Wild at Heart Illustration: 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.