Jennifer Deakin

This page shows the different stages of painting a portrait,

the portrait below took over 40 hours to do,

this is due to all the detail with the poppies and the background.

I normally paint a plain background as this is much faster,

and helps to keep my prices down

A  head/shoulders portrait will take between 15-20 hours to paint,

so you can see you get very good value for your money.

Penny

Penny is a Spanish Mastiff, a dog bred to guard  sheep from the wolves,

so you can imagine she's a great hulk of a dog.

Im using 2 photos, the one on the left I will be using for the dog and the front poppies,

and the other I will be using for some of the background

Here I have drawn the picture on the canvas board (14" x 18")

This alone takes about an hour to do

Started the background, and the eyes and nose

 Working more on the background, added a little colour to the face

Started the tongue , painted more background,

I used extra photos of Penny's eyes, as in the orininal photo they are almost closed,

(it was very sunny, and she was squinting)

and not clear, this shows why I ask for extra photo's for reference.

More work on the eyes, and also the nose,

Started, the 'poppy background' and worked on Pennys, very saggy neck.

Working on the poppies now, plus the grass on the left hand side, started the collar,

 and done some work on the neck and shoulder

Started the back, but im not going to add the large shadow,

as this will add to much 'darkness'

More work to the back, and still more to do, adding the front poppies

Nearly there!! just the tail, and a bit more work on the back and the eye

FINISHED!!! 

The painting from start to finish has taken 40+ hours

Im very happy with the result