Izzy - or 'Withie, part 2'

This is a follow-up to my last post about Withie, the dog that a friend of mine re-homed. Not sure that is a real word, but for me, it means that my friend found a new home for her four legged companion. 

The family that Withie is now living with, had a labradoodle, named Izzy. She died a few months ago. I offered to paint a portrait of Izzy if they would send me some pictures of her.

I began on a light green pastel paper. The first step is putting in blocks of darks and lights. 

Next I had to try to find the right colors! I was a little anxious about this because I had never met the dog and it seems to me that everybody's computer/printer makes the colors different. There were dozens of shades of brown, beige, orange... I threw in some gray and some purples.

In most of the dog paintings I have previously done, the dog had a black nose... not Izzy... it seemed white, gray, pink, purple... and a little off center! And then, there were those yellow/orange eyes!

I did a lot of tweaking, trying to get the nose right and attempting to get the look of soft, curly hair.

I had fun playing with her collar... and then put in some background. Thinking I was almost done, I left it for a day or so. When I came back to it and looked closely... her left eye was up higher than her right! I got out a bristle brush and wiped the eye off... trying it again...

Doing a painting is a little like trying to get all the legs of a table the same length or redecorating a house...you make one adjustment and then find that there are other things that need doing!

More tweaking here and there...  At some point, I just need to call it done! I know if I don't sign it and put it behind glass, I will want to keep touching it...

Here she is!

I delivered the painting this morning. There is a part of me that just wanted to get my hands into her hair. She looks soft and is just begging to be petted!