Kligman Dogs | Oil Portrait of Dogs | 36 x 26 | Oil on Linen

Oil Portrait of Dogs

Happy clients.

Arranging a group portrait can be a challenge even when painting adults. With dogs, there is the added difficulty of getting all the dogs to cooperate, especially at the same time.

This painting was composed from at least three different reference photos.

How the oil portrait came together

Starting with quick thumbnail pencil sketches of ideas helped me to work out a feasible composition of the group. A photo session was scheduled with the client, but only three of the dogs were available. So I also collected a bunch of client photos of the fourth dog. Thankfully, there was one image with roughly the desired position, lighting, and perspective.

I reviewed well over one hundred photographs from the photo session. Two of my own images and the client’s image were sized and spliced together to create the main reference photo.

I then did a full size pencil drawing on paper  (36in x 26in). Once the drawing was approved, I transferred the drawing to the canvas and began painting the portrait with traditional, high-quality oil colors.