personalized portraits
Here’s the progression of the portrait of Lulu. The background color changes several times, which changes from blue grey to green gray and back to medium grey for the finished portrait. Acrylic paint has that flexibility. This was painted on water color paper that was prepped with gesso – a painting ground for canvas or paper. Several photos were provided throughout the process, so that I could get the correct coat color.
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Lulu’s Portrait Final
The Portrait of Duffy was a new challenge. Never had done a painted portrait with acrylic paints. That’s okay. Experiments, learning curves, and self doubt are all good for something. The portraits are based on photos that me or other people take of the subjects. Duffy’s body looks completely foreshortened. My friend Alan, who was also a painter, encouraged me throughout the process.
Duffy is a Newfoundland cross with a Cocker Spaniel, so I was told. He has the bigger foofy head with droopy eyes and a smaller body. Lots of fur to trim. His body is trimmed in this picture, which exaggerates the foreshortening. Also, I cut off the feet to emphasize his expression. I have never met him, but he has a striking expression.
This could be called the Blue Dog, maybe. I don’t know. I started with purple underlay and switched to the blue accents. That’s easily done with acrylic paint.
On to the next portrait of a German Shepherd Dog that will be a pastel. Soft chalks and pastel pencil have a more familiar feel. But I totally enjoyed doing this portrait.
Just finished this dog portrait commission.
Knox is an enormous fellow with a bark that vibrates the front door of his owners’ home. He’s a sweet boy and a wonderful rescue dog, who loves his treats and chases the animals in his yard. He has one ear that is flopped. That doesn’t take away from his elegant presence in this pastel portrait. The Autumn setting and the late time of day, highlighted the red in his coat.
This artwork of Piper, a Shetland Sheepdog was a commemorative portrait. The photo I had to work from was very distorted with pixilated smears. It took much longer than expected to intuit the missing details. I looked at other photos and asked the owner which one looked like her. Fortunately, there was a picture that assisted me in her facial mask.
Rembrandt Pastel chalk was used for this dog portrait over a pastel pencil layout on BFK Reeves 100% rag paper. Working with pastel on a dog portrait allows a layering that gives some depth and dimension to the beautiful, luxuriant coat of Piper the Shetland Sheepdog.
Let me preface this post with the simple fact that I am a dog enthusiast. It was my great joy to have owned a couple of dogs. One was a rescue and the other a Standard Poodle. I have done portraits of people and horses together and cats both domestic and pumas. I even enjoy painting fish. This is post is about a portrait of a special and rarer breed of hunting dog.
“The Pudelpointer is a versatile hunting dog breed from Germany. In 1881, a German breeder, Baron von Zedlitz, worked on producing his ideal tracking, pointing, and retrieving gun dog, suitable for work on both land and water. The Baron crossed seven poodles with various English pointers. [1][2]” Retrieved from Wikipedia 03-13-2020
Baron von Zedlitz wanted a dog for hunting that loved the water (Poodle) with the drive and nose of a pointer. His goal was to have a dog that was good in the water and on land while hunting. A Pudelpointer can both point game and then retrieve the felled bird from water or land.
Pudel is German for Poodle. The Standard Poodle is a hunting dog that is used for waterfowl hunting. The English Pointer is used to flush birds in the field.
The Pudelpointer breed was introduced to North America in 1956 by Bodo Winterhelt who remained involved in maintaining the breed standard until his death in 2018. He founded Winterhelle Kennel where he created the foundation of the breed in North America. In 1977 Winterhelt founded the Pudelpointer Club of North America in Canada.
The Pudelpointer is not a well known breed. The breed was not registered with the American Kennel Club because the qualities of a hunting breed are more important than the conformation standards that The AKC would impose. In addition, reading about the Pudelpointer more extensively since this post lead me to discover this breed is carefully bred and managed. Breeders require that an owner be a regular dedicated hunter. The Pudelpointer is a highly active dog that needs exercise and is tireless in the field.
This portion of an article by Duncan Barnes give a good description of the Pudelpointer in action.
