Painting Dog Portraits

People a few years ago, seeing I did people portraits, started asking me if I would dog portraits in a hushed tone, as if painting dogs was very different from painting people.

Well, actually it's not. Yes you have to deal with lovely lush fluffy fur, moist wet eyes, and chilly shiny noses (on dogs not people), but I approach a dog's head portrait exactly like a person's.

Getting the structure of a dog's head is very important to catch the nature of the dog's breed. Getting the structure of a human head is the same. You can spot a likeness of a person from across the street in dim light oftentimes by the outline shape of their head.

Then I search for my 'point of view'of that pooch, just like with a human face. What are they feeling, what are they thinking. Who IS this dog? Who IS this person? What makes them different from another of their species.

Lastly, I just let myself have fun with paint with the tools I have learned over the years once the block-in is set. How 'wet' can I get that nose to look with my paint, how 'fluffed out' can I make those furry edges.  And don't forget those eyes. Your guess who I am talking about here!

Eyes are the windows to the soul in all species but especially in a dog. How many times have I melted into my own dogs' eyes.

Here I post a few recent dog commissions including the block-in start of a new one shipping to the U.K.  I am going to have a hard time parting with it. I feel I made a new friend. Woof woof.

Fresh off the easel

The block-in

Dog Tired With Sargent

Bentley Azure is not just any old toy dog. Oh no. He gets to sleep in front of huge portrait paintings by John Singer Sargent. Now how cool is that???

This one, of sitter Pauline Astor, c. 1898, is at the Huntington Gardens Library in Pasadena, Ca. It is said to be Sargent's largest and most impressive full-length portrait in a landscape setting.

The dog pulling on the cool satin gown, a marvel in itself, is a spaniel and certainly female. Bentley could not take his eyes off her all night.

He is dog tired today.

It's A Dog's Life..

My mistress is bored of doing her blog so has handed it over to me for today.

My name is Bentley Azure. I am a very smart silky terrier and handsome in a canine sort of way which you can see in my distinguished portrait here which was featured in The New York Times a few years ago. What a 'DOUBLE WOOF' surprise that was.

SHE didn't do a bad job of my likeness but I think there is 'something' wrong about the mouth" for sure.

As a trusted studio companion for nine years now and I have seen it all, from the fur flying on the bad painting days to being served fresh chopped liver on a silver platter on the good.

Unfortunately the bad days seem to outweigh the good from where I sit and observe - and I am often treated just LIKE chopped liver, only once in a while allowed to sit on that comfy red portrait throne in HER studio.

This weekend is quiet after a busy studio week. . A party tonight. A portrait sketch to finish tomorrow. Hopefully that will mean some good quality 'curl up' on the couch time while SHE is distracted with those little black sticks that look like they come from the garden.

A Dog's Life...365 Days of Drawing

I sat with my dog, nose to nose on the carpet and did some quick-sketch of him for the daily drawing challenge yesterday. I never knew my dog wriggled so much. I got carpet burn.

I also post a previous more finished drawing I did of Bentley in the dog days of summer, earlier in the challenge, which I really liked. Woof, woof.

Balance...365 Days of Drawing

Teaching, like painting, requires a certain balance I find. The first day of a new semester at The California Art Institute yesterday left me juggling my desire to do a more complete demo for students , pictured here, while at the same time giving each student enough hands-on individual instruction at their own easels.

This led to somewhat of a compromise in the demo, 18 x 24, with only about one hour of total painting time. I do like the balance in the actual demo though of warms and cools. The blue shawl against the orange-ish background worked I think.

The landscape sketch is from my recent trip back east. Ah, how I wish I was sitting there right now with a peach ice-tea.

A SHAWL THING

Oil on canvas board, 18 x 24, $250.

A Father's Best Friend...365 Days of Drawing

Bentley Azure could only sit still for a short while yesterday for his close-up with a BIC. He needed to get to the BBQ pit to be near his best friend, master and father. So generous with the tidbits. Forget about being captured for posterity. Woof, woof.

It's A Dog's Life...Snooky

I am thrilled to present my most recent sitter...Snooky. Top image...how I wish it was the one below!

Sadly, Snooky passed away a while ago, the dear pooch pal of a dear friend of mine in NYC and her family.

He was as much the part of her family as the husband, and kids. And had SUCH a personality. The loss of Snooky was painful for all who knew him. And I knew my dear friend was crushed. We all were.

I started this portrait just after his sad passing promising my dear girlfriend I would try and paint him for  her - during her grief.

I am not a dog painter. Look to Terry Stanley, http://dogdaysofpainting.blogspot.com/, for how it should be done. Terry is doing some amazing dog portraits for an unbelievable price along with helping dog charities. She is a wow. So I put Snookie to one side...for a long while feeling a bit embarrassed that I hadn't delivered to my friend.

It was in my studio for close to two years.  I didn't think it was good enough. For many months I was wondering if I should go back in or start all over again. So once again it was turned against the wall.

Somehow today, in my new studio,  with a new energy that a new studio provides, I picked up my painting of Snooky and realized I had caught Snooky. And I really realized I liked what I done. Not perfect but I liked it. Just a few strokes more,,, and I knew I was done.

Funny how that happens after a long passing of time. My original plan was to paint him in a very classical way and that is what held me back.

The two days I painted this from my heart, I did it with a palette knife, orange and blue color harmony, just trying to go for the shapes of his head, not details....painting is all about the shapes, values, color vibration and losing detail. A dog, a tree, an apple, a human face. All the same really. 

But my rendition of Snooky wasn't classical. It wasn't like those incredible Victorian dog paintings, (like Sir Edwin Landseer, 1802 -1873, see above painting) I had seen in her husband's yummy art collection. 

I think I got intimidated. But as my mentor, Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A., says, it IS important to paint in YOUR own time period. That is also of the reasons I like Terry Stanley's current dog portraits. They are fresh and modern. And who should even try and paint like Landseer? It has been done and DONE well.

Anyhow, I am glad the passage of time helped me see that a painting done from the heart on a certain day with a certain contemporary vigor, has value. And I am glad I didn't mess it up today when I added those few last touches. I was mindful of that!!!

Hope you like Snooky! My friend has yet to see it.

He was a darn good pooch!

This is 12" x 12".