Pippa Stopped to Smell the Flowers: A Dog Portrait in Ink and Watercolor
Pippa had a pretty good assignment for this pet portrait painting: lie in a field of flowers, close your eyes, and look like you're having the best time ever. My job was slightly more complicated—figure out how to paint all of that without letting the field completely steal the show.
The original photo from my client showed Pippa surrounded by a huge field, so I chose to crop in to make her the star of the 11×14 painting while still keeping plenty of the flowers and grass around her. I especially loved the little flower right next to her nose. With her eyes closed and her head tilted upward, it almost looks like she's stopping to smell it, which may or may not be exactly what she was doing. Either way, she looks very content with her situation.
Painting a mostly black dog in watercolor is also a little counterintuitive because I don't actually use much black. Instead, I mix darker versions of different colors to build up all those subtle variations in her fur. I kept the grass and flowers softer and more blurred in places, using wet-on-wet washes, while bringing certain flowers, blades of grass, and details on Pippa into sharper focus. I also used ink strategically throughout the painting to give some of those areas a little extra definition and help them pop forward.
And then came the ultimate review. After receiving the piece, Pippa walked right over to the photo of herself and appeared to give it a little kiss. I have been commissioned to paint a lot of things over the years, but I'm pretty sure that's the closest I've come to getting a five-star review directly from the subject.
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