Yellow Labrador mix pet portrait pastel painting

Sometimes it is not possible to acquire that perfect pet photo reference that is so important in creating a suitable portrait. Most often it is because the pet has passed and finding good photographs can be almost impossible. However, I can generally use several not-so-good poses to come up with a nice composition that the client will be pleased with. Such was the situation when creating the portrait of lovely "Maggie", the beloved family pet of my client's friend.

In this pose, I had to use the head shot of a different image and "magically" transfer it to the body pose of another photo. It is not always easy because one needs to take into consideration angles, lighting, color and of course, proportions.  Maggie was a well fed pooch and so I strived to capture her true (full) silhouette...

This dog is yellow Labrador most likely mixed with German shepherd.  I wonder what breed she got her white feet from?

Pet Portrait of "Maggie"

14"x18"

pastel

 commission