It’s a dog’s life!

Well, here we are on Boxing Day, and I hope that everybody had a lovely Christmas!

I spend most of my creative hours making pottery, but occasionally I paint.

Some family members lost a beloved dog earlier this year. Bazil, poor old chap, died from doggie leukaemia. He was an Airedale terrier, a big softy of a dog, and is sadly missed. My nephew commissioned a painting of Bazil for his wife for Christmas, and I was happy to help. As Christmas day has been and gone, I think it’s ok to share the painting with you.

Here’s the photo that I had to work from, taken on my nephew’s phone. He’s a big shaggy boy with a slobbery tongue. (That’s Bazil, not my nephew, obviously…)

I decided not to paint the spots on the lino floor, as my studio mate, Sue Wharton, (a talented artist who works in wax) pointed out that Bazil would probably look like a dog in space! I wanted to paint my nephew’s feet, but he didn’t want that in the portrait, so I’m just painting Bazil on a dark blue background.

Here is the early stage: rough brushstrokes on a blue background.

A bit further on, I’ve added some ears and nose detail. I actually quite like this rough sketch stage.

A hour or so later, I’ve got some detail over the head area.

Then I worked on mostly the bottom half of Bazil, and added his bandage, as the photo was taken when he was sick.  I also added the whiskers around his chops, and decided that it was finished. I do hope that my nephew and his wife like it. It was interesting to paint, with all his textured hair.