I managed to get a lot more done on Milly’s portrait today. In fact I am nearly finished. Just a case of the last finishing touches on her face and some refining details to go on her and the background to do. I am a little undecided on what colour to use. I often struggle with this. I quite like to use bright vibrant colours but I know it’s not always to their tastes, so I try to use something that is a little more neutral for their tastes and decor, unless of course they request something bright and then I love to get cheerful and bright!
I think for this portrait I will use a cool blue or maybe a cream, as she mainly is made up warm colours. A cool colour maybe best as it they recede in paintings and warm colours come forward. Her portrait is going to be framed in a dark wood frame which I would generally use for pet portraits made up of these colours as it compliments them perfectly and tends to go with most decor. It is a simple unfussy frame ans would appeal to most tastes.
Milly’s dog portrait measures 11×9 inches. It is not a size that is selected much for pet portraits. Most people who are looking for something around this size tend to go for the 10×8 or 10×12 inches. More size and price options can be found on my pet portrait price page
I have managed to do some more filming of Milly today, I think my camera kept switching off due to low battery, once it was fully charged I successfully shot some more. I will edit this in bed tonight and upload it to the blog later.
You would be surprised at the colours I have used to create Millys portrait. Below are just a selection of the most used colours. I bet you weren’t expecting to see a blue or violets in there! It is surprising what colours you use to get the depth to a portrait. Pastels come in a wide range of colours but still sometimes you have to mix or layer certain colours to get the shades you want. I am also very careful to select the most lightfast colours for your pet portrait to ensure it outlives you without any fading. That sometimes means I have to not use a particular shade as it is a rogue colour and liable to fading quickly, so I have to make it up with others. Pastels are a lovely medium and are often over looked for oils or watercolours, but they really shouldn’t be. You can read more about pastels here
Pastel Pencils for Milly’s Portrait
I am going to add some more information to this page when I get a chance. I think it is good to have information for clients to read about the medium the have chosen to have their pet painted in. And yes pastels can be referred to as a painting. Not a lot of people know this!
Anyway I have digressed slightly here. Tomorrow I shall be finishing Milly’s portrait and doing some more on the horse portrait. I have another portrait I plan to get started and finished this week. No pressure there then! I am expecting a delivery of frames and pastel paper also, so my dog walk will have to be fitted around those! Hope you all have a lovely Monday evening.
Oh I nearly forgot to upload the updates to Milly’s time lapse video. What do you think. Is the music annoying?