Black Dog (Work In Process - Pastel)

I decided to try painting a black dog today, to see the range of colors that could be used without looking garish and without it looking, well, just too black. I only worked on this a short while -- plan to finish it tomorrow. Hopefully it will turn out to be a nice portrait.

There are several unanswered questions at this stage...least of which is background color, but also color of the fur, highlights, etc. This dog is certainly more of a challenge than my Sheltie, with her colorful coat of brown, tan, black, grey and white--there are so many colors, figuring out a palette is a no brainer. Well, they say every painting is a learning experience...ain't it the truth!

Incidentally, this is my friend Lisa's dog Hilly (short for Hillary, named after Hillary Clinton, I think), an Australian Shepherd who is a big, sweet mush of a dog, except for her habit of hunting small animals. More than one little creature met their untimely end due to Hilly's hunting prowess. But her greeting is the best...wagging her little stub of a tail like crazy, and rolling over for a belly rub. And notice her distinctive ears; one up, one down. She's one of my faves.