So, I’ve been working on this painting for quite a while now. I took a break from it for the Strada Easel Challenge because I was getting frustrated with it. When I did finally come back to it, I hated it. I hated it so much that I made the drastic decision to start over with it completely.
After not looking at this painting for a month, I could clearly see where I had made mistakes. The snout was too long and angled badly, the placement on the canvas is uncomfortable (i.e. the large gap at the top), the paint is fairly one dimensional, and the fur is too smooth in some areas and too textured in others. All of these issues together made me realize that in order to fix the issues I would need to start
I took my time on a new canvas with a proportional divider and really thought out the composition and proportions before starting in with paint. I sketched and resketched several times before finally moving forward. I know the sketched expression looks super angry, but those are just my measurement marks to get the proportions correct.
The initial block
The second go-around went much faster. Instead of months, I finished it in days. My mother in law loves the painting of course and I’ll be delivering it as soon as it dries and I can get a coat of retouch varnish on it. I already have another pup commission I need to get photos for.