Ben the Jack Russell

This is Ben, a cute, scruffy looking Jack Russell I had on the drawing board at the same time as the last blog entry. I often have a couple of paintings on the go at the same time to keep momentum up in the inevitable 'stuck' periods you get in each portrait. This little chap provided a reason to put my brushes down for a bit and pick up the pastels as he's just so dinky! The portrait is small 6 x 9" on Ingres Pastel Paper. After lightly sketching the main features I started with the light colours first: blocking in most of the white and adding greys and cream (which you can't really see in the photo above). I smudged the colours together then with a sharp pastel flicked on lines for the texture of the fur. It's easier when working small to blend, and almost complete, the lighter areas before introducing dark pastel colours as it reduces the chance of accidentally smudging colours you don't want. Next I went straight for the eyes and nose, using black, browns and a touch of yellow ochre. I put more shadows into the fur, sharpened the pastels and dashed off some lines of white and black fluffy hair around the edges to give him his scruffy look. I tightened up on the details, checked the other photos and discovered he had more warm brown on his left ear and eye which I added, and voila! He is destined to sit proudly framed on a desk - I think he's ready!