This unique painting features a double pet portrait of two Australian Shepherd Dogs, Lego and Drew, in a natural color scheme with a realistic background. It was painted with acrylic paints on a 24″ x 30″ canvas, and completed on May 4, 2023. This was a very challenging one for me, and also very fun to paint! The original painting is hanging on their owner’s wall, but prints and other merch are available in my online print store at RebeccaWangArt.com

Lego is the red merle Australian Shepherd dog sitting on the left, and Drew is the blue merle Australian Shepherd dog laying down on the right. This portrait was created entirely from one photographic reference (a rarity for me!) and the only thing that was changed was the removal of a shed in the background. The dogs were portrayed in natural colors, so I had to take care to match not only the colors but the fur patterns as well. Merle is a unique color pattern that is challenging to paint; focusing on the shapes helps to recreate them accurately.

The rock texture was another challenge for me, as I typically do not paint landscape textures. I used an old battered brush that had bristles that were splayed out to reproduce the colors and textures of the stone. I used many different colors on the stone, including unbleached titanium, blue-gray, gray, black, sepia, and titanium white. The grass was painted with a pointed round brush overtop a base layer. The same brush that I used on the stone I also used to create the tree texture. Several layers of paint were used to create each of the background elements, and it took me a while to do, since I wanted to make sure it looked not only realistic, but interesting. I learned a lot creating this portrait, since I had to paint things like trees and stone that I really don’t do that often, so it was great practice for me! I hope I get to paint more naturalistic scenes in the future.

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If you like my art style and you want a custom portrait of your own pet, please visit my Commission Information Page. I paint using acrylic paints on stretched canvas. The canvases are varnished and have a hanging wire installed on the back, so they are ready to hang. I ship worldwide. I will paint any animal species, including cats, dogs, horses, farm animals, fish, reptiles, birds, and even invertebrates. Please visit my Portfolio to see all of my works.