From progress to DONE.

So remember my painting of a Westie that I showed you guys the progress on a few days ago?  Well, it's done!

When last we saw the painting, it looked like this...

This westie has no background, but she doesn't care - look at that tail wag!

And now?
Well, before we get to the end result, there were a few other steps in between...

On Thursday, having given myself a "studio" day that day, I revisited the painting.  It's hard to tell in these photos, but I went back in and tidied up some of the dark outlines in the face.  And of course, the background.  I had already decided on these Easter-candy pastel colors, so this was the really easy part - except you can see on the right hand side that I mixed up too muddy a green to start with.  Using emerald green paint made it too yellow, and I wanted more of a mint shade, so phthalo green did the trick.

Almost done here - it's a veeeery subtle difference, but the purple shadows on the dog had been too bold of a purple and were fighting with the background.  So I went in with a more pastel purple...just a tiiiiiny shade lighter, but I thought it made all the difference.

Nitpicky?  Perhaps.  But hey, in art school, during critiques, people would nitpick your painting to death for MUCH smaller infractions, believe me.  I have learned to silence my inner petty-critiquer voice over the years.  It's just jealous anyway. :P

I touched up some of the black lines that had gotten covered up by the other layers of paint (the bottom of the westie's beard, particularly), signed the bottom right corner, and...this is it!  I think I achieved my objective: cute dog, springy colors, and it's another original I can sell at an arts fair (or sooner...anyone want this one?  Seriously).

It'll make great prints, too.  I just need to get my good digital camera a new battery so I can take high-res pictures of my recent pieces...my phone doesn't take good enough pictures to make into prints.  But as soon as the camera is taken care of, there will be tons of new prints coming to my print shop, just you wait!

As a closing note, it was really hilarious to do this painting while listening to Sting's song, "Perfect Love Gone Wrong," which is sung from the point of view of a dog who's jealous of his owner's new boyfriend.  Imagining this dog singing snarky lines like, "I'll wear my best collar to his funeral" added extra entertainment to an already fun painting process. :P