It's Maggie's Turn in the Limelight - a Portrait in Progress

I finally caught a photo of Maggie NOT as a blur of black.

Started with some thin washes of local color - alizarin crimson in her ear, and an aureolin, pink and cobalt blue mix for the light spots.

It was at this point that I took a good look at the model herself. I was sitting at the computer, and she was on her hind legs with her front paws on my lap. I was going in the wrong direction with her coloring! She has much more black on her face. The reference photo, taken at sunset, had wrongly indicated that she had more of the gold color in her face and neck than she actually does. So ...

I found another photo - here she is with her best buddy, both of them with their favorite stuffed animals. And I kept going to Maggins as she rested, checking her coloring. I am sure she wondered what the heck I was doing.

With this wash, I started correcting her coloration.

... continuing to do more w/w washes.

I am this point now. I have her eye done, and I am working mostly with the dry brush technique to darken her coat. I picked up a cat's tongue brush last week [as I was picking up a few supplies for my class] - it works beautifully.

Thank you so much for dropping by!