A new pet portrait by Terry Albert

Presenting Rylee, a golden-doodle. Her owner ordered this painting as a Father's Day gift for her husband. Rylee is quite a character, only a year old and a very busy girl. She is so energetic that when she walks next to me, I carry a metal dog dish so she won't crash into me. She jumps up and bongs her head on the bottom of the bowl, and just keeps on jumping happily along at my side!

I am a pet sitter as well as an artist, and Rylee was staying with me this week. It was nice to have my model here when I had questions about the reference photo. For example, I checked to see what color the skin is around her eyes, brown or black. If I made that area the color of her coat, her eyes would look way too small, and it wouldn't be accurate anyway. She is curled up under my drawing board right now, sleeping off a big day of playing with two collies and a Lab.

Her coat is not white, it is a creamy color-- like a light colored golden retriever or Lab would have. So it was fun to add the lavender shadows (the complement of yellow) to make her color richer. To give it depth, I started with a wash of burnt sienna under the entire dog, and then built up layers of acrylic paint in golds creams and lavender with some gray and brown shadows.

This painting is an 8" x 10" and is sold. It is done in acrylic and colored pencil. Visit my web site to see more of my artwork at http://www.terryalbert.com. I am available for a custom commissioned painting of your dog or other pet!

The photo above is the photo I worked from to paint Rylee's portrait.