Lucy

My brother's family's border terrier, Lucy, was the photo model for this painting.  In the original photo she is sitting next to their other pup, but given the constrictions of the 6x6" format, I decided to focus just on Lucy. I'm not sure if it's an exact likeness, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I puzzled over the right color to use for the background but finally settled on this light yellow.  I made the shadow a dark purplish-blue, which seemed too stark after the background was painted, so I added some burnt sienna to it.  In this photo, the shadow is kicking back some reflections from my lamp, but I kind of like the effect - I might try to emulate that in the actual painting!  This is #22 in the 30-in-30 challenge.  For a larger view please click on the image.