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“Little Jessie,” 4x8, mixed breed pet portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, private collection (thank you!).

This is Jessie, who’s lineage could possibly include lab and a little beagle. She has a smoky quality to her golden fur, and distinctive dark eye liner.

I blocked her in with the typical yellow lab coloring (cadmium yellow dark and cadmium red dark tinted with titanium white and a smidge of green gold), but then added some blue (pthalo) and green (gold) glazes overtop when it was all still wet. Then I drybrushed the entire surface, eliminating all my edges, but leaving her blurry shape. At this point I also make certain that all the little “pockets” in the board are filled with color – that’s one less detail I need to worry about later.

Once that layer dried, I went back in and laid down more generic shapes, starting with a careful redrawing of the edges. I gradually push the shadows deeper and pull the highlights forward, allowing the brushwork to model the form.

And I spend a good amount of time on the eyes next, building color, depth and personality into them. When the painting is able to look back and me, that’s when I hit my groove, and the rest of the details slide right into place.

Thanks, as always, for looking.And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family, too!
Talk to you tomorrow,
Kim



Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

Founding member of the Canine Art Guild
http://www.canineartguild.com/
the gateway to canine art on the web

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