"Vivi"
Oil on Panel ~ 6 x 6 inches
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I finally got around to posting the finished portrait of "Vivi". I also learned that Vivi is a Bolonka, cousin to the Italian Bolognese. I wrote about the history of this breed on my
blog. The Bolonka has also a bit of brown around the eye area and muzzle. By adding the 3rd color/brown tones, I think this dog portrait looks more realistic and life like.
"Vivi's" muzzle is starting to protrude and the eyes are starting to look more lively. As you can see before the painting was rather flat and that's because the values were too close to each other. By creating a better value contrast, the areas that need to protrude are now popping out more. Another element I used here is thick paint. Those curls that are really up in the air and closest to the viewer have been applied thicker and with pure white, the curls that are secondary have been grayed to a value 9 and applied thinner. By using Terra Rosa, a red brown, in the eyes and as a wash more visual interest has been added as well. Keeping in mind that this dog has so many white curls, I felt it necessary to overplay to get that extra oomph.
I have started on a portrait of a little dog named "Vivi". Vivi's portrait will be a gift and has to get finished right away. This little dog has so many curls! My reference photo showed him lying on the floor, but I felt that a close head crop would make for a more engaging portrait.
Working mostly in gray and off white with a touch of Terra Rosa, the head has been roughly placed. To make sense of all those curls, I aimed for the most prominent ones first. It is sort of like putting puzzle pieces together. Once the paint has dried in about a day or two I will go back in and continue on building up the head structure.
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