So now I have finished Melody, Chica and Urchin I have a brief return to the pastel pet portraits.
This past weekend after the above mentioned portrait was finished I started a gorgeous dog portrait of a yellow lab called Mack. It is the second commission I have done for my client this year and I always take it as the biggest compliment when I get a second or more pet painting from the same client.
Mack had a tricky shadow falling across his reference photo and it meant I actually painted him a little dark to begin with, so my client asked for me to lighten him. She sent me some other photos for to help me with this. I am always happy to offer adjustments to your pet portrait. It's not very often I get asked unless it is something like this and it is the reason I love pastels as it would be so much harder and time consuming to do with any other medium. I know a lot of artists find pastels a tricky medium but to me the are so flexible and you can do so much with them. They don't need varnishing once finished. I don't even use fixative as the paper I use pastelmat is so grippy I rarely lose pastel dust. They are just such a versatile medium.
Anyway I digressed a bit but here is Mack the final version. I am really pleased with how this turned out. I hope you like him too!
