…parked up on Mweenish Island off the coast of Galway. Beautiful views of the Connemara mountains while I work. |
The sunset that evening was gorgeous and turned the landscape pink! This is us parked at the end of a very long narrow lane. |
This is BE6 I’m using. All the colours I used in Kona are from my Animal 36 Unison set. It was the perfect choice of colours for Kona. I use Red 2 and Yellow 15 dotted through the fur to give real warmth to his coat. I also used Grey 8 and Dark 18 from the set for the cooler shadow areas. To see the set and these colours check out my post about the full set and how it can be used here > https://www.emmacolbertart.com/index.php/2014/10/16/unison-pastels-animal-se/ |
Using smaller shards of pastel for the smaller areas |
A piece of BE9 from the set. A nice dull orange for this shadowed side. |
Showing some of the pastels I’m using laid out in front of me. Brocci reluctantly woke up for a progress shot 🙂 |
Hope you enjoyed Kona’s portrait coming together. Check back soon for more work in progress.
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Thank you Emma for this very detailed step by step progression of your painting. It is so helpful to all of artists. Well done.
Kay
I agree completely – very inspiring.