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Yesterday I described how I used a blue watercolor wash for the sky. Today I made a green underpainting for the grass and trees. That gives me a green base color, similar to working on green paper, which saves a lot of work covering the white of the paper with green pencils. I leave the white paper showing for Casey’s white coat. 1 Here's a close-up of part of the underpainting. In the upper part of this pic you can see the distant grass I did with colored pencils. Everythi

Skies are the reason I started using other mediums in my Colored Pencil art. There is just no way to make a sky as smooth, or as bright, with pencils. I have used pastel, watercolor, and acrylic, for skies. On colored paper I use an opaque medium (pastel, or acrylic paint) to completely cover the paper color. This sky is watercolor wash (a transparent medium) on white paper. I masked off the butterfly and the line of trees before I started. They were masked with friskit film,

I'm working on the landscape behind Casey. The artwork is really starting to come together now! The crop marks show where I’ll trim it down to the 12 x 13 size Doug requested. As you can see, I work past the edges of those 12 x 13 margins when I’m doing the landscape. This is the whole sheet of paper, scanned. I always work on larger paper and trim it down at the end. Sometimes I give the client the option to leave it as is, a bigger artwork than they paid for, if I think it

I haven't posted in a while. Sadly, I lost my sweet Doberman, Sara, to cancer over the past month. I was sharing this portrait of Casey, a Papillon, before Sara became ill. This is where I left off. I chose to work on white paper because Casey is mostly pure white. In this pic I’m outlining the white area of his body with green colored pencils to enclose him with the green surrounding him. That leaves the white of the paper for his coat, with a few strokes of pale-grey pencil

I rarely work on white paper. I decided to use white paper to capture Casey's pure white coat. Sometimes I choose a paper color that makes the background color, and create the figure on that paper color with colored pencils. In this case I am creating the background with colored pencils and leaving the white paper to create Casey's body. You can see where I’ve outlined Casey’s chest with green pencil to create the edge where green grass will make Casey’s white coat stand out.

Working on the portrait of “Casey”, a Papillon. “Papillon” is French for “butterfly”. The ears resemble butterfly wings. 1 This is a portion of the Photoshop layout I created, a composite of Doug’s photos, when Doug and I were working together to create a layout he would like. Casey’s portrait will have 5 butterflies. I deliberately placed a butterfly directly above his head that exactly mimics the shape of Casey’s ears. I made a black line outline of the butterfly in the sky

I’m starting a portrait of “Casey”, a Top 25 Papillon. “Papillon” is French for “butterfly”. Their ears resemble butterfly wings. Doug asked me to include colorful butterflies in the portrait. This post describes how I designed the layout and background with Doug’s input. 1 Doug sent about 20 photos. This was his favorite of Casey, taken at the 2026 Papillon National. Photo by Alexandria Darienzo (Lexi D Photography) 2 These photos show Casey’s ears the best. Since I am not s

“Three Cats on Stairs” (Grace, Bonnie, and Morgan). My client's photo of Bonnie and Morgan waiting for her on the stairs to her bedroom gave Tammy the idea to portray her three cats on stairs. Grace and Bonnie are still alive. Morgan has gone on ahead to the Bridge. My final touches on the stairs: — After I created the wooden moldings on the front of each step (shared with you in a previous post), the stairs still looked too flat. So I darkened underneath the lowest stair tre

Sometimes creative ideas just don’t work. At the beginning when I was still working on the basic layout for JR's portrait, Diane wrote: “I love the little “V” in his chest…that’s where I scratch him until he falls asleep at night. 🥰” She sent back my layout (Photoshop composite of 3 separate photos) indicating that “V” as a heart so I could see where she meant. When something like that is emotionally meaningful to the client, I feel it’s important to try to convey it in some

“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