I just painted Fubar’s pet portrait. This statement makes me think two things – one, my blog is aptly named because I can’t seem to say “paint it” without putting “just” in front of it. And two, what does “Fubar” mean?
The word “just” doesn’t necessarily mean ‘recently’ as in, “I ‘just painted it’, or I recently painted it. More like, “Oh, I just painted it.” And by that I don’t mean any arrogance, which is another connotation “just” can have.
Does that make sense? Probably not but just go with me.
See? I could use the word “just” in nearly any sentence, I think.
About his name – I have absolutely no idea what Fubar means but I do know after painting his portrait his name really came to grow on me. This seems to happen every time I paint a pet portrait.
It’s why I always start with the eyes now. Unlike in the early days when I’d paint everything else and the poor animal had just white holes for eyes.
They were kinda freaky like that.
Now I find that when I paint the eyes first in a pet portrait I get a real feeling of the animal.
If I do them right, that is.
I wrote a tutorial on How to Paint Dog Eyes, if you’re interested.
Oftentimes the photo(s) the owners send me are hard for me to discern features, even though the pic is a favorite of the owner.
That, and I need some stronger ‘granny’ glasses.
Because I’m Facebook friends with Fubar’s mommy, I just went on a photo hunt and found this adorbs pic which gave me the detailing I needed for the pose she sent me.
Once I get the eyes painted, I block in the colors by using brush strokes in the directions of the dog coat.
I try not to get too detailed at this point, instead just laying down colors.
Then I can come over it and add a few wispies here and there.
When I first started painting pet portraits the entire piece would have each.individual.strand of hair painted.
It’d take me weeks to finish and I really didn’t make that much of a difference when all was said and done.
And this is Fubar’s pet portrait.
I hope I captured his sweetness as he’s a tiny thing and this is an 8 x 10 in acrylic, bigger than he is in real life.
I’m so blessed to have the privilege of painting pet portraits. They’re truly such a joy to paint!
Or ‘just’ paint.
If you’d like to learn how to paint, check out my How to Paint Tulips ecourse, sponsored by The Graphics Fairy! It’s geared for beginners and is loads of fun!
I learned the term Fubar from my friends who spent time in the service many years ago. There was a movie, I don’t remember the name, it stared Stalone and Kurt Russel. There was a line where one of them told the other “The situation is totally fubar.” My friend told me that meant f***ed up beyond all recognition. Which seems like a mean name for such a cute little dog.
That’s interesting, Terri. thanks! I know Fubar’s owner – we went to school together – and I can see how/why she’d name him this. In a strange way, it’s a term of endearment