Serious Tito, 051017 S 12x12

Update!  Tito has been adopted! Yeah!

This painting is part of a series of portraits of homeless dogs at our local shelter waiting to be adopted.  Tito is an American Bulldog currently up for adoption at the Brown County Humane Society shelter.  He has such a serious look on his face!  He seriously wants to find his forever home!

Here's my set up to start the painting.  I have drawn his mug shot on a pre-tinted panel, set out my palette, and am ready to paint.

I start with the darkest blacks, especially around his eyes, using Cadmium Red Medium and Ultramarine Blue. 

For the rusty browns on his face, I used more red and Cadmium Red Light mixed with the blue.  For the blue shadow on the right side, I went back and forth with that using Cerulean and/or Ultra. Blue, scraping it off a couple of times.  The entire surface had to be covered before I really got the right value I was happy with.  You can see in the final version I went with a lighter value in Cerulean Blue.

For his white fur, I used various mixes of Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Medium and Light, and Primary Red-Magenta mixed with Titanium White. 

Then I painted his eyes which were very intense.  I mixed his eye color using yellow, a touch of red, and Ultramarine Blue to gray down the color just a tad.  I added a black pupil and a highlight to make the eye moist and glistening with the sparkle of life.

Finally I start adding the background using some of the color that is in the shadow on his white fur in the lower right.  Using the color elsewhere in the painting helps balance and unify the image.  I add and fine tune the details overall.  And the final painting:

"Serious Tito", homeless shelter dog, oil on panel, 12" x 12", Code #051017 S 12x12, c. 2017 by Charlene Marsh.

If you can give this handsome boy a happy home, please contact the Brown County Humane Society about adopting him. 

Thanks for checking in!

Happy Trails. 

cheers,

Charlene