"Best Friends" watercolor commission.
The Reference Photo
The original photo sent to me by the client seen here on the left is a good shot taken in the dog's own environment. It's low to the ground and the horizon is roughly about a
third of the way up the photo.
Overall the photo made a good composition but, I felt it could be improved by limiting the background and cropping.
I left the same amount of space on each side of the subjects and the same amount of space top and bottom. This created a composition based on the "rule of thirds" with both subjects in ideal positions.
I think the success of the painting owes a lot to this composition.
Challenges
The representation of the stony shoreline, the white and fawn color of the bigger dog and as often happens with photos I was unsure if the smaller dog's left flank was covered with a jacket or not.
I decided that the best way to represent the shoreline was with a splatter of masking fluid applied with a piece of wire spring which I recovered from an old lock mechanism.
I decided that the main shore colors were Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ocher with the darker shadows in Burnt Umber. Splattered with my trusty wire spring.
I decided that the smaller dog's flank was just highlighted and uncovered.
The sky was painted with Cerulean Blue with tissues to lift out the clouds.
I painted two birds in the background to give perspective and finally I used a pin prick of acrylic white to put the sparkle in the bigger dog's eye.
The Finished Painting left.
#gerrysgallery #dogs #bestfriends #dundalk #art #drawing
No comments:
Post a Comment