Two Black Labradors

These two lovely black labradors are now finished. Following on from the previous post the painting entered what I like to call cheerily the 'wrecking phase'. Having established a half decent under-painting the next stage is to add lots of different colour tints that add depth to the final painting. Shades of browns, reds, greens, yellows and white were painted on the background being careful to continue the colours across the canvas. This inevitably means painting over the dogs so the painting gets really messy. Reds and blue were added to the dogs' coats then black and white is added with precision to bring back the correct tonal values. Finally, detail gets added to the foreground and the chewed up log and the final touches of blue, black and white scumbled across the fur to create texture where the light hits it. I finished each stage in the dark this week as it was a tight deadline so the photos were taken in the dark. I'll take a decent one tomorrow in the light to add to my website gallery.