Dog Portrait Painting Process of Tika - Completed!

"Tika the Gentle Giant "- 14x11 pastel

Say hello to Tika, the Gentle Giant. Can you sense her gentleness and the sense that she could get to know you real well if you spent some time with her? Toward the end of this painting, I felt as if Tika's spirit was in the studio and I liked that. As I think I stated before, I wish I could have known her while she was a live.

Kirsten and Joe asked me to make a few detail changes since you saw the last stage of the painting. These are most helpful and allowed me to make the finishing touches with little guess work. It is amazing how well we were able to do so over the phone and via email. Oh, the wonders of digital photography! (As you may or may not remember, they live in Minnesota and I in Colorado.)

Tika's Memory Portrait will now go and sit next to her "sister" PeeWee in my studio, whose portrait was completed about a month ago. In a couple of days, Skjonn will be my next black Labrador subject of Kirsten & Joe's family!

What do you think of Tika? Would you have liked to have met her?