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. 

Swish

Names for pets are always an interesting ice breaker in case you ever need one.

Swish got my attention immediately. The name fits this fella. The wispy hairs of his ears seem to have their own sound "swisshhhh" as he excitedly runs to his boy. I'm sure that's not how the name came about but that's how I imagined this pup in my head. 

This portrait was an "In Memory Of" commission. A repeat customer, Sarah (see her Otto Bear portrait), reached out to me to do her mother's dog in ink. She sent me a lovely write up to learn more about this 20lb feisty mini Australian Shepard. If you were to ask him though he was a as tough as a Rottweiler. Swish wasn't so tough though, he was the professional cuddler and enjoyed taking over the beds of his family members. 

The reference photo choices were a bit rough. Old phone or camera, pretty grainy, color distortions, etc. However, I like a challenge! I wanted to see his ears up so I got two reference pictures. 

The Grandson and Swish. 

I did some editing on my laptop trying to get the crop and composition right and to lighten up the shadows to find values. 

I was partial to the image with the little boy. I would get emotional about it. There is something about the soft gaze and the loyal stance to the Grandson. The Grandson's fingers are slightly looped into the dog's Halloween costume keeping him there even though he didn't need to. There is an actual energy with this photo that is full of love. 

 

The sketch was pretty quick. I made the decision to sketch in the arm of the Grandson even though I was unsure I would keep it in the composition at the start of the piece. 

The stippling start.

The great thing about ink is that it can travel. I got to take a trip to Fort Worth, TX! Tim and I went to visit our friends Melissa and Preston. We got the full Texas experience! BBQ, tacos, longhorns, rodeo, country music, and cowboy boots of course. 

Murals galore and Billy Bob's Rodeo-all longhorns, all the time!

Myself and Melissa in downtown Fort Worth. Torchy's Tacos too!

Stippling on the airplane. 

Progress.

Another nice perk to working with ink is that I can stipple on my coach or recliner. Though, stippling on over sized furniture also means I get a furry cuddle buddy. Ruby always cuddles up when I work. 

Spring came and went quickly this year. We picked all of our tulips then ripped out the flower beds for some renovation this summer. I loved having the extra natural light upstairs and the pretty petals for my eyes to take a break on. I ended up stippling the arm to keep the composition's flow. 

I added his wispy hairs on his ears last. In the photo itself it is hard to distinguish them but based on other reference photos I couldn't not add them. They are part of what makes him Swish. 

"Swish" 11x14 Original Ink Stippling Portrait

Details

Details

Sarah texted me as after she gifted the portrait. Her mother said I truly captured his essence. I made her parent's very happy with something so special. They have since adopted another dog into their family. 

The thing about dogs is that we honor them by continuing to love other dogs when they are gone. Your heart is another form of home for them always.