Happy Dog Frankie! 111015 S 12x12

This is something different for me.  I decided to paint some pet portraits and start with my own rescue dog, Frankie.  I got him from the local Brown County Humane Society which is a wonderful "no kill" shelter that does a lot with very little.  They have reduced the overpopulation of dogs and cats in our rural county so successfully(still more to do!), with innovative programs, that the leaders are often asked to address groups nationally.  

I adopted Frankie in 2007 as, maybe, a two or three year old.  He had shown up at a local camp with a broken leg that had never been properly set.  In the end, after consulting several vets, the consensus was that the leg had to go.  So I met Frankie when he was still recovering from the surgery.  I saw a picture of him in the newspaper and his big brown eyes just melted my heart.  And the rest is history.

I just built a ramp for him this week to get up onto the deck and into the house.  He seemed to be having more and more trouble navigating the two steps to the deck as he gets older.  Hoping the ramp works for him!

 

So, anyway, I started this portrait by taking some pictures of Frankie and found he was an easy model, with a big smile on his face most of the time.  I did an initial sketch and then blocked in the colors.  I'm afraid I didn't get any "progress" shots beyond the initial sketch because I painted this at night and the lights in my studio, being daylight halogens, tend to cast the photos yellow.  

So here is the side by side with the painting and the photo and, below, the finished painting.

"Frankie", oil on panel, 12" x 12", Code# 111015 S 12x12, c. 2015 by Charlene Marsh.

I did a second painting of Frankie I will share next time.  Let me know which one you like best.

Happy Trails!

Cheers,

Charlene