Yellow Labrador Retriever Custom Dog Portrait in Oil on Canvas

Pet portraits are fun to paint especially the little 5x7 portraits for which I get many requests. But even better is painting a large portrait like this 24x18 inch oil of a yellow lab. I love that the setting is outdoors by the sea!
To the left is a detail from the finished painting. You can see the entire piece at the bottom of this post.

Meanwhile, I'll show you how I painted it. Keep reading...

I paint the sea and sky first. Sadly I forgot to take photos of the process - sorry about that!

The foreground grass has no details as of yet. I paint it a deep green. Lighter grass details will be painted on top. Since the light is coming from the left, both water and sky are painted lighter on the left. Here is how everything looks so far:

I love that soft, rosy sky with the color reflected in the water.

Now for grass details. For the far grasses, I use more blue because cool colors used in the distance will visually make the land lay flat.

In the foreground, I use warmer tones for the details. The warm colors visually bring the foreground foreward as it should be.

Just playing here with quick brush strokes going this way and that. The grass looks very detailed, but actually did not take long to do:

Here is how it looks:

I'm happy with everything so far!
Now it's time to begin the dog (whose name is Gracie). I start with her feet and legs. This is not usual for me. I normally start with the head, but I just felt like beginning there:

A mix of different colors denote the lightness of her fur: rose, blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna and lots of white.
Maybe you can see those colors in her fur below:

Her facial hair is smooth and short, while the hair on her ears is a bit longer, soft and silky. Once I finish the fur, I begin the final details of the face. I use a mix of blue, alizarin crimson, white and burnt sienna to make the black and gray of her mouth and nose:

Dogs' noses are fun to paint!

Last are the eyes:

Here eyes look like she's thinking, "OK, I'll be good and stay right here for my picture, but I'd much rather run up to you."

And here's the finished painting:

Yellow Labrador Retriever 24x18 Oil on Canvas Pet Portrait

Doesn't Gracie look regal? She's beautiful in that setting!

---

I'm happy to take custom orders. Contact me for a custom painting of your pet, home, garden, grandkids, favorite vacation spot or whatever your heart desires.
To receive my posts by email, fill in your email address under FOLLOW BY EMAIL in the right hand column and click Submit. You'll receive my posts in your email inbox at the end of each day that a post is made.