A commission for a dog portrait came about this summer. I got to learn a little about the breed Chow Chow and reach out to the spirit of BEAR through oil paint. I hoped to catch his furry magnificence and his personality essence.
Original Photograph of BEAR in snow.
The first part of a commissioned pet portrait is to ask about the characteristics of the pet that the human partners love to share in their lives. I found this one photograph of Bear that said this dog LOVES thick snow like a blanket of bliss in the snow-laden trees and up to his belly... snow ~ beautiful snow. BEAR is entirely framed in his bliss with his triple coat fur made for this kind of weather. Chow Chow is an ancient breed and possibly one of the oldest dog breeds found in Artic Asia about 3,000 years ago which migrated into China.
Cropped photograph of BEAR in snow.
Cropping a photograph is necessary to create a more intimate composition and the eyes are commonly how we humans can relate. The eyes, nose, and mouth are surrounded by lots of FUR, and framed in branches laden with snow to work out the composition I chose for a 12" x 12" x 13/4" gallery-style stretched canvas. I gesso coated the canvas 3 times with sanding in between to eliminate the predictable textured canvas.
What is gesso?
Drawing of BEAR to copy on canvas.
Drawing roughly out on tracing paper gives me time to get to know my subject and also set up the painting the way I think will look best in the composition. I will also send the drawing off to the client to get approval to move forward onto the canvas.
Undercoating with oil paint to prepare the canvas.
Using oil paint requires TIME to dry and can not rush the stage. I took the white gesso canvas and covered it thinly with oil paint rubbed into the surface to get an overall tone to the canvas.
Using YELLOW Saral transfer paper for drawing onto the canvas.
Usually, I use charcoal rubbed on the back of my drawing to copy the outlines onto my final surfaces but I bought a new product Saral YELLOW transfer paper to see if that product would stick to the oil paint and it did stick to the the oil paint undercoat very well.
A demo of using Saral Transfer paper:
Close-up of the Saral transfer paper on oil paint.
Once the drawing is placed onto the canvas, it is just a guideline, and off to the enjoyable part of a painting I go! Near the end layers of the painting, I will use a Liquin medium mixed into the oil paint for the thin layers called the glazing technique which shows the underlayers of colors through the next layer giving a jewel-like reflective quality to the paint.
Click on pictures for a slide show of the steps to completion.
Start of BEAR oil painting and oil palette on glass.
Various brands of oil paint for BEAR painting.
Titanium White, Transparent Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Siena, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Permanent Green, Green Earth, Mineral Violet, Cobalt Blue.
Start blocking in colors for the oil painting of BEAR.
Layer #2 highlights on fur.
Layer #3 Adding more color layers in fur & snow.
Layer #4 Adding more lights to define the snow.
Layer #5 Adding more whitened colors to snow & golden colors to the layers of fur.
I finished the BEAR oil painting.
12"x12"x 1 3/4" canvas
Close-up of BEAR eyes, nose, fur.
Close-up of BEAR's eye.
When painting pet portraits, it is an important feature to highlight the eyes as the photographs of eyes from a distance are just dark blobs within the fur.
Various color layers thinned with a Liquin medium
to make the fur be luminous and thick. You can see the original washed colors of the canvas bringing depth and cohesion to the thick fur.
CLOSE-UP Contrast the fluffy fur against the chunky snow-laden branches & ground.
Winsor & Newton Retouch Varnish to protect BEAR painting.
Time to send the BEAR portrait into the mail with the hopes the receiver of this gift has heartfelt memories FUREVER to remember in fine art.
Bark Inspired, Minaz
To find out more on how to commission a pet portrait go to this link:
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