"Guapa"
This Black Labrador Retriever pet portrait is one of my favorite custom commissions in terms of process. Guapa’s mom sent me at least one hundred photos of her alone for use in the graphite dog portrait but the dog seemed unsettled in all of them. I did not feel right creating a drawing if I didn’t have a full understanding of why the dog looked so unhappy. It was explained to me that Guapa always carried a stuffed frog with her because she seemed to have this mothering need. I requested that the next set of photos should include the plush toy and we would see if things improved. As it turned out, that was the trick to getting a good photo of her. You can see she is very relaxed in this pet portrait. My gut told me something was not right and by acting on that I had the opportunity to create one of my favorite drawings of a very sweet dog. I still use this piece for advertising and my postcard mailers.
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