Portrait of 5 Ibizan Hounds

This was an exciting painting to create.   Many of the dogs featured in this painting are no longer with us.  There were limited photos of those dogs and a great deal of research was involved to assist me where the photos could not.

I studied photos of Ibizans to make sure the features I was going to add to the photos was indeed consistent in the breed.  Questions I asked myself were - what is to be expected on bone structure, nose shape, ear shape, eye shape and muzzle width for the Ibizan Hound?   The photo of Rio, in the middle, was ideal.  A few of the photos were fine.   A few of the photos were small and hazy.   With the white on the faces, it could be easy to paint the muzzle too wide or too narrow.  A little homework only makes the student stronger.  (My motto is that I am always learning - always the student in all that I do.)

The dog in the lower left corner, Annie, was laying down in the reference photo.   It was a challenging pose for the painting.  What to do?  Well, I have big dogs and I know what big dogs do.   Big dogs lay their heads on the table and beg for food when you are eating....well, they do if you let them around the table while you are eating.   That was the perfect solution.  I'd have Annie standing with her head laying on a table.   Easy - well, hopefully it would work out and be easy.   Sometimes I have these ideas to put into a painting and one thing changes one thing that changes another thing and before I know it the "easy" wasn't easy.

The layout of the dogs was also a bit challenging like putting together a puzzle.  How could I arrange them to make them into a complimentary composition.   Rio was to be in the middle of the painting, that was requested.  How I arranged the others was left to my judgement.

Long story short, with a goal of no one's ears being in anyone else's face, it worked out.   The important factor was to have the subjects' faces as large as possible and fit in all those ears in a flattering arrangement.

Hope you enjoy viewing the painting as much as I enjoyed painting it.   Thank you to Julie for entrusting me with such a large and important project.


Following is one of the proposed compositions for the painting.  It was not the final placement as seen above.  Also, we used a more recent photo of Rio in the middle - featured below the composition.  Such an enjoyable project!!

Sir Finn - A portrait of an Irish Setter

This was such a fun painting to do - well - I feel like a broken record saying this, but I never tire of painting people's animals for them.   It just touches my heart.

This is Finn.   His owner wanted a standing painting of him from the very beginning.  In the primary reference photo he was pulling down on his tail a bit.  I had to laugh when she asked me to fix the tail (and she did have a great photo of his top line and tail as another reference photo).  So, the reason I had to laugh - my dogs all pull down on their tail when I am showing them if I grab the tip of their tail.    I've never trained them to hold their tail out by holding the tip of it.  If I try to pull on the tip of their tail, the tuck their hiney down and it is laughable.  I had a judge pull Jewel's tail once and Jewel fiercly tried to wag it out of the judge's grasp.   No, we didn't win, but the judge did laugh at Jewel's antics.   Finn has a lovely top line and tail set.   We most certainly did need to show that in the painting!

Sir Finn is my very special heart boy.  In this painting he was just 2 years old.  He is now 3 and has earned 6 titles.  His  reg. name is CH Captiva One Last Time BN,RN,RA,THDN, CGC.   Sir Finn Excels at his therapy work and has a real bond with Alzheimer patients.  He was with my mom when she passed away last year and it was so very amazing how gentle he was with her and is with other patients.  He wants to please me with everything he has within himself, whether it be obedience or just cuddling.  He is a true gentlemen.  In agility classes, he listens and stay with me but is now getting too fast for me so we will see what this brings.  He has a heart of pure gold and is so very calm .  Even the day we brought him home from Canada,  he, a 10 week old puppy, calmed my very sick Irish, Liam!  Sir Finn has never found a person or critter he has not liked no matter what they do or say.  There will never be another Finn.  I do thank Dawn Secord for capturing him so amazingly and in a few more year hope to have a head portrait of him.

Thank you Rita for having me paint your beautiful boy!

Sir Finn - A portrait of an Irish Setter

This was such a fun painting to do - well - I feel like a broken record saying this, but I never tire of painting people's animals for them.   It just touches my heart.

This is Finn.   His owner wanted a standing painting of him from the very beginning.  In the primary reference photo he was pulling down on his tail a bit.  I had to laugh when she asked me to fix the tail (and she did have a great photo of his top line and tail as another reference photo).  So, the reason I had to laugh - my dogs all pull down on their tail when I am showing them if I grab the tip of their tail.    I've never trained them to hold their tail out by holding the tip of it.  If I try to pull on the tip of their tail, the tuck their hiney down and it is laughable.  I had a judge pull Jewel's tail once and Jewel fiercly tried to wag it out of the judge's grasp.   No, we didn't win, but the judge did laugh at Jewel's antics.   Finn has a lovely top line and tail set.   We most certainly did need to show that in the painting!

Sir Finn is my very special heart boy.  In this painting he was just 2 years old.  He is now 3 and has earned 6 titles.  His  reg. name is CH Captiva One Last Time BN,RN,RA,THDN, CGC.   Sir Finn Excels at his therapy work and has a real bond with Alzheimer patients.  He was with my mom when she passed away last year and it was so very amazing how gentle he was with her and is with other patients.  He wants to please me with everything he has within himself, whether it be obedience or just cuddling.  He is a true gentlemen.  In agility classes, he listens and stay with me but is now getting too fast for me so we will see what this brings.  He has a heart of pure gold and is so very calm .  Even the day we brought him home from Canada,  he, a 10 week old puppy, calmed my very sick Irish, Liam!  Sir Finn has never found a person or critter he has not liked no matter what they do or say.  There will never be another Finn.  I do thank Dawn Secord for capturing him so amazingly and in a few more year hope to have a head portrait of him.

Thank you Rita for having me paint your beautiful boy!