So, how does a photo go from a photo to a full fledged painting you ask. Well, this is a super condensed insight to inside world of my easel and hours and hours of meticulous labors of love. It all begins with a good photo. This precious little beauty is Diamond. She visited my studio this summer for a photo session for her own pet portrait. I met her humans, Greg and Amy, at the Animal Friend’s Mutt Strutt. Just look at her, she is just begging to have herself captured in paint and immortalized forever and ever. Just look at that expression, that is a smile of a happy dog!

This is the beginning phase where I spend time figuring things out. What goes where, shadows, highlights, browns, blues, yellow ochers, and all the shades that come between. Doing this has taught me the word patience. Sometimes I just want to see the work at its end phase right at the beginning. That just doesn’t work. When climbing a mountain, you can’t start at the top. Its a slow steady climb from the bottom-up.

She’s really looking good here. I really loved painting this portrait, especially since the original photo was so clear. Ah-hem. I took it myself.

This is the near final stage of our beautiful Diamond. She has great energy, it is only suiting that her background color embody her vibrant, youthful spirit. I love that neon lime green on a dark furred dog. I just wish I could really convey the way this painting looks in person over the web. It looks GREAT!!

The Final Product! Beautiful! Beautiful!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Works in Progress, Dog Portraits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.