Jura

What a great piece. Great expression!

thanks for showing this .as a dog lover . well it says it all .fantastic

Lovely portrait. Love the nose and tongue. Really well done.

Typical smiley expression of these gorgeous dogs, lovely painting. You have captured the puppy look.

You have made me go all soft and gooey... I'm a pushover for dogs, and you've captured this one very well.

Thank you for your kind comments.I love painting dogs, especially in pastel. Dog lover myself, have 3 at the moment. Sister was hyper critical (which is good) so had to be very particular about his expression. She was very pleased with the end result.

Smashing. Love the tongue, Looks real.

Oh well done...you have such an accurate, direct style. lovely.

Thanks all, you have no idea how long it took me to get that **#!!*! tongue right!

Hazel you certainly do not need lessons your pastel work is smashing. I am self taught, I can give you some of the tips that I use. Do not be afraid of colour. A pastel like Salcombe I started with the sky I use Conte a Paris soft pastels these are round thin bright and great for glazing. I also use with them W & N soft pastels or Unison for me their white's are great. The conte a paris I scrap on a piece of sandpaper to get them going.I build up the sky colour using a couple of colours and an underglazing first. There maybe many colours. The clouds are gradually built up over the sky with pale yellow ochre and white if sunny (maybe a greyish blue for the shadow underneath the cloud). Then finished of with a very bright swipe with white and a gentle rub with finger. The rocks sea and trees are gradually built up with underpainting and then stippling technique for the trees. I try different colours to see which works best. I try not to use black going for paynes grey and the dark mauves for shadow. Conte a paris are great for underglazing and using the fat soft pastels over the top. As you know colorfix paper is excellent for this technique and conte a paris aren't anywhere near as dusty. I also use velour which is great for animals using both the above. I very often use the stippling technique. The foreground in the painting exactly the same method. The trees were painted in last using conte because of the nice thin edge same with the people. Have a look in my gallery there are a couple of portraits using all sorts of colours. Hope this is helpful Jeannette x