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October 1 I'm starting on a portrait of "Annie" for Carolyn, Gloria, and Tammy. This is the 10th portrait I have done for them over the past 28 years. The pencil colors for her white and cream-colored coat, and the pink inside her ears: Once again I'm letting my paper color do the work. A white coat is so easy to do on grey paper. Some light-colored pencil strokes for the hairs.…and the shadows between the hairs make themselves. 🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Felt Grey” Canson Mi-

If you've been following my portrait of Annie.… after the portrait was finished the clients asked me to create a custom Christmas card from Annie's portrait by combining it with the portrait of Briscoe (Border Collie) that I did for them last year. I combined them and customized it in Photoshop by changing Annie's "princess collar" to holiday colors, and added the Santa hat on Briscoe. It made a fun Holiday card! I thought you’d enjoy seeing it. 🎨 Both portraits were created

One of the great things about doing portraits is getting to know the wonderful dogs my clients love. Annie is one of those. I have done 10 portraits for these clients, Carolyn, Gloria, and Tammy. Each of the three women shared more with me about Annie, in individual emails, then they have with any of the other dogs that have graced their lives. Below the portrait is what they told me about Annie. From Carolyn: “Annie is a small Weston terrier mix of some sort. She was origina

Making a fade-out at the bottom of a head-study portrait can be tricky. Sometimes I use Photoshop on the client’s reference photo (or on my layout if I’m combining more than one photo) so I can see where to make the fade out. How far down the neck or body to start the fade so it makes a pleasing overall composition with the subject’s face as the most important feature. Sometimes I fade out the bottom very carefully, as though the realistic detail is becoming fainter and faint

In the original photo Annie was wearing a bandana, which the clients asked me to remove. I asked if they wanted a particular collar on her, or no collar. Carolyn requested that she be wearing "a princess collar because she is a princess”. I photographed my Sara’s “party collar” and sent the clients two rough Photoshop layouts, with suggestions of either pink or turquoise, which I felt were good colors to compliment Annie's coloring. In the artwork I straightened out the bow r

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving or Indigenous People's Day. I took the week off from my artt studio to fill the many orders that came in for my 2025 Doberman Holiday/Christmas cards . Now back to work on Annie's portrait. Annie’s cute face is finished. Next her turquoise “princess collar”.  🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Felt Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper. 18 x 23 inches. "Annie" in progress Commissioned by Carolyn Martini, Gloria Kehoe, and Tammy Cunningham. This is the 1

Quite an interesting mix of colors in Annie's nose. Light yellow ocher, dark yellow ocher, cool mauve, warm mauve, grayish pink, orange, rust, chestnut, warm greys, cool greys, chocolate brown, sepia brown. And of course black.  Most of the pencils on the left are the ones I’m using for Annie’s coat. They live on a piece of clean white paper that I move around where I need it (and an eraser that keeps them from rolling). I add another sheet of paper (and eraser) with a differ

Annie’s eyes are finished. I never get tired of doing eyes, because the colors and reflections in them are so interesting.  What do you see in this eye? This is the right eye in the client’s reference photo — extracted from the rest of the photo so you can focus on just seeing what is there. Focus on the colors, the shapes, and the values (value = lightness/darkness). All those unusual shapes on the eye are the reflections of what was in the environment around the dog. Often

Yesterday I shared Annie’s left ear finished and pointed out that a white coat is easy to do on grey paper. Some light-colored pencil strokes for the hairs.…and the shadows between the hairs make themselves.  I continue using the paper color... Carolyn responded to this in-progress picture: “Look at my pretty princess!!! She’s looking pretty!!!” 2 Check out how much grey paper is showing around Annie's eye. I never get tired of doing eyes. Because the colors and reflections i

I'm starting on a portrait of "Annie" for Carolyn, Gloria, and Tammy. This is the 10th portrait I have done for them over the past 28 years. The pencil colors for her white and cream-colored coat, and the pink inside her ears: Once again I'm letting my paper color do the work. A white coat is so easy to do on grey paper. Some light-colored pencil strokes for the hairs.…and the shadows between the hairs make themselves. 🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Felt Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes pa

April 25 This is Daisy, a 2-year-old mixed breed rescue, owned by Kathy and Mark H. For Christmas 2024 Mark gifted Kathy with the promise...

Daisy is a two year old rescue from our local Humane Society. It’s unusual for me to work for a local client and be able to meet and...

The choice of paper color makes such a difference in colored pencil art.  1 In my last post I showed all the many pencil colors I’m using...

I was going to finish both of Daisy’s eyes today but my yard guys showed up unexpectedly (2 hours early). I can’t concentrate when there...

I fell so far behind posting Wishes’ and Raven’s portraits that I didn’t get a chance to show you another one I finished in the meantime....

June 20 I’m starting a new portrait, of Raven. This is the 4th Border Collie portrait I’ve done for Cathy Nearman. Soon I’ll share more...

April 9 Starting a portrait of Captain Jack, a black and white Pomeranian, for Sindy B. This shows the detailed outlines I start with. ...

I always love what clients write when we start working together and I ask them to tell me about their loved one. People who say they...

When I finish a portrait I tape it up on the wall of my studio, stand back and look at it, make an adjustment, stand back and look again,...

In a previous post I showed how I created a center-line with white chalk pencil (easy to erase later) up the center of Raven’s muzzle, so...