Today I painted something I have avoided for a long time, for many reasons, firstly although my star model is furry ( big plus for me) she is black, now I do find black animals quite a problem, mainly because it is difficult to see the contours and variations in tone in most photos I have of her. Secondly, although she is beautiful to me, she is not the most photogenic of doggy dudes, fairing better at action photography photo shoots. But after chatting with Jodi from life Inbetween who has been set the challenge to paint a friends dog ( who happens to also be a beautiful black dog) I thought, I should tackle this challenge head on…..well at least Cassie’s ‘head on’ paper….I called cassie into the kitchen and took a few quick photos on the iPad. Well I have to say a big thank you to Jodi, for inspiring me to get on and paint my long awaited portrait of Cassie ‘That’s my girl’
I used Terry Harrison Tarmac, DS bloodstone, DS shadow violet, dr ph Martin bleed proof white, WN burnt umber, and a little paynes grey, a little WN gold brown and WN brown madder, the background is a wash of DS lunar blue, a little flicking, and then when dry I added a little pastel to the background and to the base of Cassie’s body….just because ! Then sprayed with a fixer to seal the little pastel I used. This is a loose sheet of 200lb Saunders coldpress ripped to 28×38 cm. I am so pleased I did this 😀
You can see from the photos just how pleased cassie was, and why she is not the most photogenic, he he.
‘That’s my girl’ Cassie kelpiexlab 28x38cm coldpress Saunders watercolour and a little pastel
RebeccaEvans Create 
Oh she is absolutely delightful- those ears are a wonder! Beautifully done Rebecca!🐾🐾
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Thank you, her ears are one of her big features, sometimes up right, sometimes down flat, lol
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She’s beautiful! I admire your painting such a beautiful black for her.
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Thank you Teri, I must admit DS have some great colours in their range, I would love so many more, some may not be colours you need each day, but perfect on occasions.
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I agree, I have DS and Graham Watercolors and a DS dot sheet
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I have never used graham watercolours, I better not try them as I would fall in love with more stuff!
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They are lovely and stay a bit softer in my palette but I wanted to try them. And yet, I think I still love DS the best.
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That’s good to know Teri, I will not feel to inclined to buy, I do love DS too, a handful of them I will make do with for now 😀
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And to continue 😜. There are so many variations of beautiful colors……..I try to control myself but doesn’t always work.
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I know that one, I have £90 worth of colours in my SAA shopping basket, one day it will actually get purchased, for now it is just a wish list waiting 😀
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I know what you mean. I keep putting things in my Amazon shopping cart then after thinking about it for a week I take them out. I know I am impulsive so I need to be careful.
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Oh yes I know that one, I have the same with Amazon, SAA and many more, he he
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Two of a kind. Lol
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Gosh what a beautiful job, Rebecca! You do make it look so easy! Thanks for inspiring the rest of us, as always!
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Thank you Laura, I did surprise myself with a black furry….just the black cat to do now 😀, I reckon that month of July and painting each day for worldwatercolor month also helped with the confidence to get dark and hairy 😀
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Wow, really impressive, oh I’m sure you’ll do the cat beautifully too!
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Thank you, just need a decent photo😀
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Oh Rebecca! Look at you just whip this up! Your Beautiful Cassie!!!! And oh how sweet to show and tell me how it is done!!!! What a dear you are! I love love love how beautiful you did this!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! Thanks for caring! Thanks for wonderful talented YOU! Hugs to Cassie! ❤
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Thank you jodi, I am so pleased you like her, I started painting her straight away after your email 😀but really,really a big thank you to you, you made me do it, the idea of painting Cassie was shelved for so long it had gotten so dusty and almost forgotten about, your reminder was inspirational, then after taking those iPad pictures of her yesterday, I thought one was just perfect to paint from…the best I have ever achieved in photo quality for painting from, good old iPad! Some of the colours listed maybe helpful to you for Slinky, or similar other brand equivalents that you may have?❤️❤️
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Love it! And love YOU for sharing so wonderfully and beautifully 🙂 ❤
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Awwww this is perfect!! Wonderful likeness and I think she agrees!! She seems proud in the pic!! Love it! 😍
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Thanks Charlie, we’ll eventually I managed to get a proud looking photo, to be honest the first two are more usual to her stance, unless they are action shots 😀
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Exceptional! I was so moved by how you captured that expression as if she is hust about to say something.
