Having been used to painting on smaller surfaces, Rocky Bruiser became a bit of a challenge at the beginning being a size A2. I offered this size as I believed the bigger the painting the more beautiful the detail that could be painted.
1. The first challenge was the quality of the photos supplied by his owner. Unfortunately, Rocky Bruiser is no longer padding around on his big paws. He was a rescue dog that was called Rocky originally and the new owner added Bruiser. Since starting this venture, I have found many owners would love a painting of their lost friend. As the saying goes..... Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love. They depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces and old dog, it merely expands the heart. So the quality of the limited amount of photos was not brilliant, but workable - I love a challenge!
2. Painting on this scale meant my little studio pretty much had to be moved into my dining room (Thank you to a very understanding husband who had to eat on his lap for the last the two weeks). I had to paint on my largest easel with enough movement and space for all my pastels.
3. Painting on a smaller scale means I can use a smaller board, laid down with a slight tilt and easily cover sections with protective glycerine paper so that my hand does not smudge areas already completed. (Although you try to paint from left to right, top to bottom to minimise this) Painting upright on a large easel meant it was more difficult to cover and protect any sections.
4. Trying to light the whole easel properly, i.e. with daylight lamps so that the colour matching is spot on, is harder for such a large painting. But with a lots of movement of furniture, chairs and even the dog at one point, I managed to achieve this. I think its time to buy proper floor standing lamps....Christmas is just around the corner...
5. And finally..... are you sitting comfortably? Well I wasn't. I had to stand for most of this painting! But I have to say that this was one of the most gorgeous,educational and fun (lovely to have a client with such a great sense of humour when being updated throughout the process - including telling me he was not happy with the finished painting on WhatsApp..... and then telling me after the longest minute of my life - he was only joking), paintings I have done so far.
