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“Feet Off the Ground” - the perfect soundtrack! ...and a video of Octavia the moment Penny won Westminster that will make you laugh and cry at the same time. As Andy Linton’s assistant, Octavia traveled with Penny for two years while Penny was being campaigned. She cared for Penny on the road, exercised her, slept with her, and got her ring-ready….through 66 Best in Shows, 40 Reserve Best in Shows, 35 Best in Specialty Shows, and ultimately this historic achievement of Best i

The size of this portrait is 12 x 16 inches, and there are two full figures in it. So some of the details are smaller than my sharpest pencil point! That makes it challenging to get the details of the features accurate. Working at that small size actually makes it easier to do large areas of skin though - like Octavia’s arms - where the artist has to make all the narrow pencil strokes look like a smooth color. And a smooth transition of color (the elbow). Her tattoos were fin

Octavia’s face finished. Have you wondered who this young woman is who was such an integral part of “Team Penny”? Octavia Stensen is Assistant to Andy Linton, Penny’s handler. Before I started on Octavia’s face I asked the Chans to tell me about her. (The portrait was to be a surprise so I couldn’t talk to Octavia.) They described her as a vibrant and amazing young woman. “She’s got good energy”, Greg said. I think that comes across in her face in this pic. Octavia traveled w

Colored pencil details on the wooden moldings on each step really brought them to life. At the very beginning I made an underpainting for the basic shapes of the staircase on pale grey paper: the sides of the stairs with grey watercolor, the shadow under each stair tread with grey wash, and brown for the wooden molding on the front of each step. The moldings were just flat brown, as you see on the left (BEFORE). Then I added highlights and shadow along the length of each mold

In a previous post you heard me wondering about the wisdom of choosing a paper color that is the exact color of Octavia's skin. Which is why I chose it. It helps me capture that creamy "peaches and cream" look of her fair skin. But would I be able to make Octavia stand out on paper the same color as Octavia? Her skin colors are very delicate. The highlights of Octavia's face are barely lighter than the paper color, and the shadowed areas that form her features are barely dark

Tools of the trade Some tools I use often when laying out my pieces, but rarely while I'm working on the artwork: a “T-square” and a triangle. This T-square has a story. My first job, when I was out on my own at 18, was a trainee graphic artist working for a design firm in southern California. There was a commercial printer next door. A good quality T-square this size is expensive. The printer who purchased it said it was out of square 1/8 of an inch in 6 feet. That was 1/8 i

I've finished the stair cushions under the cats. They were custom-designed using photos of Tammy’s bedspread to see the colors in her decor, and the fabric pattern as inspiration. These captions give a detailed description of my thought process and what I did to make the colors and pattern work with the composition of three black-and-white cats and a staircase. 1 I’m using Tammy’s bedspread as reference for the colors she wanted. Mauves and purples are the main colors in her

Making a better portrait The cats are finished. Because of the perspective (stairs get smaller as they go farther away from you) each cat would be significantly smaller than the previous one. I made the cats closer to the size they would be to eachother in real life. That is not technically correct. But it makes a better portrait. The perspective of the stairs is mathematically correct, each step proportionally smaller than the previous one. Your “mind’s eye” tells you theref

Working on Octavia's hair. The size of portrait the Chans ordered is 12 x 16 inches. It has two full-body figures in it, so some of the details in it are quite small. Some smaller than a sharp pencil point. There is a lot of detail in this portrait. So the challenge of portraying fine detail accurately, that small, will continue. 🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Honeysuckle” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 12 x 16 inches. "Penny & Octavia", in progress Portrait of Octavia Stensen and Penn

January 5 I'm starting a new portrait, of Titan for Alicia McCarthy. This portrait has a very touching story to it. I’m working on “Sky Grey” Canson paper. A beautiful paper that has little flecks and fibers in it. I like using that for a portrait on a plain-color background, it lends interest to an otherwise plain, flat background color. Titan portrait in progress 2 You may remember when I worked on the beautiful memorial portrait of Wishes for Alicia last year. While we we

