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Roxie – Bloggers Dogs {and Kitties}

July 2, 2014 By Colleen 11 Comments

Pug-Portrait

This is Roxie, a cute l’il pug. This was a special portrait for me to paint. Of course, all of them are special but I’ve met Roxie in real life, unlike most of the pets I draw or paint.

Pug Pet Portrait

It was on an evening in May, two years ago. Roxie’s mama was driving cross country and made a stop in Sacramento so we could meet in person, having been online friends for a number of years. Amy and I had a wonderful dinner then walked back to her motel room and sat outside with her pugs, Roxie and Nellie.

I will always remember that night, not just because I spent a peaceful evening with a dear friend, but because the next day my life was forever changed when my husband went into the hospital.

pug-painting

Sadly, only a few weeks after that night, Nellie passed away too. I painted Nellie’s portrait and shipped it to Amy in hopes it might ease some of the pain of such a loss. Not that a simple painting can do that, but the memories when looking at it might be able to.

Fast forward two years . . . life goes on, right? A few weeks ago, in an online conversation with some friends, Amy suggested I sell pet portraits. Actually she said something more like “You NEED to sell them”.

There are very few people I ‘look up to’ anymore, but Amy is definitely in that small group. I mean, think about writing an entire blog, day in and day out, about decoupage glue. And not only making the blog a huge success, along with two other blogs, but also writing books and creating product lines too! Not to mention, she’s honest and candid (in a good way) and helps bloggers out constantly.

Obviously, I took her message to heart and haven’t looked back and today I’m thrilled to show you how I painted little Roxie, the pug. Or ‘piggie’, as Amy calls pugs – which absolutely makes me giggle because they are like little piggies, aren’t they?

pug painting

 

I like to start with a sketch on paper for animals. It’s all about getting the eyes-to-nose relationship right. I probably should spend some time watching Youtube videos but . . . I haven’t. Oh well.

pug painting

The background is a mixture of Aqua and Wedding Cake white. Oh, I should mention that I used all Plaid paints on Roxie, only because Mod Podge is made by Plaid and Amy used to work for Plaid and the stencils she created are made by Plaid and I happen to love their products too. Or I wouldn’t use them.

pug painting

With the background completely dry, I transferred the line art onto the canvas.

pug painting

I’m still experimenting with different methods for the pet portraits. Colored pencils, watercolors, acrylics, or a combination of them. At first, I thought I’d block in the background colors with acrylics and come back with colored pencils over the top.

pug painting

For Roxie’s coat I used a combination of Bamboo, Tapioca and Wedding Cake, with Bamboo being the shading color too.

pug painting

I get a lot of comments on the eyes in my animal paintings.

pug painting

They’re really not as hard as they look. I took a ton of photos of each step and I’ll do a separate tutorial for painting dogs’ eyes in a bit. It’s kinda fun to see how they go from an empty hole to near lifelike.

At least I think so.

pug painting

For the majority of the grey areas I used a color called Cast Shadow. It’s not as dark as Wrought Iron and it has a smidge of brown to it so it’s a little softer, making it perfect for pug paintings.

pug painting

For the darker shading I did use Wrought Iron, a charcoal grey-almost black-but not quite.

pug painting

I had to get her little pink tongue in there. Every photo I see of Roxie has that tongue sticking out!

 

pug painting

For her “collar” (furry neck) I underpainted with Cast Shadow and a little Bamboo. On an animal with a light coat you still have to have shading somewhere otherwise you can’t get the look of fur. I like using craft paints – as opposed to tube acrylics – because there isn’t 100% opaque coverage in one coat. Meaning, I can underpaint with a shading color, come back with a lighter color on top and still have the shading evident.

It’s just the way I do it. Not the “right” way, just “a” way.

pug painting

Okay, so I kinda ditched the whole colored pencil idea because I was so into the paints on my palette. Do you see how the fur is lighter now but still has some direction from the underpainting?

Also, I can only do the wispies with paint. I’ve tried with pencils, and I know other artists do them with pencils, but I use a round or fine tip brush and paint for the whiskers and little muzzle and chin hairs.

pug painting

Awww.

pug painting

And there’s Roxie!

Ok, so the whole blending-the-dog-into-the-background part? We’re not gonna talk about that here. In fact, the only way I could show how to do that is on a video and it’d have to be without sound because there just might be some naughty words uttered here and there.

