This is an actual portrait commission, purchased as a gift for the boy's mother. It's done on a 12 x 16" plastered panel sized with two coats of titanium white acrylic.

The dog is only a year old and it was nearly impossible to get him to set down for more that about five seconds. He'd much rather run full speed around and around the house. We tried shooting pictures out doors and indoors. He was calmer indoors but the lighting was not so good. Luckily I ended up with a good one of the boy, another of his hand and one of the dog.

After compositing three photos on the computer, I used transfer paper to locate a few dark accents like the irises, shadow in a nostril, and corner of the mouth. They were inked with a brown IDenti pen, but could have used acrylic paint. The idea is to have just enough to establish the proportions and to preserve the composition. 95% will be done "freehand". My plan is to make it high key. Click on pictures to make them much bigger.

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Step 1
Transparent oxide red was mixed with Alkyd medium about 1:1 and rubbed over the panel loosely, smoothing the paint on the face. This breaks the ice. Began to wipe out paint with a rag-wrapped finger for highlights. Double click the picture for a larger veiw.

Step 2
More rub-out is done and features are established with a brush and the same paint mixture. Paint was smoothed by stippling with the rag on a finger. To rub-out to the white of the panel use a brush with straight Alkyd medium.

Step 3
After five hours the dog is nearly done and he looks very good. I'll need to darken the boy's face and hat to make sure it's the focal point. Let it dry a couple days. I realize the boy's left arm seems to be very long. I'll scrape paint away to show a different angle for the upper arm and show his rear shoulder just a little.

Step 4
Another couple sessions and it's finished. Used the Nikon D70 for this photo and tried to get the color and values as close as possible. The white panel showing in the upper right has a blue cast that isn't really there. Doesn't glow like the original.

Epologue: Saw the boy's mother at the restaurant and she and her son loved it a lot!