Ruff

Sometimes all it takes is an unusual angle to release me entirely. That’s what this painting did.

The inspiration photo was supplied by Juliet Harrison, a wonderful photographer working out of Red Hook, New York www.lechevalthehorse.com. This is her dog, Cody, a rough collie mix.

I focused exclusively on the light and texture, lying down the initial composition using indian yellow, pthalo blue, quin crimson, and naples yellow (ahh, a restricted palette, again - it's getting easier, folks!). Once I was happy with the modeling, I then let loose with glazes of some of my favorite shades – prussian blue (to push the shadows back a bit further), cadmium red, light magenta, cadmium yellow, van dyke brown, green gold. For the most part, I concentrated those touches of color around the focal point, and tried to keep all brushmarks extraneous to that focal point soft and blurred.

Overall I am very happy with the result. “Ruff,” 12x14, acrylic on army green canvas (with bits of the canvas strategically showing through), will be entered in the same show as “Innocence,” the puppy painting from last week.

Now it’s on to bigger and better. Am doing some preliminary studies for a larger (30” plus) head study of a Vizla named Fergie.