Izzy

 Izzy is a very special girl.

Isabelle Suzanne is 10 1/2 year old golden retriever and is the light of her family's life. When she chose her fur Dad she gave him kisses and won her Fur Mom over by sleeping as she pleased even with her littermates crawling over her. My customer joked that she herself could sleep anywhere and that her husband adored the kisses. This portrait was to be a gift for my customer's husband just like the pup herself was.

I was given several reference photos and I had made an initial sketch with this one. Wise white face on our golden girl!

This picture is what caught my attention! There was something about this photo that captured this sweet girl. She reminded me so much of the retriever I love in my life. Retrievers rock!

First round with the sketch was more general. The second round more refined. 

From sketch to oil pastel base. 

I brought color pencil in first with the shadows. 

Then defined the eyes and nose. I wasn't digging the blue sky idea in the background. It felt childish and I knew that Izzy's Mom loved the natural earth tones. So I decided to do a full green background. 

The full green brought out the gold even more. 

"Izzy" Original Oil Pastel 11x14 

They were delighted with the finished portrait. Sweet Izzy pops up on my newsfeed every once and awhile now. I don't mind seeing her sweet face pop up. 

Details. Details. I bet her ears are as soft as they look. 

Details. Details.  I just want to kiss that nose. 

Chatty

I love a custom touch a portrait. I also love the use of symbols in art. Everyone has their sentimental symbol. For this portrait it was bleeding hearts. The family loved this flower because when hearts are broken they may bleed but they are still beautiful. These flowers tend to grow in abundance and that is what love is. Abundance.

My customer is the young girl in the photo. Her name is Bonnie and she is so much more than a customer to me she is my friend. This portrait she commissioned was an "in memory of" for her childhood pup and a gift for her Mother. 

Chatty was an energetic sweetie and companion. She had no regard for her size. A lot of chihuahuas don't but she loved her family so much bigger than herself. She also chose her family. Bonnie's mother was to pick up a different puppy altogther the day Chatty came home. This little girl was jumping to her "chattering" and doing whatever she could to get her attention. Hence her name, Chatty. 

I cropped the photo to get the best composition reference to incorporate flowers. The lighting was great in this photo! I didn't have any trouble with values. 

This sketch was a lot of fun. I love a change in pace every once in awhile. I usually do a bright color wash background. This portrait was an 8x10 which involves a bit more color pencil work that usual to keep lines defined. 

This is AH-Mazin'! I used up an entire white color pencil. I honestly tend to lose pencils before I acually finish them off. I use white color pencils the most because they art like a blender. they can soften a color and smooth a pastel streak. 

"Chatty" 8x10 Original oil pastel and color pencil portrait

The details.

That face! Sweetie.

She just pops up in the foliage all pretty. 

I adored this piece. The illustrative quality of this dog's story was the very reason I love working pets. I also love story illustrations with oil pastel and color pencil too. I hope to have more of it in the future. Thank you, Bonnie, for letting me honor your fur family's memory. 

Sherman

Every once in awhile I get weepy over a pup. This is Sherman. (Like Sherman Tanks) I got to see this dog love his family on Facebook. Jess B is a dear friend and shows her beautiful family every chance she gets and I love all of it. He was a protective big brother to his Clara and Helen. I felt like I knew this dog, and his sudden passing left a void. I had the honor of illustrating his in memory of portrait. 

Sherman was Fred's best friend. Jess got the portrait as a gift for Father's Day. Instead of choosing a reference picture showing Sherman as an older dog she gave me the puppy picture. Every dog owner has THE puppy picture that they keep forever. This was theirs. He is so small on the seat of the tractor. His expression is sweet and bright. This dog was also one of their babies too. The light exposure is high in the reference so I used another to get the nose markings correct. 

Sketched and oil base in progress in this photo. The oil pastel worked perfectly to the fur's texture. 

When I had him sketched out Jess had come over for a Mary Kay party and saw it and burst into tears. Just a sketch got that reaction! I was moved. How loved he was. 

Cue laughter! Oh Shermie! (I was called him Shermie often while working on this portrait.) Oil base phases are not always the prettiest. It is rough and messy and you can only do so much detail with it at the 8x10 size. 

