Golden Retrievers - FINISHED

Here is the portrait! Complete and finished!

Golden Retrievers
24" x 36" oil on canvas

A couple of things that I did differently from the original photo:
The colors are much brighter and more impressionistic.
In the composition the foreground has been darkened
to make the dogs stand out more
and to allow the fall colors of the trees to really pop.

In the close-ups below, you can see a the brushstrokes a little more
but you can't really see the subtle and complex
colors and textures in this painting.

Close-up of the dog on the right - no longer alien!
She has a ring of light, almost white fur around her neck.

Close-up of the male dog :)

The client first said "Oh! It looks so much different than it does on the internet"
(which is what I always tell people)
After she presented it to the recipient, she sent me an email saying
"Liz, we love the painting. Thank you for all of the work and updates!"

Thank you for your interest. I am off to visit the Ft. Worth Art Show today - should be a lot of fun and inspiration! Please forward to anyone interested :)

Liz

Golden Retrievers - Working on the Dogs

Well, the dog on the right just got away from me, so I eneded up wiping the entire dog out, except for her tail.
Her head had gotten too large, and her body was too thin, she was just not right.



Started painting her back in - she is not even close to finished, but the posture and proportions are more accurte (if they don't get away from me again). Did more work on refining the male dog's face. There is still a lot to do on the painting. Some paintings go fairly smoothly from conception to completion. Some, like this one, fight me all the way to the end LOL.

More coming soon! As always, thank you for your interest!

Liz

Golden Retrievers - Refining Background & Working on the Dogs

I don't know what happened with yesterday's post, all those extra pictures!! Sorry about that. They weren't visible in my version, until it arrived in the email! The internet is a strange and wonderful thing.

Ok, here's the progress on the painting for today:



The dog on the left just came off my brushes with ease. I'm sure you can see the beginning of a problem with the dog on the right . . . just "off" . . . kind of alien looking LOL I have the feeling that their real personalities are coming through. The dog on the left is a laid back male and the dog on the right seems more assertive and isn't cooperating with my brushes!

More to see soon! Thank you again for your interest! Please feel free to forward this.

Liz

Golden Retrievers - blocking in the background

I want to integrate the dogs into the background, so I start blocking in the basic areas of the background. I am going to make the background much more colorful than the photo. At this point, the painting is much darker & brighter than it will be when it is finished

Large Dog Commission

This is becoming painting of the month, instead of painting of the day!

Remember the painting I showed you a while back? Well, it has been finished and delivered, so I can now show you the steps I go through on a larger commission. After looking through the photos the the client has sent me we decide on one that would make a good painting. In this case, it is a photo of the two golden retrievers on a path. They also provide me with some additional reference photos that show the dogs' faces and coloration more clearly.


I tone my canvas, (darken it a bit with thinned down paint) This is done so that I can better judge the relative lightness & darkness and the color of the paint that I apply, as opposed to putting it on a stark white canvas.

Here is the initial freehand drawing on the canvas:

I decide to change the front dog's tail so it is less awkward looking. All my paintings are done freehand, and you'll be able to tell in the next few days when totally mess up the dog on the right, which I don't really understand because she looks just about perfect right here. Well, just wait, and you'll see how I can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory LOL . . .

Since you've already seen the step above, here is the next day's progress:


Starting to block in the dark areas and lay out the basic composition shapes of dark versus light. Tomorrow, it'll start to get fun!

As always, thank you for your interest, and your letters and support!! I truly appreciate them!

Liz