This time I started out with one knit row after the cast on, then followed up with two knit 2 purl 2 rows. Then I started the stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row). The piece is keeping it’s shape better and I have instituted a new policy of using a little yellow card to let me know what row I am on so I don’t repeat on accident.

I will eventually finish this project, honest.

The first part is a 14 inch by 16 rectangle, fairly easy. I am doing the entire thing in a stockinette stitch, but I got messed up in one spot, so it will have two patterned stripes down each side. If I can figure out how many total stitches I am going to need, I will try and add a more decorative strip in the very middle.

I added some more detail to his face and some texture to the fur on his body. I also extended his back end a little bit.

I normally don’t like backgrounds in my work, but Lucky is going to look pretty silly curled up on blank space so I’ll need to at least suggest a solid surface beneath him. I decided to go with a mere suggestion of the couch, in order to let the dog be the main focus.

The last step will be to finalize some detail to the ears, fine strokes of fur to the body and face, and add whiskers.

Because I am using blue paper and not black, I am much more careful in the vine charcoal sketching stage… especially since I plan to leave the background alone. Most of the charcoal can be erased, but it’s hard to get rid of a huge area if I mess up.

So far I’ve added the white and pink shades and colored in the branch, but I still have quite a bit of the black outline showing. I need to decide if I want to erase the black edges or emphasize them, depending on the direction I want to go with this painting.

As the face is the most important component of a portrait, I started adding detail there first. The original nose placement made the face too long, so I moved it up some. I had the right eye in the correct place, but needed to move the the left eye down.

I’ve got a good bit of detail done in the face, but after looking at my reference photo I can see that I need to extend his body in the back a little bit. I also want to work on making his tucked front leg a little more convincing before I start adding the final details.

Eric took this photo of him on the arm of their couch the first time we went to visit them after they moved to Jacksonville.

Once I have the correct outline using soft vine charcoal, I started adding white. At this point, I am just trying to get the placement of his head, legs and tail correct.

To paint large areas like this I lightly fill in the area with pastel and then blend (with my fingers) into the paper. For spots of pure white I may have to go over the area a few times, especially since I am using black paper. I’ve tried other methods of blending (brushes, tortillons, etc) but nothing seems to work as well as my hands.

He’s already starting to look pretty realistic! Tomorrow I will continue painting with brown pastels and start working on his face and ears.

I ultimately decided to add a stem because the flowers looked a little strange just floating in space. The finished product…

I always start out with a soft charcoal drawing to help with composition and placement. You can faintly see my drawing below…

Next I filled in the purple petals, roughly adding some shading and highlights along the way.

After I get the petals where I want them, I began adding color to the middle portion of each flower.

I haven’t decided if I want to include the stem or the bud in the lower right corner yet. I’m going to leave it for now and ponder my options tomorrow afternoon.

This painting was shelved when I switched entries for the show in Blowing Rock this month, but I had finished laying color down in the sky, rock, and foreground areas.

My next step is to continue adding details until I think the painting is finished and this is where I am running into trouble. Most of my work is detailed, but not hyper-realistic. So, do I want a lot of detail or should I keep it loose?

Here’s what I have so far…

I had already finished the general outline of the cat, so I started by adding more detail to the body and face. I worked with several different shades of gray to create a more three-dimensional image. Ella is entirely black, so I needed to exaggerate some of the highlights to emphasize her legs and head.

Once I had the level of detail I wanted, I added a red background to represent the red door she was photographed in front of in two of the pictures I was given.

After smoothing out the red and adding some texture to the door, I realized that the cat’s head was not quite right. I went back into the black with a kneaded eraser and filled in the background as needed.

Finishing up, I added a rough white floor, whiskers, and the final detail to the eyes. For the quality of photos I had to work with, I am very happy with the outcome.