I finished this dog portrait yesterday of a white pit bull. Pit bulls are probably my favorite breed to paint. They are all eyes and ears. Handsome dogs, very expressive and full of soul!
I added a few watercolors to the dog gallery for a much needed update of some new portraits. Here's a selection of some recent paintings from the past couple months.
A new commissioned watercolor portrait of a black cat. This was a fun composition to paint. I'm especially pleased with how the paw texture came out. The eyes are always fun to paint as well, they usually play the biggest part in expressing the character in my pet portraits.
This cat was a stray, according to the owner, and she just showed up and made herself at home!
If you'd like to browse more of my cat portraits, check out my Cat Watercolors gallery!
Or if you are interested in your own custom cat portrait you can read more here: 8x10 custom cat watercolor in the shop
A few selected dog portrait watercolors from the past couple months.
Collie in snow, 11x14"
Watercolor and Gouache
A 7x20" watercolor of a family of 5 Bernese Mountain dogs. Looks like a handful! Had fun painting all their different personalities and expressions.
A cute little white and brown dog. Not sure what kind, but he was enjoyable to paint, especially those chesnut brown eyes. 5x7" Watercolor.
Shar Pei - 11x14" Watercolor. Not the easiest breed to paint, but I'm quite pleased how this one turned out. I think it worked well as a 11x14", one of the larger sizes that I paint.
This is a new dog portrait of a Golden Retriever I finished up last month. I just added a limited run of prints in the shop. You can find them here: Golden Retriever Print
Happy Wednesday! This is Alfie. A new cat portrait I finished the other week. Had fun with the short hair texture in the face. Pretty happy with how this one turned out and I think it makes a nice addition to my gallery of cat portraits, which you can find here: http://www.dswatercolors.com/gallery/cat-watercolors
Occasionally people will ask to see some of my pet portraits along with the reference photos used. I thought I'd share a few here and start with some cat portraits.
I usually like to work from one main photo for the pose and basic markings and use additional photos to help with other details, color, to get a sense of personality, or anything else that is unclear in the main reference.
Above, a portrait of two kittens, Willoughby and Magnus. I thought this was a great reference and I kept the painting pretty similar other than the clarification of the right kitten's body and tail. An 8x10" watercolor.
Above is another of my favorite cat portraits, this is Everett. A 5x7" watercolor portrait and one of the reference photos use. Although it's easier to draw from one main reference, sometimes I have to create something new from multiple pictures.
Below, the reference for a portrait of an orange cat, and resulting watercolor painting - another 5x7" portrait.
One of my favorites from the dog portraits of the 2014 Christmas season. A golden retriever standing in water.
I had a lot of fun layering all the colors in the stream. Was a little unsure how the shallow water would end up looking, but I added a lot of teals and blues and I like how those look ended up working with the warmer tones. Ended up fairly different from the photo references.
New watercolor of 2 brown labs in the snow. An 8x10" portrait done for Christmas. I had a lot of fun working with this image. The texture of snow covering the dog's back was an interesting challenge. My favorite part might be the paw print in the snow.
