Dog Portrait Miniature in Progress - Mothers Day

As promised, I have uploaded some pictures of the 'dog - portrait miniature' I started last night.

I was given this commission by a guy who wanted this image painted, as a gift for his mother, this coming 'Mothers Day'.  This was her beloved dog, who has sadly passed away. As we all know, a pet does become a member of the family, who is loved so much.  I know that I love my cat, Sid so much, although some days he drives me crazy by trying to attack the curtains or jumping up on every possible flat surface... But without him, the days I'm home alone would be greatly dull.

Please bare in mind, that portrait miniatures are very difficult to take photographs of, especially to show the hundreds and hundreds of tiny strokes of paint that are built up to create a portrait miniature.  However I have tried my best to upload decent images to show you the development of this image.

I am a great admirer of Bill Mundy's portraits and with this portrait I am trying one of his techniques, to put a light dusting of paint over the face, then to start painting in and completing the background. This helps the facial tones to sit within the portrait well, as sometimes, when you paint the whole person/animal first and then paint the background, the background can become too intense and over bare the sitter within the portrait.

Unfortunately last night the 'point' to my 00000 brush went flat and limp. Highly frustrating when you get into a stride with your work.  But today I am going to try a little art shop in Ipswich and see if they can get one in stock for me.  Another thing I read from Bill Mundy, is that, its very rare for just one brush to complete a portrait miniature, this I am discovering very fast!!  The point to a brush used in miniature painting must be like the tip of a needle, precise, exact, strong and beautifully formed.

I estimate that this portrait will still need around 10-15 hours to complete. It has already had around 50 minutes.  The background will shade from a dark rich green on the right, to a very soft highlighted green on the right.  The body needs work and the face is be no means even started.  Its rough size, after cropping, will be '5 x 3.5 cm' or slightly smaller.

Please continue to watch my blog, to watch the progress of this miniature painting.