Bryan and Tilly, the finished painting

I've painted the darker colouring of Tilly, then proceeded to paint a dark shadow on the left hand side of her body. It leaves the feeling of sunlight striking her beautiful face.

Here they are, all finished - the gorgeous couple.

Bryan and Tilly



This painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

Step five

Tilly is a gorgeous Staffordshire Bull Terrier, with quite dark colouring, yet an under layer of a light tan.

To get the effect of this I firstly paint a light mix of yellow ochre and burnt sienna all over Tilly. This makes her feel more solid to me and I can start to see where I will paint the darker mix and where I will leave some lighter areas showing through.

Step four

I'm continuing to work on Bryan, getting more definition in, and adding shadows, to make him stand out from the carpet.

I have painted a few russells now and always use my favourite blends for them, usually a yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

The red collar makes him stand out even more, which he'll need to do once the darker Tilly is painted laying across him.

Step three

I started painting Bryan first, as of the two dogs he is lying beneath Tilly.

I wanted to make him feel anchored in the painting before I attempted to paint her.

This is quite a different painting from my usual dogs, in that the eyes are not really visible in either. I cannot do my usual method of painting the eyes first to get the feel of the dog - but I enjoy the challenge .

Step two

You might notice that I have the area for painting masked off by tape.
This enables me to use the side portion as a test piece for the colours I mix and also to give me a white border, so that when the painting gets to the framers, they have an edge to work with. None of the painting will get "lost" when the work is mounted.

Watercolours have to be mounted and framed under glass so that they do not deteriorate in the elements.

Here I have painted the carpet, in a mix of ultramarine and crimson to make a beautiful lavender background .

Two special Dogs

I have a friend in Sarah, who has her own online shop and blog at BuddhistMusician Accessories - and Sarah has two dogs, a Staffordshire called Tilly and a Parson Jack called Bryan.

Sarah wanted a portrait of her two darlings, and I wanted an earring and bracelet set, so we arranged a swap.
To see the beautiful jewellery that Sarah creates, click here

here's the drawing of her two darlings