"Bailey (Border Collie Study)," 6x8, commissioned border collie pet portrait in acrylic on canvasboard, private collection (THANK YOU!). I enjoyed painting Bailey's face - the expressive eyes in that vast white mask framed by dark ears. With all the color around her (pool in background, and greenery and brickwork at her feet), there was a lot of bounce happening. I imagined the scene in my head, her entire body, and how it fit into her surroundings. There was light bouncing from the water, carrying teal up into the shadows. There also was the orange of the pavers glinting off her lower jowls. And some green picked up in her chin. And because my light source was yellow filtered by leaves (green), the shadows carried a lot of blue and violet. If you spend some time studying real objects (not photographs), you'll start to notice some of the things I've mentioned above. That nothing exists completely on it's own - it picks up color and light from it's surroun...