Commissioned painting of a dog in pastel

After completing a dog drawing commission, I am busy with this new painting of a handsome malinois.

Some of you might wonder how come I haven't started with the eyes?  I felt that I'd rather begin laying in the messy background first (from the top) then working my way down the ears.  I'll most likely tackle the eyes next only because I hate looking at a ghostly figure for too long. 

Multiple Cat Portrait with Tonkinese in progress

Currently at my easel is a commissioned portrait of 6 very interesting felines.  The cat breeds that I am painting include Siamese, Tonkinese, Burmese, Scottish Fold and a domestic short haired tuxedo. 

Some of the photos I received as reference material are very old and the subject not very well represented but I managed to make out some detail by scanning at very high resolution and blowing up the image on my computer screen. Of course, I also rely on the client to guide me as I paint the subject so that the resemblance is most accurate as possible.  The blue point Siamese cat to the very left will need some touching up before I add the whiskers. I'd like to note that the magenta hue on his coat is the result of my bad photography!

The easiest cat to paint so far is the middle black and white "tuxedo" cat. The reference photos were very good so this made my task much easier.

The cat to the very right (with the unfinished body) is a Tonkinese. It was challenging to reproduce his coat color but with careful layering and blending of several different pastel colors, I believe to have achieved a pretty good likeness. 

Make sure to stay tuned as there's more to come soon!

More and more fur!

I am starting to get lost in all that fluffy golden fur! It's easy to loose track of the fur pattern and so I keep adjusting until I feel satisfied with the look...but I have more work to do! I have to use some of my artistic judgment for this portrait because of the quality of the reference image.

 

For size comparison, you can see the pencils on the easel at the bottom of the portrait. 

 

Shetland Sheepdog painting progress

 

I'm amazed at how fast I am able to work this portrait today...perhaps it is ambition or even confidence when a piece seems to come along so easily. But I attribute that in part to an excellent reference photo and a an outstanding subject!

 

Dog Portrait update

I would like to thank all who commented and followed the progress of this dog painting. Your kind words, guidance and encouragement helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel so-to-speak.

 

While painting each dog presented it's own challenges, I at times felt that I would never be satisfied with the piece. But now, I  have finally reached a point where I can breathe normally again as I feel a sense of exhilaration knowing that the painting will shortly by completed and handed over to the client. Nothing truly beats seeing the expression on their face as they view their portrait in real life for the first time...

 

Horse Portrait Commission in progress

Being Halloween, I guess I could be painting the headless horseman and his horse but I must get caught up on my commissions so....

I am working on a larger horse portrait and finding it a bit challenging to work with not-so-good shots, but unfortunately, that's all I have.

I decided to use medium gray velour board for this piece because one can effortlessly achieve a soft look with pastels.

Progression of a cat portrait in pencil

Before I close the lights in the studio and call it a day, I decided to scan and show the (little) bit of progress I accomplished today. Tomorrow is another day and I hope to sit down long enough to finish most of her face.

WIP #5 of wolf painting

Well, I did set out to do what I intended for today and that was to complete the wolf's left ear. During the next sitting, I plan on continuing laying down the fur of the cheek and then starting the other ear.

WIP #2 of wolf painting

This afternoon, I've been really hacking away at laying down the fur, making sure to follow the direction of the hair growth. Of course, this is just the base coat and many more layers are to be added!

Update on Sheltie portrait

I love drawing the markings, colors and fluffy long fur of shelties; their good looks make them handsome subjects for portraits.  This one is referred to as a tri-colored Shetland sheepdog because of his black, sable and white coat (white chest not yet visible).

On the next stage, I hope to have the mouth completed.

Today's studio work

Seems the rainy weather is keeping me inside again today which turns out to be a good thing. This means I am not tempted to leave the studio and avoid what needs to be done! The distractions of working at home can become too great at times and it takes much discipline to keep on track.  With that said, here is where the American Eskimo montage portrait is at. I am almost done the central pose with only a few more touch ups to do then I move to the last smaller pose.

Step 3 of Dog Montage Portrait

In this sitting, I completed the third pose of the puppy running in the grass. The original reference image was rather small and blurry so it did present it's challenges. Nonetheless, I feel the lack of sharpness on the drawing accentuates the feel of movement as the dog hops along the ground.



The next step I will begin to work on the larger, main pose of the Miniature American Eskimo.





Starting to look like a dog...

Still many, many more layers to add but at least now it's starting to look like the dog I'm to paint. At this point, I felt I could not go on without adding the features of the dog's face. The first reason being is that I needed to know that I can get her face right, and the other reason is because I risk smudging the water to the right of the dog if I don't fill in that area (dog's head) of the paper.

Cat Drawing in pencil-work in progress

After many more hours and layers of fur, here is my cat drawing coming to life. Albeit, I still have to go back and retouch certain areas, I can see the end is forthcoming.

Multiple pose drawing of dogs-update

Been busy with guests at the house...back to work!

Dog Montage Drawing- work in progress

After taking a "break" due to an Art Show last weekend, I took a moment to complete the centre pose early this morning while everyone was still sleeping. Like many, I work best when undisturbed as any distraction can break my focus and cause me to abandon the work for another day or more.

This image is rather pale compared to the original. The final scan will better represent the actual portrait.

Now it is off to another smaller pose...

Painting of swan family-pastels

There birds were swimming past me under the cover of some trees and as a result, the light spots on the last few swans and on the ground are due to the sunlight penetrating the canopy.
This is taking a long time to work the details of the ripples but relatively much shorter when compared to the other mediums I work with (colored pencil, graphite and watercolor).

Equine Artwork complete!

Click to enlarge detail.

Working late into the night, I managed to complete the horse mother and baby. Even though I am tired, I am quite satisfied with the end results. Tomorrow however, I may wake up and find I need to rework certain areas and so I will take out my pastels again, perhaps.

It is important to me to have the chance to take a few days (or more) and place the portrait somewhere very visible so that I may observe, analyze, criticise...whatever one calls it. It is a step that I feel is necessary as it gives me one last chance to fix the painting to my liking before it is under glass.