Monday, February 27, 2012

Joe, Ellie, & Maggie #1


Joe, Ellie, & Maggie #1, originally uploaded by debifitz.
pastel on clairefontaine pastelmat
private collection
actual size 19"X26"

This is a pastel that I did for one of my best friends from high school. I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago... It is a surprise 50th birthday gift for his wife. We had been talking about doing this for a few years, but I could not get my friend to take any photos of the dogs that would work for me. This last summer I was home for a high school reunion and took the photos. It was fortunate I was home when I was, because they had just found out that they were going to lose Maggie from a rare brain cancer. This is the reason his wife thinks I was there... to take some photos before she passed... which sadly she did about 2 weeks later. I am glad it all came together. And I can post it now that the gift has been received.. and it was a surprise!

2 comments:

  1. I'm really impressed with your animal work - it's not easy as I know from cats . I'm interested in how you combine photos .

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  2. Thank you Rukshana! When I do a photo shoot, I usually take lots of photos in each pose. So it is easy to combine the best pics of each subject from that same pose. With complicated combinations I will photo shop them together to make sure I get everyone to the correct proportions and then do the drawing from that. The paper I use does not take real well to lots of pencil correction. Saves lots of time and aggravation. I just completed 2 very complicated commissions... both had 7 subjects each. I don't know how I could have done them without photoshop. The drawings alone would have taken days...

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