Merry Christmas and Dougal-Bottoms!!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas yesterday. I was on the go from the time I woke up until the time I crashed on the couch late, last night and so I never got the chance to wish you all a very Merry Christmas on the actual day. Please forgive me. We had a great time with family yesterday and are very blessed. Above is a picture I snapped the other night as I was wrapping gifts and sticking them under the tree. Truth be told, I was still wrapping a couple yesterday morning, even though my shopping was done a long time ago. I guess that's just how I roll!  :)  

"Dougal-Bottoms"
8" x 8"
(private collection)

Now this little guy above is Dougal, who belongs to my brother and sister-in-law. I've been keeping him a secret for a couple of months now and it's been killing me! I don't think they usually read my blog, but I couldn't be too careful, so I didn't even share him with you. I loved painting him! I had snapped the photo a while ago at their house, which brings me to the subject I teased about in my last blog: Good reference photos. They make such a big difference -- at least for me anyway. And while high resolution and clarity are very important, for me, dramatic lighting is equally as important. 

The lighting on the two dogs in my last post, was kind of flat (and this isn't a criticism of the photographer, because taking good photos for an art reference is very different than just taking a good photo and I didn't specify. These were very good photos basically.)  But for my needs, it didn't naturally provide great contrast. And thus, I struggled compositionally with regards to creating interesting value patterns, while maintaining a likeness to the dogs and their coloring. 

After comparing the process of painting Dougal to that of the two dogs, I finally came to the conclusion that I'm just not good at making things up, and that I really need a strong reference that contains great changes in value. So my tip to myself (and that I thought I'd share with you in case you're like me) is to, from now on, obtain only photos that can be cropped to a dynamic composition with regards to shape AND value in addition to clarity and high resolution, otherwise, I really struggle. 

So that's my little tidbit for today. I'm off to vacuum and paint. I hope you like Dougal-Bottoms -- my brother and sister-in-law were very happy and surprised!  I'm excited to share with you my newest painting, so keep tuning in. Cheers!