So this is my dog, Charlie. At my house, Charlie has this chair that he absolutely adores. He sits there a lot waiting for my family to get home. This chair is also an antique that has been passed through my family. So the real question is: Should Charlie really be sitting on it? Anyway, his love for the chair made me want to paint him in his element. Charlie is a mini golden doodle. This means he has a million variations of gold, light brown, and cream found all over his body.
When I came up with the idea the first medium that came to my mind was oils. I have yet to use them on more than one piece so I was excited to work with them again. Oil paint is great at capturing texture, which was a main focus I wanted to have in this piece. After looking at Rossi's oil painting of a labradoodle, I knew I could capture the texture it would just take many layers of lights and darks. I started with a cream color to get the base on. I then started adding values from light to dark. This kept the piece from getting too muddy. I continued layering and going darker. I made a sort of curly q to capture the loose curls on his back and legs to the right side. This worked very well. It was risky because I honestly had no clue if it would fit in well with the other hair on him (He is hypoallergenic so he has hair). For once, I finally think I may have captured the dark values. I really like the composition of this piece. It looks natural while still adding interest. After getting most of Charlie painted, I went on to work on the chair. Mind you, when I was mixing all these blues to get the exact color I wanted I turned into a smurf. There was paint on my neck some days and even all over my hands. It was worth it though because it turned out to be very similar to the actual blue of the chair. I tried to add a little green and white here and there to capture the shape and depth of the winged chair back. I also added the actual pattern, which I think was a good touch. I made the pattern smaller as it got farther away to create the illusion of depth. The inclusion of the chair also added color contrast. I think these colors work well together. Overall, I really like the way this piece turned out. When I first started, I had no idea that I could get it to look this much like my dog. What I would change is the left eye. It makes me so mad because the right eye looks so good. I also think the shapes could have been bigger or shaped differently to show the way his face is angled in the picture. I am definitely more interested in oils now that I have had a more successful piece.
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AuthorJust make art. Archives
January 2017
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