This week I took a very much-needed break from landscapes to paint my first pet portrait. I’ve been itching to paint my dog, Shanzi for a while now. Running into pet portraits on Pinterest and the WP Reader has only fueled my desire to paint her. For my first try, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I think it captures The Shiz perfectly and it was really fun to paint.
I dug out a picture I had taken 4-5 years ago (man, time flies) for this painting. These days my old dog has quite a bit more white on her face and a little less bounce in her step. It might be fun to do a whole series of her from puppy to senior. Or maybe just a series of animals. I have two cats and a whole host of extended family pets and nature photos that would be fun. Plus, my sister-in-law just got a pig for her birthday. The possibilities are endless.
Half way through this painting I realized that I had used up my last canvas and needed to build some more. I love painting small 8×10’s but I’ve been thinking about working bigger. A large painting is more impressive, but it also takes more time to finish, and I have far less available space to store them. I’ve been asked several times by family and friends about when I’m going to start painting bigger. I’ve put it off for a while because I know I can quickly finish a small painting, and I’m a little intimidated by large canvases. I’ve painted large before and have two larger paintings in progress right now. It’s just that I’m far more productive and comfortable working small. The large projects linger while I whip out small paintings. How do other artist deal with this problem?
Nice work. As to increasing size. If you are happy with small – stay small. Although one way might be to get bigger gradually, by increasing the size a few inches at a time and get some bigger brushes.
Thank you. I really like the idea of getting bigger gradually. I already have the larger brushes.
Great job!
Thank you! 🙂
Great effort for a first ever pet portrait! I really related to your comments about smaller vs larger paintings. One of the reasons (among many) I stay small is because I buy my canvases off the shelf, and don’t want to risk going big and having it warp because I bought cheap! So I was interested to read that you build yours… how do you go about doing that? Can you point me to some reliable info / resources? Look forward to seeing your next portrait!
Thank you! I’m still struggling with the small vs. large paintings. I started building my canvases because I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the ready made canvases. I started with http://emptyeasel.com/2006/12/29/how-to-make-your-own-stretched-canvases-for-painting/. The only things I do differently are I don’t use power tools and I attach the quarter round to the 1×2 with glue before making any cuts. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and the more I do it, the better and faster I get. Good luck!
Nice puppy portrait.
Thank you!
Very nice!
Thank you 🙂