My painting goal was very purposeful this week. I decided to paint my grandmother’s dog to give to her as he had passed away recently. Jean-Pierre was a scruffy little Doberman pinscher who potentially had anger management problems but was a very loyal companion to my grandmother. He accompanied her everywhere (even in places he wasn’t supposed to be), he loved her frequent road trips down to Florida during the winter and had definitely eaten a concerning amount of human food (my grandmother liked to give him a serving of whatever she was having, even if it meant a whole plate of spaghetti).
I began doing some research on how to paint dogs and the specific features they have, as they differ quite a bit from abstract paintings or landscape paintings. My journey began with a deep dive into Pinterest, where I found some inspo pics that resembled Jean-Pierre a bit. I then stumbled upon Emily Olson’s painting Youtube channel where she was giving a tutorial on how to paint dogs and used her pet pug as her model. Although her dog was not the same breed as Jean-Pierre, the tutorial gave me an idea of which style of brush strokes to use when painting fur, the shape of a dog’s eyes as well as the angle to capture their little faces.
For the most part, I tend to do cartoon-type paintings as well as landscape paintings, so I had quite a hard time with the realism style that Emily Olson was using. I had difficulty with dimensions, making his eyes look happy (and not absolutely soulless) and the angle/pose to paint him in. Jean-Pierre’s portrait didn’t turn out as detailed as I would have liked, but my grandmother was thrilled and it now rests on her bedside table. So, I’d call that a win if you ask me!
