This is a brand new drawing to come off my easel. It is of two golden labradors called Zuva and Pip. The portrait was commissioned as a gift for their owner. Zuva is the older dog lying down and is very special for the owner. The reference photo had some strong shadows on both dogs, which were softened when drawing. The client didn’t want Zuva to be ‘overshadowed’ by Pip.
I used Faber-Castell graphite pencils ranging in softness from HB to 5B. First I sketched out the dogs and the horizon in HB. All the detailed work was drawn with 2B, 4B and 5B. I worked on Fabriano 5 paper as usual. The size of the drawing is 20 x 20 cm and it will be mounted in a neutral colour (minuet) mount before posting.
I will be adding some more finished works onto the blog over the coming days. And next up on my easel is a very exciting project – a retriever dog with beautiful landscape background of the mountains in Donegal…