I was asked to paint this gorgeous Sprocker puppy, Tink, by her owner who wanted to have a special memory of her while she was still a puppy. I went to visit them a couple of times and took lots of photos for my reference when I was painting. I was very keen to capture that adoring look she gives him, it is the look of love! We chose a canvas size and timescale for the finished painting to be completed. I was trying to choose which image or pose to use from my selection of photos sent by the owner. The photo we chose definitely had that puppy dog adoring ‘I love you look’! Isn’t she the cutest puppy?

I began my painting with a sketch and an underpainting to give some depth the finished article.

Then when that stage is dry I began blocking on the dark, medium and lighter colours.

This is a lovely and rewarding process when I can see the picture coming together, or not sometimes, and I have to go back and re-evaluate my tones.

I added in a muted and non competing background. I added several thin glazes to give a luminosity and depth the overall look.

Finally I do the finishing touches of highlights and fine hairs, and here is the picture I gave to Tink’s very happy owner.