I painted this Labrador dog in acrylic paint as part of a larger project, which didn't exactly work out so well... mainly because I spent most of the time on the painting- which I feel turned out pretty well, what do you think?
I am not the most skilled painter, but as I work at my technique- I am always studying the old masters. I say this because I work to make my process as similar to the traditional style of painting developed and proven by the old masters and so many after them.
Here's the "neutral" underpainting to establish the dark-light values and get all the shapes in their general place. In these steps I used a mix of Liquitex Naphthal Crimson and Burnt Sienna, as well as some Artist's Loft Brilliant Red. I should have started more "neutral" (i.e. brown) in this stage, allowing the colors that I'd apply in the future layers to come through better, and use less red, but it's all good.
Once the underpainting is worked in, which can stay somewhat "sketchy" for now because the next few layers are more about refining those initial shapes and values, I start to refine the form more accurately and to begin the application of some of the base color/s; in this case- the red tone.
Next, once I'm happy(ish) with the shapes and the values here, I start to add some lighter colors/values. Liquitex Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Light Hue, and Artist's Loft Deep Yellow were all used in some capacity through these lighter stages.
Also, after the first two progress shots in the below image, I added a red glaze layer all over the painting to try and deepen the red color throughout the piece, then added more yellows into the lighter parts of the dog.
Next I reestablished the darkest areas (under the ears, nose, and eyebrow) to get a wider value scale to work with between the lightest light and the darkest dark, using a combination of Liquitex Raw Umber and Artist's Loft Brilliant Blue.
The blue color(s) were mixed with Liquitex Bright Aqua Green, Turquoise Deep, and Ultramarine Blue (Green Shade). Honestly, I should have used more of the Artist's Loft Brilliant Blue in these blue mixes also or instead of the Ultramarine- but the colors are so close, and I'd used these three colors to mix a color similar to the one that I wanted, in the past, so I stayed with what I knew worked... in the future I will always push that to make better decisions when mixing colors, both on the palette and in the painting.
After the dark is dark enough, I begin to work up through the values, moving from dark to light, shape-by-shape, value-by-value to build up the forms on the face of the dog. I gradually work up to the lightest light, which is not quite white out-of-the-tube white, in fact- I make it a point to never use paint straight out of the tube and to always mix my colors using at least two colors of paint; this way none of the colors are so plain, like crayons, and they work better together when placed next to other colors in the piece because they all have a little bit of each other in them.
This pup will be for sale on ebay later tonight, so if you are interested- check back a little later for a link to where you can bid on it. Thanks for looking, more coming soon.
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