Acrylic Dog Portrait: A million tiny hairs

Over the past month or so I've been working on an acrylic portrait of a dog, picking it up on and off when I've had time.

It's finally finished and will be given as a surprise for its new owner on their birthday this week.

The background was the first thing I painted, leaving the dog shape in the middle white. In hindsight I should have painted the whole background, then sketched out the dog afterwards.

I ended up having to repaint the background because there were some little white gaps around the dog and I couldn't match the colour perfectly to fill them in.

Anyway, we learn from our mistakes and, even though it took a little longer than it probably should have, I'm pleased with the outcome.

For anyone interested, I used Daler Rowney acrylic paints on acid free 240g acrylic paper. It's got a nice texture which is visible in the photo above.

While working on this pet portrait I did a bit of research into acrylic techniques and discovered the wonderful artist Marcel Witte. For my next project I'm going to try his technique of painting the background and blocking all shapes out first.

To deliver the painting, Sam and I took a trip to South Devon this weekend. It was a great chance to meet up with all our friends and we even got out on the water on Saturday in a friend's boat.

I was disappointed not to have brought my wetsuit as the guys were wakeboarding and it looked like so much fun!

Here are a couple of snaps from the wakeboarding session near Torquay.

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook if you haven't already! Ciao for now :)

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Paint Party Friday Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Pet portrait painting in progress - that's a lot of p's!

Hi everyone! I've been hard at work on a few commissions this week which is great fun!

I've had the house to myself as Sam has been away on a stag weekend, so it's been good to have plenty of time for painting.

This pet portrait is the main piece I've been working on. It's still not finished, in fact there's quite a way to go.

I've got to paint all the little hairs on the ear, add detail to the nose, finish the collar and tags and refine the shading.

I've been taking photos at each stage and am hoping to make them into a video when I'm finished. Until then, here are a few to show how it's progressed.

The last image in that series shows the dog looking very dark. To lighten it up I've painted tiny white hairs over the whole thing which I will then cover with a tan coloured wash to bring it all together.

I'm working in acrylic paint because it dries nice and quickly, allowing layers to be built up with no drying time in between. I've never tried oils but would love to have a go!

Here's where I've been working at the dining room table. It now has a few nice acrylic splodges...shh!

This week I've also been working on a paper cut kirigami cityscape. I'm still only at the cutting stage, the windows are taking ages! Eventually, when all the details have been cut, I'll fold it and it'll magically turn into a 3D city. Well, here's hoping. The last kirigami I did went wrong, so fingers crossed I've got the measurements right on this one.

Next Sunday, I'll hopefully have a finished pet portrait to show you!

If you've enjoyed this post, please pop by my Facebook page. I update it regularly during the week and I'd love to welcome some new faces!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs: Paint Party Friday, Handmade Harbour, Be Different Act Normal, Manon Popje's Illustrations and Tatertots and Jello.

Who's that girl...?

I'd like to share with you a painting that I have just finished! It's always at the final stage that I lose the motivation to add the finishing touches - I've been dragging this one out for the last three weeks! Finally though, it's done!

It's Zooey Deschanel, the actress who plays Jess in the series New Girl. I love her and the show so I thought she would be the ideal subject for my first portrait in ages. It's acrylic paint on a 10" x 7" canvas panel.

So, here's how I did it. First I found a high quality professional photograph here. Then I drew it out in pencil with the help of a grid to get it aligned correctly. I don't always use a grid, but I don't think it's cheating, I mean, look at Leonardo Da Vinci! I started the painting with the background colour grey, then moved onto a black/brown base colour for the hair.

I did the hair very roughly as I knew I would paint over it, I just wanted to get some background colour on.

I did the same with the face, using a slightly watered down block colour all over.

Then I roughly added the shadows, ready to smooth out a bit later.

Some bright red lipstic came next....

...and a bit more smoothing of the shadows to blend the lines.

Then for some block highlights in the hair, no individual hairs yet.

I finished off the detail on the mouth and the nose, adding some little white sparkles to make Zooey's lips and teeth shine.

She looks a bit spooky in this next pic with her eyes blocked out with a white base coat! I added a few strands of hair to her fringe.

Next, I concentrated on the irises, mixing in a couple of different blues.

I wasn't completely happy with her complexion, so I toned some parts down and painted a bit more shadow in the left cheek to add depth. The final touches were her eyelashes, fine hairs and highlights, and the shiny bits in and around her eyes - I think it's these final details that really bring a portrait to life.

Finally my signature and there you have it!

Just thought I'd take this opportunity to remind you about my Etsy shop and my facebook page. If anyone is interested in commissioning a portrait, please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP! :)

I'm linking this post up here: Handmade Harbour, Raising Reagan, Blue Chair Diary Illustrations, Diana Evans, Paint Party Friday and Manon Popje's Illustrations.