Sometimes I have a request for a pet portrait commission, and it turns out to be a chore to get a good reference photo. That part is often a bit of a challenge. But, not this time. My client presented me with a snapshot of Penny the Spaniel peeking from the dark recess under a chair almost as if posed with a rose positioned beside an outstretched paw. Those eyes cutting upward with canine curiosity. Irresistible!
Penny was a great painting exercise. And she offered some great elements for a successful painting. There was the visual interest of the design elements of the chair, those adorable eyes, and then, something that I have learned is very valuable in a painting: depth. Because Penny is hiding in the dark recess, it was both a challenge and an opportunity to use a delicate and varied range of values in her curly locks of hair to create the illusion of depth.
I began with darkness. This painting is very similar to my Christmas Kitty from last November. The darkness allow certain aspects to be suggested in a most subtle way. Here is the initial thumbnail value sketch and the initial value block-in in oil. The key to the blocked in underpainting is to use oil paint thinned with plenty of solvent. It will soak into the gesso, dry quickly and not mix and change the colors that go on top. It is an important first step. It “kills” the white of the panel and helps establish the large foundational value masses. This was a challenging lesson to learn when I first started trying to paint in oil. It looks strange at this stage. If it looks too dark and too flat, that’s exactly how it should look.
At this stage, nothing is set in stone and it is a good stage to reevaluate all the parts. This was an extemporaneous drawing, no transfer of a line drawing or grid was used, so judging the drawing is important before paint is applied. Here, I took my reference photo and created some landmarks to guide me. Note that the face is almost straight on but has an ever-so-slight slant. Because of this, one eye is bigger than the other and they are on a line with a very slight angle. I cannot overemphasize how important these landmark lines are in getting the details of the face to be just right. While there is leeway in other elements, never in a face whether human or animal.
Even with the guidelines, it is easy to have inaccuracies in the placement of key features and shapes. I reevaluate at every step. This is a good tip to other learning artists: continually evaluate. In oil painting more so than any other medium, changes are possible along the way. Paint can be completely wiped out, elements repositioned and repainted while it is still wet as I did with the eyes and the shape of the head.
The most fun was had in painting the hair. A good solid foundation created the overall value masses. Then it was just suggesting the hair in a value just lighter than the darkness under the chair and stepwise lighter values coming toward the foreground and then finally the icing on the cake: highlights. Just straight paint with a touch of medium. No solvent at this point.
9 x 12 Oil on canvas panel
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