Painting Bella, A Black Dog, Part Two

It’s been awhile since my last post as I’ve been away–but now I’m back in the studio. I continued to develop my portrait of Bella by refining the darks and lights, and building up the paint. I often like to use a blue highlight on a black furred dog to give a bit of vibrance to the painting. I generally balance this by making the deeper shadows go a bit warmer for contrast.