Eventually I get it done. Let’s just say, it’s not as easy as it looks.

I think Roxie is the third pet portrait I’ve done (recently) for a blogger? Lola is Aunt Peaches kitty.  Buddy is Brittany’s Pretty Handy Dog. I might be missing someone. Anyway, I thought it’d start a series, Bloggers Dogs {and Kitties}, just for fun. I’ve met many bloggers on Instagram thru their dogs since I’m such an animal lover and I’d really rather see a doggie than a pretty living room. I would!

I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with the series yet because I don’t know how many blogger pet portraits I’ll wind up doing. Right now I have four commissioned and we’re just getting started here! I thought it might be fun to do a mix ‘n match game – match the blogger to the pet – or something like that. We’ll see. If you’re a blogger and you’d like your furbaby painted, email me so we can chat!

Of course, I’m happy to paint nonblogger dogs and kitties too! (and birds and horses and bunnies and . . . ) If you haven’t been by my Etsy shop, I hope you’ll drop by. And I also started Just Paint It Pets on Facebook. Yay!

#Ilovemyjob

Colleen

about Colleen

 

Filed Under: my paintings, My Stuff, Paint Canvas, Paint Surfaces

Comments

  1. Jacque says

    July 2, 2014 at 9:47 am

    You do such an incredible job on these paintings, it always amazes me!

    Reply
    • Colleen says

      July 2, 2014 at 6:35 pm

      Thanks so much, Jacque! I love doing them. I think I probably love doing them more than the people who receive them!

      Reply
  2. Lisa Hall says

    July 2, 2014 at 8:32 pm

    Oh my goodness Colleen! This portrait is just beautiful! I remember Amy posting pics and talking about her sweet “piggie”!
    I’m sure she really loved this portrait.
    You are very talented!
    I didn’t realize you lived in Sacramento!
    That is really cool, because I live in Rio Linda and I haven’t met too many bloggers around here.
    We will have to get together for lunch one day and bump ideas off each other!
    I really enjoyed the story behind the portrait and the touching stories about your husband.
    What a legacy he must have left behind!
    Thank-you for being so open and sharing such heartfelt stories!
    Take Care!
    Lisa

    Reply
    • Colleen says

      July 3, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Thanks so much, Lisa! I actually live in Placerville now. I moved up to be with my mom after my husband died. I don’t get down to Sac as much as I’d like, only to see my grandson. They just moved from Rio Linda over to Antelope! Small world, eh?

      I’m hoping one day Mom’s health will allow me to roam a bit more often though and then I’d love to meet you! For the time being, thank goodness for the internet!

      Have a great 4th! xo

      Reply
  3. Lyn says

    July 3, 2014 at 7:11 am

    another wonderful portrait !

    Reply
    • Colleen says

      July 3, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Thanks so much Lyn.

      Reply
  4. Cindy Compton says

    October 10, 2014 at 3:44 am

    Thanks so much for this. I love your work. I’m very much a beginner at painting on canvas. I “paint” on my iPad, which is great, but way different. I’ve been wanting to paint our pugs, and on my practice attempts, the shading is a bugger…or was until now. So thanks for the tips and inspiration.

    Reply
    • Colleen says

      October 10, 2014 at 8:17 am

      Hi Cindy! Yes, shading can be tricky. I haven’t really done any animal tutorials yet, but I’ll try to put some thought on it. Just know – with paint at least – the more layers you do, the more dimension, even if you think you’re covering them up. It’ll add depth to the painting, so don’t worry about layering.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How To Paint Dog Eyes - Just Paint It Blog says:
    July 6, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    […] First, we start with a sketch. The pattern for this pug is in my last post. […]

    Reply
  2. bit.ly says:
    July 9, 2014 at 3:32 pm

    […] moved here […]

    Reply
  3. OUR ONE-OF-A-KIND DOG - Mad in Crafts says:
    July 30, 2014 at 5:08 am

    […] is one of a kind.  And so are Aunt Peaches’ cat Lola, Amy from Mod Podge Rocks’ pug Roxie, Buddy the English Shepherd owned by Brittany of Pretty Handy Girl, and Rhonda aka Mrs. Greene’s […]

    Reply

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    About Me

    Hi there! I'm Colleen, a self-taught artist, writer and blogger, among other things. You don't get to be old enough to order off the Denny's senior menu without accomplishing a few things in life. Read More…

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