Beginning the Cavalier Painting

My goal when I started this painting was to get the entire canvas (or in my case, a panel) covered with paint. I knew with the complexity of the pattern in the chair, I needed to get the whole thing blocked in at one time so my colors stayed consistent. My client had also asked me to replace the original light blue pillow at the left, with a matching fabric–so I invented that.

Once everything was covered with a first layer of paint, I started the fun part, working on Mack. Cavaliers have wonderful big eyes and very distinctive noses–so that’s where I focused my efforts first.