JOY ... Miss P. Is Looking Pretty Darn GOOD!

I thought I'd post these in reverse order, only because I want this photo at the beginning.
Here, I've removed the masking, and finished off the scarf - adding touches of black detail, and softening the whites in the shadow area with some pink/orange mix.
I have also darkened the black of her lips, and started doing some detail work with her facial hair. 

After several washes of the pink/orange mixture, the scarf looks all right.  I've darkened her nose a bit more, and added some of a purply color around her eyes where the skin color shows through the hair.

I painted the scarf with permanent rose and quin. burnt orange, and the "lines" of the shadows in the scarf with indanthrone. I shadowed the tongue with a mix of my favorite "animal" colors.

I needed to put some darks down right away, to see how dark to paint the shadows in her coat.
The tongue is pink and orange, as are the lighter spots around her lips. The black is burnt orange, violet and indanthrone.

And this is the first Miss P. I started ... still needing a bit more work with her hair.

This is it for now. It's teeming rain, so I got a good four hours of solid painting done this morning, and hopefully this afternoon I am able to finish at least one of the Westie portraits. My next projects will be a horse by the name of Voodoo [and he suits the name!] and a friend's dog, called Drake. Looking forward to both of them!

Thank you for dropping by! And have a wonderful and safe holiday!!! 

I Haven't Been This HAPPY Working/Playing with a Painting in Months!!!

I have started my second try at Miss P. I painted the background doing a w/w wash with permanent rose and quin. burnt orange, and then scrumbled with those colors and cobalt blue. Then I did another rough application with a violet made of indanthrone and pink. 

... quick bit of shadowing ...

... and now she is starting to look like the adorable dog she is!

I love expressing emotions in animals' faces. I painted this one, called "The Laughing Labrador",  several years ago for a good friend.

I love the expression she has here - another face full of happiness! Just began last night, with two washes of phthalo blue for the background, and am working on her face this morning. I have no idea what color to paint her scarf - I need it bright and sunny, but not overwhelming. Any ideas???

I really haven't been this excited and pleased with painting in months. But working on these two portraits is such a joy!Thank you so much for dropping by!

Starting to Get a Feel for the Portrait ... or ... Miss P. Continued ...

I started with some masking on her nose, and a few hairs around her eyes. Then I did a few washes on nose and eyes. It looks so weird at this stage!

She was looking a bit like a dog here. For pigments I used permanent rose on the nose and ears, mixed with quin. burnt orange. For everything else, I used mixtures of quin, burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

A background was needed to see how dark I could go with the shadows in her coat. Here I did a w/w wash with aureolin, then when it dried, another w/w wash of quin. burnt orange to warm it up. 

Then I played with the black mixture I was using for her coat ...

Finally, I feel good about where I am going ... how to approach painting her. I am using stronger glazes for her coat, and painting them directly. And I have darkened the background. This is another trial run for Pucca, and I am pleased with this! For the next [and final, I hope] one, I will correct the drawing error in the dashing and debonair scarf she is wearing. For some reason, I left the drawing incomplete with the scarf, and when it came to painting it, I blooped! I will also be much more comfortable getting those shadows done in her coat. I think a slightly different format will be better, too - shorter and wider.

Thank you so much for dropping by!