Dog Help? I don't usually do realistic paintings, but a friend lost her

[GreenPartyVoter]

Last edited Thu May 7, 2020, 10:53 PM - Edit history (1)

mum last year, her dad last month, and her dog last week. So, how do I paint a black lab for her? The darks are hard for me, and I want her to have a sweet and happy expression.



The watercolors I have available for mixing darks:

[SheltieLover]

1. Can you do charcole reduction

Then seal & paint in glazes?

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I hadn't considered other media. Have gouache, Acrylic, charcoal,

colored pencils, and soft and oil pastels. Have not used them much, since so much of my time is focused on getting to know watercolor better. This is yet another time I wish my mom was still here. We would have had so much fun doing projects!

[SheltieLover]

11. Sorry to hear your mom isn't with you any more.

You could project an image, if you have one, onto a canvas, not sure about using watercolors over charcoal reduction, though. I used this technique once in a painting class some years ago. It is a process, for sure, and requires very expensive paints & brushes, but the outcome is stunningly life like. The glazing technique is said to be Rembrandt's technique & the light goes through the layers of glazes & bounces back at you.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Do you have a photo of the dog?

That might help.

Otherwise, I am not sure how you should proceed.

I know that your friend will be bowled over by your thoughtfulness.

[Tetrachloride]

5. Try a quick photo edit with contrast and stuff

You can probably see what to fade out to more white and gray.

and look at photos of other labs.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Yep. Love Greyscale for value checks!

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Not yet. Her Fb was a no go, but reached out quietly to friends and

family. She was the show kind, not field, so I can find one similar. But it would be surprising if I could pull it off without a real pic, since it's been a while since I saw her. (She used to like to walk my kids home from the bus stop. LOL)

[MLAA]

3. Eyes are beautiful.

The mouth can really impact if the doggie looks happy as can the eyes. So maybe a straight or slightly up mouth line 🙂

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I had English setters, so I remember happy puppy face. Cocked

ears and a turned up slightly open mouth.

[MLAA]

8. One more thing

Painting a black dog made me think of one of my paintings by a Chinese artist. I am amazed that adding a few streaks of blue to the women’s black hair made such a difference. The photo I took of the painting isn’t great but it might give you an idea. I’ve collected paintings for 35 years, and this sweet one that I paid something like $50 is one of my favorites. 🙂

https://imgur.com/bvA9Ezy

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. That is darling! I am doing underwashes of blues and pale purples

for highlights. Getting darks to read as dark but not dead is the tricky bit. Probably going to use stains, then maybe ultramarine and sodalite.

[GReedDiamond]

12. Just a general comment on alternatives to "black"...

Way back in art school, one of my instructors said she never used black in any of her paintings.

She instead used Prussian Blue, mixed with other colors for shading etc.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I'm trying different stains, but I want a lustrous velvety black to offset the blues and purples.

I love Prussian blue but it’s not always lightfast. I have pthalo, though.

[GReedDiamond]

15. Gotcha, had not considered the lightfassness...

...nor the pthalo...long live the pthalo!

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Lol

[fierywoman]

14. French Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna make a beautiful dark.

What you've done so far is really beautiful.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Thank you! I switched from French ultramarine to ultramarine deep, but the darks are still

rich and granular. Works well with raw umber too.

[bif]

18. You certainly have a way with the eyes!