Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Completed!
"Tika the Gentle Giant "- 14x11 pastel
Say hello to Tika, the Gentle Giant. Can you sense her gentleness and the sense that she could get to know you real well if you spent some time with her? Toward the end of this painting, I felt as if Tika's spirit was in the studio and I liked that. As I think I stated before, I wish I could have known her while she was a live.
Kirsten and Joe asked me to make a few detail changes since you saw the last stage of the painting. These are most helpful and allowed me to make the finishing touches with little guess work. It is amazing how well we were able to do so over the phone and via email. Oh, the wonders of digital photography! (As you may or may not remember, they live in Minnesota and I in Colorado.)
Tika's Memory Portrait will now go and sit next to her "sister" PeeWee in my studio, whose portrait was completed about a month ago. In a couple of days, Skjonn will be my next black Labrador subject of Kirsten & Joe's family!
What do you think of Tika? Would you have liked to have met her?
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 12
Almost finished with Tika!
Tika was known as the gentle giant - kind, empathetic, calm and eager to please. It is a challenge to convey those characteristics in a large animal that is black. If you think about it, the color black is generically known for the opposite characteristics. With her owner Kirsten, we have been spending some time working on Tika's eyes and getting an accurate expression. In the last stage, her eyes looked a little cross-eyed. I think I corrected that, but need to know from all of you.
Her collar and tags have become more defined as well as the highlights on her fur. More refining and blending still needs to be done and I want to soften more edges or lines, such as the black "stripe" that seems to go up her forehead.
What else needs to be fine tuned? Are the blues too strong?
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 11
Finishing her eyes & more fine tuning
At this stage, I am focusing mainly on Tika's eyes and her expression, as I want to capture her unique personality and charm. In addition, I have honed in on more detail around her nose and jowls. You will notice more contrast in the trees behind her and more definition around her collar and dog tags.
Can you see into Tika's soulful eyes? Is the highlight in her left eye too bright? Painting Tika, makes me wish I had had the opportunity to meet her.
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 10
Kirsten & Joe, Tika's owners, have let me know that Tika's right ear was the more accurate size. (Tika was a classic Labrador retriever with a large bone structure and regal profile.)
I had to get my very wide clear plastic ruler (5"w x24"l) out to make sure that I had Tika's ears, eyes, nostrils, etc., alligned correctly, especially with her slightly cocked head. It turns out that I was over a quarter of an inch off with her left ear, which surprised the heck out of me. Straight edges do not lie! Her eyes have been worked on and I am wondering how close they are to being complete? The sketchy light blue color on her fur is distracting at this point, but try to ignore it for now, as I will tone that down.
More trees have been added in the back and I cannot seem to leave the evergreen alone - we artists are that way sometimes - so it has some slightly darker cast shadows. I also gave the snow and shadows behind Tika a bit more color, and sketched in some weeds.
Anything seem out of proportion or out of allignment? Now is the time for structural corrections. How is she looking? Our new dog Kyla, is wondering when she gets to be up on the easel! 
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 9
Time to start fine tuning
This digital photograph does not indicate that I have made any major changes to the Tika's painting, but subtle layers of paint have been added. I also started making some shadow and modeling changes so that her right eye is not in such a dark shadow. This is what we call "artistic license" and is not always that easy to pull off, so do pay attention!
Now is the time that I need to start fine tuning. It is looking like Tika's ears are not the same size and that the slightly cocked head is not that convincing. Which ear is the more accurate? The right or the left? Check the width as well. I also want to put more color into the snow behind her.
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 8
The sky and evergreen are essentially completed, as well as the reddish bushes. You can see faint lines indicating the trees that will be in the background. They will become more evident in the next phase. I have to make sure that these trees do not look like they are growing out of Tika's head. It is trickier than you think. Ever taken a great photo of someone and when you look at the print there is something coming straight out of their head in the background?
Tika is really starting to take center stage. I am using orange browns and various blues, back and forth to create her fur and a sense of three dimensions. Orange and blue make vaious grays and black, and I much prefer making or mixing my blacks because it creates a richer look. The first layers of her eyes have been applied. I am wondering how much her right eye should be in shadow? In the reference photo I have of her, you can barely see that eye. Your thoughts?
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 7
The background area - the bushes, evergreen and sky - are about finished. Though you cannot see it, there are several colors that make up the reddish bushes. I used my pastel pencils and deligate strokes to give them an airy feeling. Not sure about the sky and I am thinking is needs a little more reddish blue tones. What do you think?
The snow area has been softened, as well as Tika. The circle around her eye reminds me of a bull dog, but I will fix that soon. Now I need to work more on the "gentle giant" that she is, though I must not forget to get the dormat trees in the mid-ground area.
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 6
A few more layers of pastel applied
Tika is still looking a bit flat and that is because I have not begun breaking the larger shapes of color on her into smaller shapes. The colors, however, on her should begin to look a little more compatible. Because she is a black Labrador with blue highlights, you will see more blues on her versus on PeeWee, who had brownish highlights in her fur.
