This unique colorful pet portrait features Hyside, who is a blue heeler dog, also known as an Australian Cattledog. It was painted with acrylic paints on an 11×14 canvas, and was completed on March 11, 2022. This gorgeous painting has every bright rainbow color except green. The dog’s coloration was mostly blue tick, which is various shades of gray and black, with tan points on the face, chest, and eyebrows. The gray areas were created with layers of light and dark blue, with some purple, hot pink, and light yellow as highlights and shadows.  The tan points were painted with red, orange, yellow and hot pink. The eyes are natural brown. The background is a gradient of red, orange, and yellow, mimicking the sunset colors the owners love, and also gives a nice contrast to the blue color of the cattledog.

Hyside progress pictures

Above is a series of progress captures of the painting process. I did not photograph every single stage, but this gives a general idea of the process. I start out by transferring the sketch to the canvas, then paint the background first. Next, the eyes are painted, and the rest of the facial features like the nose and mouth. Then I do what is called an underpainting or base layer, which is broad areas of the same color to establish values. I did not photograph that process on the face, but you can see what it would look like in the body of the second picture. Then, I add several layers of paint on top of the under painting for fur details, highlights, and shadows.

The reason for doing and underpainting is that it takes less time overall, it makes adding details easier, and makes coverage of the white canvas easier as well. So for example, on the face, I start with a large patch of blue and another large patch of orange. This will cover the canvas so that no white bits are showing through. Then I add several layers of lighter blue, darker blue, magenta, light yellow, and hot pink to the blue areas until I am happy with how it looks, then move onto the orange areas and do the same thing with red, hot pink, and light yellow.

Hyside canvas

If you love this portrait of Hyside and you want one of your own pet, please stop by my Pet Portraits Information Page to learn more. I can paint in any style and on any size of canvas, from a small 5″ x 7″ to a huge 48″ x 60″ size. I can paint any type of animal, whether it is a pet, a farm animal, or a wild animal. I book in advance, and also do gift certificates.

This beautiful original painting of Hyside the blue heeler cattledog is hanging in his owners home, to cherish his memory. They have kindly allowed me to share his art with the world by making his painting available for purchase as an art print reproduction, which you can purchase on my Online Print Store. It is available in many different sizes as a framed print, canvas, acrylic, metal, or wood print. There are hundreds of framing options to frame your masterpiece so it is ready to hang on your wall. If you prefer something else, there is a lot more in the store. You can get this artwork printed on a fleece blanket, coffee mug, throw pillow, tote bag, cell phone case, t-shirt, jigsaw puzzle, and much more!