I’ve been waiting to share this one for a while but needed to wait for her owner’s birthday before I did the reveal, wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!

‘Sweetie’ acrylic on canvas ©Jess Hurley Scott

Sweetie, is a black lab whose owners are some of the kindest and most fun people I know, and she herself is just a love bug.  The commissioned piece is a petite 5″ x7″ but with all the focus on her beautiful face, it really has a bigger presence.   We had looked at some other full body shots but with the scale and when I had a couple of gorgeous head shots to work with, it all fell into place.  Painting black dogs has it’s own challenge… how to show their deep coats and still highlight all the shine and dimension in their faces takes some extra attention.

This was as I roughed out her eyes ©Jess Hurley Scott

I was really pleased with how the piece came out, and I hope the birthday party was a total blast!  Thank you Maggie and Cheryl for contacting me to do this and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!!