Nearly There...

Whilst I always thoroughly enjoy painting and drawing dogs, this one has been a bit of a trial.  As it is a surprise Christmas present for someone, the photos I have been given are all I have access to, and the only one with the perfect pose is not only small, but very over-exposed which has bleached out all colour. I have enough other pictures for colour reference, but am also struggling with the colour of the paper.

I would normally have chosen a soft grey/blue background for a painting like this, but the local shop I used to buy my Canson pastel paper from has shut down due to the current financial climate.  So I made a trip to a local town that I know has a well-stocked art supply shop - but for once they didn't have a great selection of colours, and I bought some much lighter blue/grey which seemed a good idea at the time.  Trouble is, I was then having difficulty in getting the lights to show up and the neutrals to get any depth to them.  It looked OK, but a little washed out.

So after working a little while yesterday, I then decided to take a chance and get the watercolours out to give the fur a bit of a burnt sienna wash in order to add some warmth.  It seems to have done the trick and I am a lot happier with how this is going.  All that is left to do is the fur around the neck and then the final tittivating where necessary.

On the needles:  just finished making a park bin, next up a drainhole - exciting stuff!  Although I am sneaking some time to knit a fancy cowl for myself from some fab Blue Face Leicester yarn coloured with woad.