

Briscoe portrait in progress 2 - Eyes bring life
Now working on Briscoe's eyes…. Eyes bring life to a portrait. Prismacolor pencil on grey Canson paper 18 x 23 inches
Kevin Roeckl
Mar 16, 20241 min read


Briscoe portrait in progress 1
Starting a portrait of Briscoe, a Border Collie and the heart dog of Gloria K. The first thing I saw when I began working on Briscoe was...
Kevin Roeckl
Mar 14, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait finished!
Popeye is a horse with a special story. When Annie contacted me about a portrait she wanted to portray her Dobermans, but we ended up...
Kevin Roeckl
Mar 5, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 7 - A color surprise...
Even with my trained eye, sometimes colors surprise me. In Annie’s photo it looks like a pink patch inside Popeye’s nostril. But want to...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 29, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 6 - I begged my parents for a horse
I think one more day’s work will finish this portrait. I have loved horses all my life. All through my childhood I begged my parents for...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 28, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 5 - What is a complement?
I added Popeye’s neck and am working on the halter, which has some blue sections in it. The blue ribbon, halter, and blue paper make a...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 24, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 4 - The eye
The eye is always so important in a portrait. And Popeye has such a sweet, intelligent eye. A close-up of the eye so you can see how it...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 21, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 3 - Judging pencil colors
Today’s work, with a scrap of paper with pencil colors on it to show me how they look on that light-blue paper. This “Steel blue” is a...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 20, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 2
I am off and running with the first day's work on a Head Study of “Popeye” for Annie W. Prismacolor pencil on “Steel blue” Canson paper...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 19, 20241 min read


Popeye portrait in progress 1 - A horse with a special story
Annie W. contacted me for a portrait of her 3 Dobermans but instead we’re starting on a portrait of her horse Popeye. I have loved horses...
Kevin Roeckl
Feb 17, 20241 min read


Rare portrait in progress - start to finish
January 5 I'm starting a new grisaille portrait of red Doberman “Rare” for Katie G. Grisaille (pronounced greez-EYE) is a single-color...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 30, 20244 min read


Rare portrait finished!
Finished grisaille portrait of Rare for Katie G. "RARE" CH Old Drum’s Vintage Whiskey Ridge CGC NAJ ROM WAC SCN SHDN March 2, 2011 - May...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 27, 20242 min read


Rare portrait in progress 6 - The intensity
If you’ve been following this portrait you know scent-work was Rare’s passion. I didn’t notice until I got to her face that her nose is...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 21, 20242 min read


Rare portrait in progress 5 - Five colors
I wanted to share this close-up since you don’t usually get to see the pencil strokes in small online pics of the whole artwork. This is...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 18, 20241 min read


Rare portrait in progress 4 - Floating
Just have Rare’s face to finish. Capturing the expression on her face is the most important part. If you have been reading my previous...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 16, 20241 min read


Rare portrait in progress 3
Continuing work on this grisaille portrait of red Doberman "Rare". Grisaille (pronounced greez-EYE) is a single-color artwork: dark and...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 13, 20241 min read


Rare portrait in progress 2 - The tracking harness
I'm working on the harness in this Grisaille (single-color) portrait of red Doberman "Rare". Katie and Rare had one of those truly rare...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 12, 20241 min read


Rare portrait in progress 1 - Starting a "grisaille"
I'm starting a new grisaille portrait of red Doberman “Rare” for Katie G. Grisaille (pronounced greez-EYE) is a single-color artwork:...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 10, 20241 min read


Lacy portrait in progress - start to finish
October 18 Started a new portrait of Lacy for Betty K. Here are 8 possible rough-draft layouts. Which is your favorite? Lacy loved the...
Kevin Roeckl
Jan 9, 202411 min read


"Peace On Earth" finished!
Full-color painting inspired by the pen-and-ink Christmas card I created in 1994. (See previous post) The model for this artwork was my...
Kevin Roeckl
Dec 23, 20231 min read



