2017: Year of the Dog

2016 ended up being "Year of the Cat" for me after I finally fulfilled my promise of a cat calendar.  And the calendar had a great response, in fact the only negative comments I received were, "But what about a dog calendar....?"  Unfortunately, I am a sloooow painter and I know realistically I can expect to complete 15-20 paintings a year, on a good year- that's more than 2 paintings a week, and I just can't whip them out like that!
So, with my top priority this year to be producing enough pup paintings to have a calendar by October, 2017 is now (at least for me) YEAR OF THE DOG!!!!
The only problem is I don't have dogs of my own so I need dog photos and permission to use them as models!  My favorites are holiday themes, garden settings or goofy, "Character" poses- please help!  If you have any great photos, you'd like me to paint, I'd be thrilled to see!
I'm almost done with my first painting- this is Daisy, a regular customer at my farmer's market....I think it's perfect for April!

I have two basic rules; after I've drawn in my "map, I always start with the background bc it's the hardest part, and I always do my underpaintig with the shadows first

getting there......

Annnnd almost done!

I'm hoping to finish Dotty Daisy by the end of this week- fingers crossed!
Stephanie