Ginger

Story

Sheyne and Josie lost their best dog prematurely. Josie commissioned a painting as a surprise for Sheyne. I’d never painted an animal.

A few months later, I felt like I was done. It was close enough to Valentine’s Day, which they had planned to celebrate at Sheyne’s parent’s house. To help Josie avoid explaining a package in her car, I drove over to his parent’s house with the wrapped painting and left it in their garage.

Process

The reference photo from Josie. Unfortunately, it has a bit of that cell phone distortion. Ginger looks small here, but she was a pretty big dog.

Value study – raw umber