Gia the foster rescue has many jobs. She guards houses. She makes sure mailmen tie their shoes. She teaches new foster dogs "STICK!." She coaches squirrels in their sprinting. She consoles humans when they're sad. With all those roles, she's come to be recognized amongst her fellows, simply as, "the Little Bean."
A Rescue Puppy with a Hundred Personalities...
Little Bean, Doggie-Painting, Copic Alcohol Marker on Canvas
"...it's all about the squirrels..."
When I first tried to paint Gia it was the hardest thing, to capture all the things about her personality I had come to know. Gia was the first Foster-Rescue doggie I got to know so dearly and spend so much time on walks, or around other people with. And so really dialing in just one way she holds her face, or swings her ears back, or shines intently jumping for sticks, or just relaxes and melts like a peanut-butter cup - Was almost impossible.
And then it hit me to just flip through a ton of photos I'd taken of her, and then just try to draw her from my imagination. I would occassionally look at a picture just to make sure I got the shape of an ear or patch of color correct, but otherwise, this was me drawing her likeness, almost like a human sketch, and then painting it. Letting her personality, as usual, do all the work!
Art supplies I painted "Little Bean" with
I painted the doggie-portrait "Little Bean" on a primed 5x7 canvas, using my Copic markers, and fine brushes with alcohol to finish the details of her face ears and coat. I really enjoyed how the Copic markers can be used to build up layers of bright, vibrant fur, with unexpected sensations of transparency if used with layers of correct fixative between applications of the marker.