 

Working selfies! Pencil stage didn't take too long. From beginning to end this portrait took about 10 hours-one of the fastest ones I have completed this year. The artistic process was smooth and I was connected which helped.

"Sherman" 8x10 Original oil pastel and color pencil portrait

 
Detail shots. Look at the eyes! Sweet boy.

Jess couldn't wait to give Fred the portrait. She sent me this photo of Shermie framed. He loved it! 

I am so glad I could bring them a bit of joy this way.

Ruby the Aussie

I happen to have a soft spot for Rubies. Furry Rubies! The jeweled ones are cool too. This Ruby is man's best friend and an old friend's request. Andrea contacted me about doing a portrait of her father's dog as a Father's Day gift. He was going to be in town for the week before Father's Day and wanted to gift it to him before he went home.

This Ruby even has similar eyebrow markings to my Ruby. 

 
I took creative liberty and moved her face slightly forward and opened her eyes a little more. In the picture she is tired, panting a little, and squinting. She must have had a good run in the sunshine.

I define edges first to mark where I need to go darker then fill in around those areas. 

My Ruby helps with portraits sometimes. She wanted to be my number one Ruby for a few minutes when I was working. Who can say no to those eyes?!

I used the blades of grass to anchor Ruby-no floating limbs here. I did not fill in the rest of the ground because negative space keeps the focus on the facial features and not on the background. When the background is divided into ground and sky details tend to be less significant to the eye. The eye naturally pulls to a vanishing point or the horizon line.

What my work day hustle looks like. A couple in progress portraits, planner, receipts, pens and pencils everywhere, and a baby monitor during nap time. 

Dot dot dot dot dot.

Ink is applied in layers. I use a 5 point for initial color and then use a 2 point and 8 point to "fill in" and add another layer. You can always go darker, but not lighter, so it is best to take it slow and steady. 

"Ruby" 11x14 Original Ink Stippling Portrait

Detail-I love the subtle light and motion of the ear in particular. 

Andrea came to pick up the portrait at my house. Her Dad happened to be in the car. So she walks out to the car with it behind her back and then gives it to him right there in my driveway. I shamelessly watched for reaction from the window. He loved it. He did the wow nod, the looking at the details stare, and the smile spread on his face. I don't always get to see reactions so I was on cloud 9. It was a good Father's Day for him. 

Elsa

German Shepherds! I LOVE THEM. They can be goofy, intelligent, intimidating and always the loyalist of companions. A repeat customer, Joe, commissioned Elsa as a Mother's Day gift. His dog was June. This fur baby is his Mom's world. Her ever faithful friend. She was named for the German girl in Indiana Jones.

I cropped the one with the best lighting and expression. 

I wanted to keep some of the background direction in the rug and wall/floor seam so I could to run parallel with the dog's pose. It helps create weight at the bottom of the composition grounding the subject. 

Sketch to part way through the oil pastel base. 

It took a handful of tries before I got the proportions where I wanted them. A note: Don't start with the ears on a German Shepherd sketch. They are huge regardless of the facial features and measurements. We love that about them though, don't we? 

When working on the base it is a lot of scribbling with oil pastel and then blending it all with my finger tips. It is rough and sometimes takes many applications. 

More base color. 

 





A familiar sight is "the clutch" when you hold as many pencils in you hand as possible while working to not interrupt the flow. I work in my studio space which shares my LuLaRoe inventory and the best light in the house for my drafting desk and artwork. The pencil stage can be lengthy depending on the amount of colors in the fur. The pencil work on this piece took a decent amount of time-particularly in the ears.

The pencil has been introduced at this point and details are emerging slowly on the fur of his shoulder and in his ears. 

"Elsa" 11x14 Original Oil Pastel and Color Pencil 

That eyebrow! Heyyy!

The fur texture. 

The muzzle hues. 

My second German Shepherd was a beauty to work on. If you would like to see my previous check it out: Gatti. Joe's Mom loved the gift! I look forward to seeing more of Joe's family and friend's pups since he is so happy to share the work with them. I am truly blessed to have these return clients and all their support.