My neighbors’ young dog sadly faced an untimely death this month. The photos poured out on social media. River was a most beautiful heap of golden fur and the face was sweet beyond measure. A photo cried out to be be turned into a painting to honor the life of River for the grieving family.
I was challenged by the mounds of golden hair but saw the potential to further explore the use of an acrylic underpainting to establish the value structure. I used acrylics to create the deep color of the undercoat to contrast against the more superficial topcoat of fur. Compared to the topcoat, I knew the undercoat would be both darker and cooler. Therefore, my acrylic washes shifted the golden local color to deep reds. As for the background, orange washes went in to serve as a contrast to the final teal-grey background in oil.
Onto the top of the acrylic base went the topcoat of fur in golden hues of oil paint. I tried to look for color variations and place brushstrokes boldly pushing the color to reds cooled with viridian in the shadows and golden fur highlighted with sporadic flecks of bright Indian yellow.
The background was given a spontaneous sweep of loose brushwork for this final depiction of a beloved canine named River.
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