When you come to a place where you cannot do more on an area, often you can go to another area of the painting if it won’t cause difficulty with the work you have just completed. Take notice of the background color in the area of the pup’s ears. The background color must be behind all those separated strands of fur but I certainly don’t want to paint between each strand. If I choose to do this background before the final layer of fur is painted, I can paint right over everything. Then, later, when I apply the last top coat, it will look more three dimensional and the fur will look real! Also observe carefully that I have done more adjustments on the features and skin texture. I tell my students, ‘portrait painting is the art of constantly making corrections.’
When I come back to this in a few days, I will probably add the first layer on the eyes, some color on the clothes, the darks on the hair and the fur and then I will start adding the many layers of flesh tone. A painting this size is often priced beginning at $25,000. Is it any wonder?
Diana Williams Portraits 