Want a pet portrait done? My commissions are open!
I figured out a new technique with my watercolor brushes to make more realistic short/fine hairs. I am absolutely in love with this painting, I think it may be my best so far.
About my process:
So usually I’d use a cut up acrylic brush to get an uneven/jagged texture that creates strokes resembling when used to paint. This is great with long haired animals if they have flowing hair. With short haired dogs it doesn’t work as well because of the hundreds (thousands?) of tiny little strokes required to get the texture right. This time I used an actual watercolor brush (a smaller round brush) and would flick any excess water off so it was mostly dry (but with pigment) and splayed out kind of wildly (more or less depending on how sparse or heavy/dark I needed the hair to be in each area) I primarily used a Windsor & Newton Series-7 size 3 (finest sable). The paper is 9x12. Adjust your brush sizing accordingly. I used a white gel pen for corrections. Often it’s too bright for a particular area on a darker dog so I’ll often rub it in with my fingers to soften the contrast!
Took the puppies to a puppy match, our girl Fate went best in show!!! The other puppies came and did great but no fancy shmancy ribbons for them, so off to the slaughterhouse they go 😔
You might remember that Groen; I actually met him as a younger puppy at a semi-recent show! He's gotten a lot more mature since.
I might have posted Tessa (Circlecity Tabloid Tease) when she was a puppy, too - I met her when she was a wee baby. She's enormous now by comparison!
Ty did beautifully this weekend. I'm pretty sure he finished - I'll have to double check. No love for Nochka but I think he's the prettiest boy. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the Borzoi puppy there today, my heart just melted!
A successful first time vending! I met so many dogs and They were all so good. I even got invited to vend at another show next weekend! Not sure if i can make it work but im going to try!
Check out this Cocker Spaniel I painted! This painting, Iike most of my personal art work is heavily inspired by all the turkey hill party cake ice cream I ate as a kid lol. Made in watercolors as usual.