Not poodle, not pointer, but both dogs in one
“The gamekeeper of Nicholson Island, a private shooting preserve off the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, was demonstrating the versatile talents of a nondescript-looking hunting dog named Komet von der Winterhelle. Staying always within gun range, Komet quartered easily through a millet field for several minutes. Suddenly he broke stride, made a sharp turn upwind and stopped short in a rigid, stylish point. As his master came up from behind, a cock pheasant burst from the grainfield and banked downwind with a frightened cackle. With Komet still on point, the gamekeeper fired and the pheasant fell heavily into the dense briar bordering the field. Komet’s master said a few words of praise, then told him to fetch. Shifting instantly from the role of pointer to that of retriever, Komet plunged into the brambles and brought the dead bird back to the man who had produced such artistry by mixing and blending canine ancestry and instincts as carefully as a chemist formulating a new, high-potency rocket fuel.” Retrieved From “Sports Illustrated” Vault: November 18, 1963
The senior dog Sataya belongs to Patty and Ed of Spokane Washington.
Here is the progression of the Sataya’s portrait so far. Many layers of pastel pencil on BFK Reeves 100% rag paper are drawn to create the many strands of hair on this fascinating and remarkable breed of hunting dog. My goal is to bring together much of Sataya’s original coat colors from older photos to her present day photo.
Portrait Progress of Sataya A Pudlepointer.
A Pudlepointer description:
About 24 inches high and weighing no more than 60 pounds. The pudelpointer has a tough, wirehair coat that is soft to the touch, a cropped tail, dark-brown eyes, silky ears that are part pointer and part hound, and a comical growth of whiskers that looks like a mustache which is called a beard.~Retrieved and modified from “Sports Illustrated” Vault: November 18, 1963
There were many other stages of the drawing as time went on. Sataya’s owner is very pleased with the portrait of Sataya the Pointerpudel.
Samson was a “Great Horse” or a large draft horse – a dappled Percheron. It is a very small 5″X 7″ colored pencil portrait on Bristol paper. Bristol Paper has a smooth surface that makes getting the details of Samson’s dappled color much easier.
I first met Samson when a friend and I took her daughter out to Windy Ridge Riding Stables to inquire about lessons. He was one of the few horses in the large coral area. He sauntered up to us like a friendly inspector as we were trying to get through a gate. He was enormous! My friend said, “Catherine, what do I do?” as she had her daughter in her arms.
“Be calm. He won’t hurt you.” Draft horses are generally pretty gentle with kids. And as time proved, in many later encounters, that he was a truly big, gentle guy.
This portrait was purchased by Mark Ward, the owner of the horse riding stable where I took riding lessons. He had Samson from a “baby”. Sadly Samson passed away not long after I made this portrait.
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This was portrait was completed a long time ago. It’s an oil painting on gessoed wood panel. I took photos of Rebecca and chose this pose for the final painting set in her parents garden in Mill Valley California.
Painting on gessoed wood gives a smoother surface than canvas. Sometimes I prefer this smooth surface for better control over the paint. I am drawn to the contrast of light and dark contrasts in my work of sunlight and rich background painting.
I have this painting.
I really enjoy doing portraits of people and children, but I think this was lost in a fire. Luckily I made a record of it. This is a pastel portrait on pastel Canson paper. Alyson is all grown up now and has her own little boy.
Baukje has a long and distinguished career as a Special Education teacher, school Principal and specialist in main streaming special education students in Friesland in the Netherlands. Baukje has also been a language teacher.
This dog portrait was done as a birthday present for a friend’s brother from their original photo. I was pleased to do this portrait and enjoyed the challenge of the swimming Labradors.
It is a pastel drawing using both pastel chalk and pencil. It was a welcomed surprise for the birthday because both dogs had passed away.
Having had a Standard Poodle, whose sire was a hunting champion, I was inspired by this photo of Gary Scovel and his poodles, Beau and Scout. Poodles historically are bird dogs. I contacted him and asked permission to use the photo, which his friend took. Standard Poodles are marvelous dogs with many fine qualities. The characteristic French style cut of their hair which is seen in show poodles originates in the hunting fields of France.
The hair (not fur) on there chest and joints protects them from the brush and cold water while hunting. Historically a ribbon holds their topknot and identifies the dog in the field to the owners by the color.
This work above combines pastel chalk and pastel pencil to render this scene of pheasant hunting. the portrait was inspired after I viewed an old Dutch Master painting of dogs with their owner.
