How To Paint A Picture For Your Wall: Part 1

Drawing and painting a picture for your wall is as easy as 1, 2, 3. In this first part of the series I have decided to sketch and paint a picture of my dog Buster, who is a loyal friend and family pet that passed away in 2007. Did you ever see the movie Marley and Me?  Thisfilm is a touching tale about how John Grogan raised a really wild, but lovable dog, and in many ways Buster reminds me of Marley. I so identified with how Marley ate drywall because Buster used to do that too! At the end of Marley and Me I cried so hard because I thought of my beautiful dogs, which inspired me to paint a picture to celebrate Buster's life. Buster was a mixed bread Siberian Huskey/Boxer dog, and his life was not in vain! Today I am sharing the first part of my journey in painting Buster.

Choose A Photograph to use for sketching a picture of your pet.  I decided to use this photo of Buster from his back yard back in October of 2002.

To begin with I lightly sketched out the dimensions of Buster face on the canvas, which will make painting easier later on.

During this step in the process I have began to add the eyes, nose, and mouth to Buster's face. Also, I have sketched in the ears, jaw line, and Buster's color.

I used beige colored oil paint to begin filling in the lighter portions of Buster's face.  White paint will be added later on to add even highlights.

Using a small brush I outlined the jaw line, the face, the ears, the eyes, and the darker portions of Buster's face. Later I will go in and add more layers of paint, but for now the sienna will help to distinguish the more shadowy portions of the dog's face.

In this step I continue to paint in the beige portions of Buster's face.  The sienna colored outlining helps me to stay in the lines.

Here I have finished painting in the beige portions of Buster's face, so now I can move on to the darker parts of his visage.

Here I mixed together sienna, black, and white paint to achieve the gray color that will be used on Buster's face.  White paint is used to highlight parts of the darker regions.

In this step I continue to fill in the darker portions of Buster's face.  The painting is not as of yet, but part one has demonstrated how painting your pet is definitely a labor of love.  Happy painting, and remember to use the style that works best for you!