A painting of Rufus

This was a very special dog named Rufus.   Rufus was a much loved companion and his owner, Shirley, shared many fond memories of him with me.  The biggest part of Rufus that she wanted captured in his painting was his kind eyes which created his gentle expression.

Shirley had an assortment of photos of Rufus.  The one photo that really touched her heart was that of him sitting on a grooming table at a dog show.   The photo's environment was not ideal due to the lack of lighting at that show venue.   The photo was ideal in capturing the essence that Rufus' owner wanted reflected in his painting.  

When working with a photo like the one chosen, I am offered a true image of what I need to include in the painting.   However, without proper lighting, it will be more work on my part.  ( I do not mean that in a negative way whatsoever.)   It is my goal to add dimension to the painting that is lacking in the reference material due to the lighting.   I want the painting to show what is missing in the photo but reflect the essence of our main character - Rufus.   It is important that we see the bone structure of the dog.  This will allow the painting to be dimensional and not flat.   It allows the painting to look more realistic.   Lighting has everything to do making the painting feel like you can reach out and pet the dog.  It may take me longer to get the painting where I want it to be and that is okay.  The efforts are greatly rewarded emotionally when I am able to provide someone with a special painting that touches their heart.  A weaker photograph allows me to be more artistic.  I have to be creative.   As always, I don't want to be known as an artist who is copying a photograph.   I want to be known as the artist that uses creative liberties to create a real work of art and only used photos as a road map to the destination of that particular journey.  

For the background Shirley had some amazing photographs of her property.   She chose a photo that had amazing clouds on that given day.   The color was amazing.   As beautiful as it was in the photo, a balance was needed to not allow the background to overpower our main subject.  Another opportunity for me to be creative in the overall composition using artistic liberties.   One example of this is how I used the clouds as directional arrows (if you will) to direct the viewer to Rufus' eyes.   I followed the photo but yet I didn't.

Thank you to Shirley for having me paint your special boy.   Thank you for allowing me to be an artist and create a special painting for you.   I hope this painting touches your heart whenever you look at it.  With gratitude - Dawn.