What a lovely challenge. The owners of these 2 very different dogs asked if they could be painted together. The under colour is so important as this is the platform on which to build. Black dogs are not black. The light reflecting from the coat gives off a range of colours and tones which follow the contours of the hair and body shape.
Step 1: I drew Indie and Bowie onto the canvas and blocked in the background with a soft cool blue and then Indie’s under colour of pink. I also blocked in Bowie’s tongue which was always on show. He is a happy dog. She is definitely in charge … ever so quietly.
Step 2: I started to block in the darks. For Indie I used burnt umber and with Bowie I used a combination of paynes grey, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a touch of carbon black. I did not mix the paint entirely but let the various colours show through to define shape and the direction of the hair growth.
Step 3: I continued to layer the colours and gradually added the highlights on the hair. With Indie I used a touch of Naples yellow light with Titanium white and a little paynes grey. Her head needed a little burnt sienna and yellow ochre. Bowie had the same colours built up to continue with the definition of his wonderful mass of hair. This was the only pose where one could see his lovely, soft eyes. They usually had the hair drapped over them. I didn’t like the blue background so decided to go with the colours of the area in which they liked to play. It looked so much better.
It was such a rewarding task as these happy, energetic dogs are such a joy.
Now the finished product.
Indie and Bowie - (Acrylic)
