Dakota continued

Have been working mostly on the background and trying to decide how much detail to put into that brick. Don't want to overshadow Dakota, but she does look nice against a red background. Haven't done any more work on the dog, will leave that til after get most of the background the way I want it.

Dakota - First Wash

First wash in oils of Dakota and beginning to put in some background. Her favorite spot was sitting outside the house.

Dakota - Initial Sketch on Canvas

Below is the sketch on canvas for the painting of Dakota, transferred using a grid from a favorite photo provided by her owner. Sadly, this beautiful dog passed away several weeks ago, so I'll do the best I can to make this painting a lovely reminder. I sketched the eyes with more detail than I usually would because they were difficult to make out in the photo and I did what I could with Photoshop to clarify them and bring out some detail. Hopefully I haven't had to guess too much.