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Thank you, funny you should say that, she is very chatty, and did have a few words just after I clicked the shutter button, she loves showing her shining white teeth!
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wow….amazing job! funny how you downplay it and then to take a good, close look, I am blown away! those eyes couldn’t be any better. By the way, I love DS Lunar Blue! one of my favorites!
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Thank you Margaret, lunar blue-I had never used it before, apart from a small swatch, I had no idea it would granulate so much, I have to admit I panicked, not really sure if I liked the effect as a background, so I flicked in some of the other colours I had used, but as it dried, I wish I had left it to do its own thing…now I know.
Bloodstone does the same thing, and was useful as I needed some areas to go darker as I built up the layers, I didn’t want a harsh black, but nothing else was working for the job, so I tried this bloodstone also by DS, and I think it worked a treat, because as it granulated it showed through peeps of the under colour( although the granulation is not as obvious where used in much smaller areas).
I was really happy with the eyes, in fact the gold brown (WN? Can’t remember without going to the box) was also an unopened new colour for me, worked great for the eyes, with a tad of dotting of the madder in places. A change from my usual few colours….some of those are still in there of course, my fav being Tarmac by Terry Harrison. I really enjoyed painting my girlie 😀
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I just put in an order of DS colors and new to me are: Burnt Tigers Eye and Indigo….I guess Debi loves Indigo and I wanted to give it a try. I am a sucker for earth colors and blue. I remember trying out Lunar Blue for the first time or two and freaking out….all those little flecks of black but man….when it blends or turns that wonderful blue, you can’t help but be in love with it. It is great for texture or for rocks.
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I am glad I am not the only one that panicked as it did its thing, I thought it looked like the paper was going mouldy in super quick time, lol I think I have indigo in my shopping basket with SAA, but I will look up tigers eye…I love cascade green, yummy! Have you got that one, it is delightful, with hints of blue as it splits and dries, oh and moonglow ❤️❤️
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I have heard so much about cascade green….I have to get it! I will look moonglow up 🙂
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Cascade green is the one I always go for now, not that I use green much. It makes me think of your work, because of the rivers and the blue green that appears as it dries, I prefer natural shades, and so this green appeals as it feels organic and haphazard in that you don’t know how the colours may appear, maybe google image search it, someone is bound to have a paper swatch 😀
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thanks I will do that….I usually mix my own but I am never really happy with it, perhaps Cascade green will give me more interest in my greens. I know green is a hard color to work with.
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I think you would like it, I know it is a hard colour to work with, probably why I use very little, but you use it so well 😀
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aww thank you 🙂
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oooh…..guess what? I have a sample dot of Cascade green! I love it…..fun to be able to see what it is like. I need to get it for sure now!
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Oh fantastic, green under sea may also be brilliant for you, have you got a dot of that to try? The dot cards are fantastic to test out the colours 😀
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I swear that I was just going to reply that the two together is outrageously beautiful! I get on here and you mention undersea green. Yes, I have a dot of that and at least 20 to try out. I will purchase both because they are wonderful.
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Lol I knew you would like that one, I am not sure why I bought it, apart from it is a lovely colour….just not much use in furry animals, he he😀
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wouldn’t it work as a shadow? perhaps mixed with a little blue? I bet you can use it somewhere
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Oh yes great idea, I will use it, but not as often as some people, I don’t own many greens, so this was good as a little darker 😀
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Awwww! She is so cute 😍Your painting is adorable Rebecca 💜I love dogs and every dog on earth is cute 😀😍
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I agree Snehal, it’s all about the person within, so pleased you like her😀
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This is adorable!! Those eyes!!
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Thank you Beverly, she does have lovely eyes😀
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Oh, what a sweet face.
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Thank you sharon😀
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Wow you are really talented at capturing the essence and soul of a dog. I feel like I am looking at this dog in person!
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Thank you, she does pull some funny faces daily!
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