I have spent more time layering colors in the background - the sky, the bushes and the evergreen, because I want those areas painted more completely as I finish Tika so that her edges are clean. Another reason I usually finish the background first is to make sure that she is the star of the show and stands out from the background. Since it is currently snowing outside of my studio, it is fun painting a winter scene inside where it is nice and warm.
Oh, and I have the Brandenburg Concertos playing; music that reminds Kirsten and Joe of Tika. How are you liking the background colors? There will be more trees as per the sketch, but they are painted over most of the bushes.
....to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 5
Rubbing alcohol dissolves pastel into paper
This step in the artistic process does not take long, but it may be interesting to see and know about it.
After I apply the first layer of pastel, I dissolve the pastel pigment into the pastel paper with rubbing alcohol. I use old round watercolor brushes to mix the alcohol with the pastel, but I am careful not to let the liquid run down the painting and I want to minimize crossing the lines as much as possible. The lighter colors are usually painted first followed by the the darker colors. I have to keep the rubbing alcohol fairly clean or the other colors will muddy up the hue I applied with the pastel. This process permanently stains the substrate.
Tika looks a little scary at this stage, but she will soften up and take on some dimension soon.
How do you like Tika's mask?
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 4
First layer of pastel
It is time to make those initial decisions about colors - warm versus cool. I have painted the sunny side of Tika in warm colors, whereas as the shadow side is in cool colors. The same holds true with the snow and cast shadows across the snow. Because it is a winter sceen, the sky starts with a very cool (e.g., greenish) light yellow. When the blues are layered on top the sky will have a colder feel to it.
The first few stages of a painting always look a little strange, at least my paintings do. I often use colors that work as the foundation for the final layers of pastel. At this stage, I also try not to be concerned about details. Notice that the bare trees that are evident in the drawing are not visible, but they will be painted in once I am satisfied with the sky and a few other areas. They may be the last thing I paint, but we will have to see!
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 3
Pastel layout in my studio
Because Tika will be joining PeeWee, and later two other black lab sisters, on the wall in Kirsten & Joe's home, I want to paint all four Memory Portraits in the same color palette. As I mentioned before, I use color schemes based on the color opposites - red/green, blue/orange or yellow/purple. The color scheme for these four ladies is the red/green palette.
For fun, I thought you might like to see all, or rather nearly all, of my pastels. I have no idea how many there are, but if you feel like counting them, let me know! This layout demonstrates an investment in time and money. Pastels come in various degrees of hardness and softness, as well as nearly every shade in the universe. Are they not beautiful displayed like this? 
Pastel artists arrange their pastels in many different ways. Mine happens to be by color family and within that by values (light to dark). It can be quite over whelming to choose the "right" color for every stroke. We cannot mix colors, other then by layering, hence the need for lots of colors and shades. The pastel sticks you see along the edge of the counter, are the pastels I used in PeeWee's Memory Portrait. I also have a shelf on my easel for putting the sticks I am using for a particular painting. It would drive my crazy if I put each pastel back and then tried to find it again. (By the way, my counter is an old door that I cleaned up and attached to used counter height cabinets.)
Which hue family do you like the best? Did you have any idea that pastel artists had color palettes like this?
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 2
Drawing of Tika on tracing paper
What did I do with all of that snow that was on Tika's face in the reference photo? Ahhhhhh, the magic of PhotoShop Elements! I have learned to use the bandaid button and it comes in handy in situations like this. The other photographs will help me when it comes to painting the final details of her jawls, mouth and nose. You can see in the digital photo that I lightly colored in the background of the winter forest and evergreens with colored pencil.
Tracing paper is used because after this sketch is approved by Kirsten & Joe, I then tranfer in onto my pastel paper. They asked me to add her dog tag. Some dog owners like the collars and dog tags and others do not. It is just one of the many things that are customized in my Memory Portraits. The variety is wonderful.
Would you change anything in this sketch? Some of the lines on Tika's face are for me, so they may seem a little strange to you. What other questions do you have at this stage of the game?
...to be continued.
Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Step 1
Sample reference photos of Tika
This next dog portrait is the second of four Memory Portraits that I will be painting for Kirsten & Joe. Her name was Tika and she had a strong connection with Kirsten. Because these 4 paintings will most likely hang together, I need to think collectively as well as individually. To help with the consistency between the paintings, each will be 11x14, painted in pastel and the head sizes will be approximately the same. I am not concerned if they will all hang vertically nor horizontally; I checked this out with Kirsten & Joe during our interview.
Many reference photos of Tika were provided (the more the better!), and I have a sample of them showing here. The pose that Kirsten & Joe want of Tika, is the one where she has snow on her face. Tika loved the snow and being outside, consequently, I used another photograph as my inspiration for the background of Tika, that you will see in the next post. PeeWee, the first dog, has a warm fall background and now Tika's is winter. It will be interesting to see how they work together. What do you think? Should I be concerned?
...to be continued.
