“Such a Lady (Amy),” 8x10, acrylic mixed breed pet portrait on canvasboard, private collection (thank you!).
This painting was a long time in the making. I kept painting it, then backing away, and not seeing enough contrast. There are all sorts of lovely light blues and lavenders and greens in Amy’s underbelly and chest, and I simply wasn’t building enough contrast into them. And with the humidity today, the glazes took their sweet ole time drying, so that extended everything as well.
But I love the halos in Amy’s spots, and they are a fun treat to paint – doing them up in lighter tones, gradually building to their darker centers. The trick, for me, to painting animals with these sorts of markings, is to paint their basic body shape first, and model that with the shadows, midtones, and highlights, and then go into that with the spots and other markings at the very end. You also need to balance those smaller brush marks between all the values – not just the lightest or the darkest. Pull some darker hairs into the lighter areas and vice versa.
Then a couple of bolder strokes of color, just because.
And our little lady’s portrait is finished.
This painting is a study of sorts for a larger piece. You can always watch my larger canvases develop at http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/, where the works in process are featured on the wet paint page.
I need to thank Danielle Zoladkiewicz, who after some debate, opted to purchase all four of her dog’s portraits from last week (Cookie in the Snow, Lip Smackin’, Husky Eyes and Sniff).
Thanks as always for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family.
And for sharing your special dogs with me – I continue to get deluged with photos and stories, and I’m loving reading all of them, and meeting new faces. I cannot wait to bring them back to each of you, the dog-a-day readers!
We’ll see 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
This painting was a long time in the making. I kept painting it, then backing away, and not seeing enough contrast. There are all sorts of lovely light blues and lavenders and greens in Amy’s underbelly and chest, and I simply wasn’t building enough contrast into them. And with the humidity today, the glazes took their sweet ole time drying, so that extended everything as well.
But I love the halos in Amy’s spots, and they are a fun treat to paint – doing them up in lighter tones, gradually building to their darker centers. The trick, for me, to painting animals with these sorts of markings, is to paint their basic body shape first, and model that with the shadows, midtones, and highlights, and then go into that with the spots and other markings at the very end. You also need to balance those smaller brush marks between all the values – not just the lightest or the darkest. Pull some darker hairs into the lighter areas and vice versa.
Then a couple of bolder strokes of color, just because.
And our little lady’s portrait is finished.
This painting is a study of sorts for a larger piece. You can always watch my larger canvases develop at http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/, where the works in process are featured on the wet paint page.
I need to thank Danielle Zoladkiewicz, who after some debate, opted to purchase all four of her dog’s portraits from last week (Cookie in the Snow, Lip Smackin’, Husky Eyes and Sniff).
Thanks as always for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family.
And for sharing your special dogs with me – I continue to get deluged with photos and stories, and I’m loving reading all of them, and meeting new faces. I cannot wait to bring them back to each of you, the dog-a-day readers!
We’ll see 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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