Fiona's Portrait

 Finally I feel ready to do a portrait of my beloved Fiona.  Not only is the white fur daunting, but creating a portrait of a dog I know so well is quite a challenge.  But I got a surprising good photo of her up on the bed the other night, so the time is ripe!

As usual, I'm beginning with NuPastels on velour paper.  This time I'm using a camel color paper and I find that I like it better than the gray.  I seem to gravitate towards warm colors, so perhaps that's why.

Anyway, after starting with the eyes and head I continued to block in the whole painting.  For her fur, I used cream, three shades of warm gray, a medium brown, a dark brownish gray, yellow, mauve, and sky blue.

I had been planning on a pink/peach blanket and a turquoise blanket under that.  Then the brown in the upper part just suggested itself.  The other day I ordered peach and turquoise Girault pastels that I don't have, so I'll be using those for the final layers on the blanket.  It should be a fun challenge to do the satine edging on the blanket.

Shelley pointed out that I have chosen a southwestern palette - quite unconsciously on my part!