Bonnie, the middle cat is finished, and I'm working on the third cat, Morgan. When Tammy asked for a portrait of her three cats and sent photos to me, one of them showed two of her cats on stairs. That gave Tammy the great idea for this portrait with each of the three cats on its own step. Two of the cats are still living, Grace and Bonnie. Morgan has gone ahead to the Rainbow Bridge. This is Morgan: “Three Cats on Stairs” (Grace, Bonnie, and Morgan) Commissioned by Tammy Cun

Last week I shared the three portraits Greg and Theresa Chan commissioned of Westminster Best in Show winning Doberman, Penny, to be given as surprise gifts to members of “Team Penny”. We began working on the portrait for Octavia in January….before Penny won Westminster! (Westminster was to be the last show of her impressive career.) The creation of a portrait always starts with choosing the right photos to use for reference. 1 The Chans suggested this photo of Octavia with P

I love doing white fur on gray paper. It's so easy. The gray paper creates the shadows between hairs or clumps of hairs. Here's a closer view that shows what I'm talking about. White and two shades of light-grey pencils were used (French Grey 10% and French Grey 20%) to make the strokes that created the white parts of Bonnie's coat. The grey paper color was left showing to make the shadows between the hairs. I only added some darker grey in a few places like the center of Bon

Working on Bonnie, the second cat on the stairs. This photo was taken in the studio while I was working on Bonnie's eyes. The photo second from the left on the monitor is my main reference for her face. But I’m using the others to see eye color, and double-check the shape of her eyes. They have better color and better detail than the main photo. The more reference photos a portrait artist has of their subject, the better. One photo can be deceptive because of the lighting or

Remember Penny, the Doberman who won Westminster? In January Greg and Theresa Chan commissioned me to create 3 portraits of Penny to be given as surprise gifts to "Team Penny". In February Penny won Westminster, and the commission became even more special. A commemoration of a historic achievement. It took 3 months to create the portraits. They were kept secret until they were gifted to the recipients. Now I can finally share them! I’ll share the creation of these portraits o

The upper cat, Grace, is finished. When Tammy asked me to create a portrait of her cats (two still living, one at the Bridge), a photo of two of her cats waiting for her on the stairs gave Tammy the great idea of showing the 3 cats on stairs. All three cats are black and white. The staircase was done with watercolor, an “underpainting” on the grey paper. The cats are colored pencil, and the details of the staircase and stair cushions will be colored pencil. Colored pencils ar

Working on the upper cat, Grace, in Tammy's portrait of “Three Cats on Stairs”. I had to make a composite of her head from different photos. When I questioned Tammy about the expression on Grace’s face and the position of her ears, Tammy wrote, “Very nice. Grace actually stands her eyes straight up when she is on alert, so that's good.” I thought that was an interesting way to describe it. Grace is definitely standing her eyes straight up! I saw that in her other photos too.

I finished the underpainting for the “Three Cats on Stairs” portrait. I often make an underpainting to tint the paper a certain color, then put details over that with colored pencil. In this case, the watercolor “underpainting” will create the staircase on its own. The cats and the cushions on each step will be done with colored pencil. All three cats are black and white. I’ve kept all the values of the staircase in the mid-range: from light grey to medium brown. The pure bl

Tammy Cunningham asked for a portrait of her three cats. One of her photos showed two of the cats on stairs, which gave her a great idea for the portrait. Stair steps with each of the three cats on its own step. I really like that concept. This is the initial line drawing, from separate photos of each cat. The stairs are based on the photo that inspired Tammy, but with a lot of changes to make the cats the central focus. That required figuring out the architectural perspectiv

The direct straight-on view of JR’s face is one of the things that makes this portrait so eye-catching. 1 I’m working on both sides of his muzzle and lips at the same time because I’m really focused on keeping his face perfectly symmetrical. Where normally I’d finish one side of the muzzle, then the nose, then the other side. 2 To make sure the features are symmetrical on both sides, I drew a very light center-line (you barely see it below on the throat) up the middle of JR’s