Cassady

This was a comissioned piece from Evan Caprari for his brother, Brian. The dog's name is Cassady. This piece has basically the same process as the portrait of Charlotte. It started with a line drawing with pencil, then outlined with white chalk.


Next I spashed some bright red and yellow and orange into the background. In order to do this I load up a bristle brush with a bit of paint and a lot of liquin. This makes the paint very light and flickable. I point the brush toward the surface and pull back the bristles with my thumb, rocketing the paint to make a splatter-like effect. Bill Thomson taught me this technique in college, except he used an old toothbrush. He said it was old but I suspected otherwise, when one day he came to class with purple teeth... at least i hope he lied to me...

Next I painted in one layer of the portrait once the splatters had dried. I was mostly using various degrees of cadmium red medium, cadmium yellow light, alizarin crimson, burnt siena, yello ochre, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, titanium white, ivory black, and a bit of ultramarine purple.


The last stage was just some finishing touches: adding some highlights to the hair, blending some of the colors more thoroughly, and giving her some nice bright spots on the nose and eyes.

Cassady was a very nice dog, I had known her from when she was a pup to some of her last days and it was always a joy to see her. I hope Brian enjoys the portrait.

Cassady, oil on masonite, 8" x 10", 2009.