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Recently I had been asked how I go about starting and executing a painting, especially a representational painting. In this case a very good photo is absolutely necessary. It is important to be able to see the eyes and the points of light in the eyes as well as the direction and shading of the fur. So the first step is to transfer the rough drawing to the canvas. I gridded out the image and applied graphite to the back of the paper so that I could get the eyes, nose and mouth right. The first image is the photo I worked with. The second image is the initial wash of darks and lights and approximate local color.

The next step is to get a rough idea of the direction of the fur and start some of the detail such as the eyes, nose and mouth. Next I roughed in a background that I thought was complimentary to the amber color fur and intensified the lights and darks.

Next, I added more detail such as the whiskers, highlights, completed the background and corrected the color of the fur, eyes, etc. I paid attention to the little things such as the little patch of dark fur at her mouth and the wavy fur on her ears. As this was a commission I was particularly careful about what makes this dog unique.