Portrait of Holly by Portraits-by-Nc.com
I have been super busy working on Holly's portrait and wanted to show you the finished piece. Holly has white fur and finding definition was a bit of a challenge. However I snuck in some different colors to bring out the form. I tried to have Holly look out at the viewer, but the downward angle of the head did not work well. However in the reference photo you could really not see much other than two black dots and I ended up giving her eyes some life.
Maltese on a Beach by Portraits-by-Nc.com
As I had mentioned before, my client wanted me to show Holly sitting in the sand on the beach. Rather than painting a solid strip of light colored sand, I chose to add some pebbles and warmer colors so that the dog stands out better from it's surroundings. I also had to add some clouds to the sky to create a foreground, middle ground and background.
Creating a painted setting for a reference photo that had none ( Holly was originally sitting on a piano bench) is the difference between a photo reproduction and an actual painting with expressive brush work.
Posted on Jul 16, 2015
Today I started work on a portrait of this little girl named Holly. This one is a digital portrait and the client requested that I paint Holly on a beach. I am sharing the first rough draft so you can follow along. There will be a slide show in this post where I will be uploading more photos as the painting progresses. Well, I have a lot do to so this will be a super short post.
