After some back and forth discussion with the clients, a different photo, and some minor painting corrections, Princess Lucy is done and ready to ship in time for Christmas! I just needed to do a little lightening on the fur (as she has gotten older. heh) as well as a few adjustments to the hair around her face. They were thrilled with the changes, and I’m happy they’re good with it. Ready to sign this one and call it finished!

Princess Lucy all finished.

After talking with my hubby about the painting and going over a few things, I made a few adjustments to her eyes and her hip. I’m very pleased with how her eyes look now, and she definitely seems more cohesive with the color on her hip fixed.

My husband always claims to have no artistic talent (despite having done photography for quite a while, and doing rather well at it), but he is my biggest helper when it comes to my paintings. He’s honest with me and gives me great feedback. He doesn’t just tell me how wonderful everything looks, he actually tells me what might be off, what could be adjusted, and what does work. It’s nice to know I can show him something and when he tells me it looks great, I know it really does. I truly don’t think I’d be as good as this as I am without his help.

Here’s Lucy. The clients still have to let me know if I’ve got her right, so there might be adjustments made, but for now, this is the finished piece. If they see nothing wrong, she will be packaged up and shipped out.

Final painting, pending client approval.

I only have a few small touches left to do on this, but I wanted to get this up now anyway. I’m very happy at how she’s come, and hope the client is as well. Just a little bit of work on the eyes (mostly highlights) and a few more touches on the tail, and she’s ready to go home! Of course, I can see myself putzing with this as time goes on, too. I think it’ll be best to finish it and send it on to the client so I don’t spend silly time working on it! I know I’m my worst critic, and sometimes it’s hard to just let go and leave a piece as finished.

An almost final of Lucy.

I’ve got some good work done on Lucy last night and today. I’m pleased with where she’s at! The hip is mostly done, I just need to finish it up, finish her face (especially those eyes that are bothering me so much), do her feet and then her tail! Almost done, should only take a few days at this point, I hope.

I think I’ve captured her, but the only one that can really tell me is the person that commissioned her.

Some more work on the fur, especially the hip.

I meant to put this up earlier and I actually got sidetracked painting. heh I’m further than this, this picture was taken this morning, but getting good pictures inside at night is, as I’ve said before, damned near impossible. So, here she is. I’m still having problems with her eyes but I know they’ll come. Her body and part of her face is done, and I’m thrilled with how the ears are coming out! I had to get the body before I kept working on her face, though, due to the overlap.

Progess! And happy progress as far as I’m concerned. :)

Furry details

I’ve worked with the eyes some and am having a hard time of it for whatever reason, so I decided to do the hair details and get back to the eyes. I’m pleased with how the hair is coming out, and look forward to doing more today. It’s coming along nicely, and I think this will actually be one of my best dog portraits to date! (not the best, though, that’s reserved for Bon. heh) I do have to ‘recolor’ the front hairs. To get them to stand out better I’m doing them lighter than they should be, then going back and washing over with the proper color. It’s a technique I’m quite liking and will use again. The reason I’m doing it this way is because of the color of the dog. It’s a bit of a hard color to get, and having to get the brighter hairs to really ‘glow’ like they do on the dog, the over-light will make them stand out more.

Getting the hairs sorted out.

This has actually been flowing very nicely today. It’s currently about 8:45 and I’ve rather pleased with my progress for the day. I’ve got more to do for the day, not even close to done yet. But I thought this was a good time to stop, take a picture, evaluate where I’m at and how I want to go next and then get back to it.

I’m thinking her eyes and nose will be next. Her eyes I will get mostly finished before I do the hair around them, and her nose I will get partially finished as well. I do have some adjustments to do to her ears, I see that now, but that won’t take but a few swipes of the brush I think. We’re firmly in the ugly stage now, and it’ll say this way for a bit. Don’t worry, though, it’s all part of the painting process, and this is honestly one of the first times I’ve been excited to hit the ugly stage. It means I’m further along than I thought I’d be by now. :)

Some work on the dog herself.

Haven’t done an update on this one in way too long. I’ve gotten the background set on this one as much as I’ll do got now. I’ll likely leave it mostly plain so the dog stands out, but I know I’ll be tweeking it a bit once I’ve got more of the dog in. Should go a little smoother now as painting the dog itself is a fairly easy thing for me.

Background work and starting the dog.

I know some people look at my final paintings and think ‘How does she do that?!’. I know this because people have said that to me. No, I’m not getting a big head, not at all. My art is the only thing I blush at anymore.

However, because of this, I wanted to put up an truly initial sketch for this next painting. Princess Lucy. This has come out directly in my ‘work’ sketch pad (with the fact that this is starting to become a money earner, I’m beginning to make a definition between ‘work’ and ‘pleasure’). After looking at it, I laughed and thought ‘Well, doesn’t this look hideous?!’

And yes, this is what I will transfer onto the painting panel to work from. I figure it’s a good thing for people to see. Now, let’s just hope the final piece is what I hope it will be!

Initial sketch on paper of Lucy.