Today I just finished adding the finishing touches to Buck’s portrait. I love looking at this painting in the sunlight. All of the colors really radiate beautifully together in the natural lighting. I cannot wait until this painting goes to its owners. I think they will be very pleased when they see it in person. I added a soft red hue to the left to add a sense of depth and warmth. Love it!!

Here is Buck really coming together nicely. I plan to soften his fur a touch more, add more highlights, and deepen the shadows. A touch of color here and there and then there’s pasta. Buck’s mom says he loves pasta. So to personalize the painting even more, I am going to include a pasta pattern in his bandanna. More to come as I am in the studio right now finishing this piece.

With the beautiful sunlight filtering into my studio today, painting seems to happen with so much ease. With Buck’s portrait here, I have given the painting an under painting of a warm yellow ocher with a touch of crimson. I usually paint directly onto a white canvas; however, I recently became inspired by another portrait painter here in Pittsburgh, Peggi Habets, to give this technique a try again.

Since Buck is full of beautifully dark brown fur, I am challenging myself to bring in a range of many interesting hues from the color field to give this painting a sophisticated and rich palette. I am excited to see the results.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under Works in Progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.