This unique pet portrait features a black and tan mixed breed dog, lying in a grey dog bed on a hardwood floor, with a bright green background. The portrait is painted with acrylics on a 24×24 inch canvas, and was completed July 17, 2024. It is done in a natural realism style with a solid color background; the green color was chosen by the customer. The cool bright green complements the warm colors of his fur, and the cool greys of the dog bed complement the warm browns of the floor boards.

This painting was created from a single photograph, with several other photos of the dog used as secondary references to make sure his markings and fur color was accurate. The dog perfectly fits in the square canvas layout, and is front and center, and the focus of the portrait. Chips is a mixed breed dog of dubious origins, and is thought to be a shepherd and chow cross, with a few other breeds thrown in. However, his markings, coloration, size, and overall structure strongly resemble a Leonberger, and his owner says he is often mistaken for one. His fur is mostly warm golden browns with black, and a little bit of grey on his muzzle.

I started with a base coloration of the lightest golden tan, and added layers and layers of golds, browns, and blacks on the top to create the fur texture and markings. Than after the darkest areas were blocked in, I went over those again with lighter colors to bring out the highlights and add depth to the fur texture. He does not have any areas of solid color, and the fur has a ticked or agouti effect which was a bit challenging to replicate, but fortunately the canvas was large enough so I could create that fur detail without much difficulty. Painting the same portrait on a smaller canvas would have been much more difficult.

The grey dog bed had a suede texture to it, and I used the canvas texture to my advantage to create that look of softness. I used a few different grey colors mixed together, and ivory black for subtle shading. The mix of warm and cool greys makes the bed look realistic, while still having a painterly technique. The wood floor was painted with a base of warm reddish brown and ivory black and sienna brown layered on top in long thin brushstrokes to mimic wood grain.

Chips’ portrait was fun to create, especially because of the less traditional pose. The big furry paw in the front with its foreshortening creates a dynamic portrait while also adding some whimsy and a cuteness factor. Creating all those subtle golden tones in his fur was fun as well; some of the golden tones are on the browner side and some on the yellow side, and some even have a hint of reddish-orange.