Dora the Pyranese Rescue Puppy has just recovered from several weeks of the initial shock of leaving the pound, getting to her Doggy Foster Home, getting all her vet visits and spaying, and is finally recovered enough to get off leash at one of the Rescue-Gang's favorite dog parks...
A Rescue Puppy's First Dog Park Visit...
First Play Day, Doggie-Painting, Organic & Wacom Digital
"...she made you think..."
If you had met Dora, you would have thought you were meeting the sweetest, smartest angel of a dog. She would get captivated by things just as much as people would get captivated by her. So every time we were on the usual Foster-Rescue walks, there would be moments Dora would get transfixed on something from afar, and I'd often wonder exactly what it was that was grabbing her attention. And it wasn't always obvious, and sometimes, when you looked and saw nothing with your own eyes, but looked back at her - it made you think.
This painting got inspired by one of those moments she was just sitting in the park, taking everything in. It was a cool morning, and she was out on her first official "Play Day" where she got to go run and meet and play with all the other city dogs who came to the local park. I saw her briefly just sitting there, observing everything like she was deep in appreciation.
What I used to paint "First Play Day"
I studied a lot of the pictures I took of Dora to get the feeling of her colors down, and used my Windsor Newton watercolors to study the tones of her face and coat, and my Caran d'ache Supracolor pencils to study various backgrounds. To make the final rendering of Dora in this portrait, I decided to practice with my Wacom Intuos tablet and blend the organic art media into the final work of art.
