I always love having dogs to paint and this pair have been on my to-do list for a while. I went to photograph them in their home and this window seat made the perfect place for them to pose. If you’ve seen many of my pet portraits you’ll know I love windowsills and soft furnishings. They add more soft textures and colours to a composition. As well as this, I think it tells more of a story about the subject and where they live.
Hope you enjoy the progress of Lilly and Joey…
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| The finished painting 18″x14″ |
My line drawing transferred onto the sandy colour velour.
A sandy midtone paper is great for this colour of dog. It
helps to have a midtone to work from so you can go both
darker and lighter.
Beginning to block in the leaves outside the window. I’ve
taken a few progress shots throughout the background so
you can see how I built this up.
Starting to get more definition in some of the leaves
although I want to leave it blurred and knock it all back a little
then add a few hints of the reflection from the cushions
inside on the glass.
Working on the soft seat and cushions. Using different
shades of lines across the front of the cushion for areas
being hit by light and areas in shadow. As long as I keep the
sweep of those lines in perspective it gives a nice sense of depth
to the painting in the foreground.
Starting on Lilly. Still got that cushion on the right to do
but wanted to get onto the main pair so I’ll come back to it.
Using some gorgeous oranges and reds throughout their coats
along with some more subtle grey blues in the shadow areas.
You can see some of the colours I’m using.
Mostly Unison pastels in all shapes and sizes.
These big sticks wear down into all sorts of shapes
which become useful for all sorts of jobs requiring
both large areas of colour and small areas of detail.
I did a demo at Bangor Art club and manged to get
this much of Joey’s wee face done. Still a lot of
tweaking to do but happy that the likeness is there.
Almost there now! Working my way down
the front of Joey and then back to that cushion
on the right. I’ll also go back over everthing making
my darkest areas darker, my brightest highlights brighter
and a few spots of vibrant colour through their coats.
Hope you’ve enjoyed their progress. Please make sure to follow me on Facebook at Emma Colbert Art to see more work in progress.