JB, Beethoven & Summer
I am commissioned to paint three dogs in one painting. Usually, this is not a problem, especially if I take the reference photos. However, since these particular dogs had passed away, I used the printed photographs that my client has graciously provided. Unfortunately, the photos were small and areas of detail (eyes, nose and mouth) were either too dark to discern, confusing, or covered with yellow spots. In fact, one eye was completely covered by a large spot, while a couple of others were totally black.
The first thing was to take photos of the photos or scan the photos into the computer, so I could play with composition. Having settled on one of the layouts that I had sent my client, I printed it out for a reference. The next thing was to transfer it to a canvas (in this case, an 18" x 24" Ampersand Aquabord), which I did, after having layed down a thin layer of gesso. Since I had decided to use watercolor, the gesso would allow me to lift the paint almost to the original white.
I must mention that prior to transferring the layout to my canvas, I made a few charcoal sketches of both the layout and each individual dog. This was to get to know my subjects better and to find out how to solve the problem areas.
Here I have my first session’s work, where you can see the background and a trial attempt on Summer, the dog on the right.
Quick background and block in.
I wasn't satisfied with how I layed in Summer’s coat, so I played with it a bit more and put in her eyes. I realize they’re not quite right yet, and her coat is a bit too red, so I’ll work on these later.
After working out at the gym and a leisurely breakfast, I was all charged up to work on this painting. I started working on JB, the dog on the left, and also changed Summer a bit. One thing about working on a surface that allows you to lift the watercolor is that lifting is sometimes what you don’t want! Working dark to light, instead of the normal light to dark when working on watercolor paper, seems to be the trick. It’s easier to lighten by lifting on this surface than it is to add in darks.
I normally don’t complete an area fully when painting in watercolor, but with this gessoed surface, it seems best to get an area as close to the finished product all at once, while the paint is still wet, because it’s almost impossible to layer on more color. The paint lifts too easily!
Started JB and continued working on Summer.
Next I was ready to attack Beethoven (center dog). I’m leaving the eyes for later, since they are definitely problem areas. I also played a little more with JB’s and Summer’s eyes. I’m still not satisfied with them, but I’ll continue painting around them. I’m hoping that it’ll all fall together in the end.
Began working on Beethoven, leaving his eyes till later.
The eyes were next and not just Beethoven’s — I reworked the other eyes as well. Working on them I realized that not all dog eyes show their whites; in fact, most don’t. This makes painting them a lot easier! But still there is that highlight to get just right and making them look like orbs and not just flat circles. Speaking of which, I went in circles trying to get Beethoven’s nose, which I'll have to leave for now. What’s more important is getting all the other pieces blocked in first. That’ll help me see the whole picture and not noodle any one part to pieces.
The interesting thing about painting the eyes in is that now, despite their missing parts, the dogs are starting to come alive.
The eyes are more or less in at this stage — just a bit more tweeking in needed, esp. on JB.
Now it’s starting to look like something (below). It’s still not there, but there’s more to JB and Beethoven. At least they look more like dogs. JB’s nose if obviously not right and he looks like he's got a mustache. But Beethoven's smiling — he must like being the center of attention!
JB and Beethoven are starting to look a little more alive.
Roughly two-thirds of the way, but still lots to do. To get rid of the mustache, I had to assume that JB didn't have a black area under his nose, as it appeared in the original photo. Adding blue not only helps to push things back, but also helps to give form to objects. I've added blue to areas away from the light and added some warm colors with the blue to meld it with the rest of the painting. I can see that JB wasn't the only one with a mustache. Beethoven has a similar problem, which I'll fix later.
JB is a bit more reserved than Beethoven.
I'm still not quite satisfied with JB's muzzle, but I'll look at it later. Sometimes, it's best to leave things for awhile. Perhaps later, when I return to it, I'll be able to see what I need to do. By the way, speaking of eyes, I put a glow in Beethoven's eyes that's not present in the reference photos.
The original photo of Beethoven was at Kailua Beach on a windy day. I had to take the wind out of his fur, especially since there was no wind on either of the other dogs. But more importantly, having his chest fur going only in one direction was not very interesting. The paint didn't lift as easily nor completely as I would have liked, so I resorted to gesso. Unfortunately, the gesso didn't give me enough cover, so my next trick to regain the whites was Aquacover (sold as “liquid watercolor paper”), also known as white guache or opaque white. This worked perfectly. I also used it on JB.
Summer can join the fun now that she has a mouth and nose to sniff around with, but she's still a work in progress, as is the rest of the painting.
Almost done now, but still a bit of tweeking to do before I'm satisfied.
There are several things that need to be done to complete this painting. One is to step back, really look at it and work slowly so as not to ruin what's already established.
The eyes are main to the painting, so I augmented them.
It’s been awhile since I worked on this, but I was eager to get back to it. I tried to get Summer’s color a bit more yellow, but it doesn't appear that way in this photo. In fact, it looks a bit too dark. Back to the “drawing board” on that one! I also simplified Beethoven’s chest fur, edited his tongue and added more color to the background. This photo is a bit blown out in the lights, so it's difficult to see the variations in JB's chest. I'm very close to done now, just a few minor tweeks to go!
Almost done — just a few tweeks to go!
I had put this painting on a back burner, while I had the Hawaii Watercolor Society show entry submissions to get online — a pretty much left-brained thing. As I near the end of any painting, the process slows. I hate to spoil it when it's almost completed.
So here is the latest and, hopefully, final painting. The background was simplified and lightened using Aquacover, an opaque white, and Summer's coat was yellowed a bit with a glaze of Quinaquidone Gold, altho' difficult to tell in a photo. Various smaller adjustments were made. Now all that is needed is to meet with the client to see if there are any minor changes before letting these dogs out!
They’re getting ready to romp!
There is one more thing I feel I should mention. Since this painting is on gessoed Aquabord, I will need to either frame it under glass or varnish it, or both. Dark areas containing dark blue or black tend to shine, while other areas are matte. So varnishing would be a good option. The only question is, will it take the varnish without lifting the paint as it does when water hits it. I'll have to try it on a small area first. Unfortunately, I think that the areas that would be most susceptible to lifting are the darks in the middle of the painting! Time to pray!
