This painting of Bruno has taken a while to complete due to house moves - both myself and Bruno’s owners! It is to sit with a similar portrait I did of another Boxer of theirs called Rosie back in 2015 so firstly I had to remember which type of canvas surface I was using back then. Then I composed the portrait, taken from a very different angle, so that Bruno’s head is a similar size to Rosie’s. I painted the background the colour I remembered using and transposed the drawing over the top before blocking in light and dark areas of tone and specific colours, like the pink of the tongue. I have actually evolved the way I paint over the last few years so it has been a fun challenge to recall the process in order to keep the portraits looking similar. I have made sure to always paint in the direction of the fur, even in the early stages. After blocking in the main tones and hues, I changed my brushes to get smaller and hairier to build up texture in the fur. Many colours are painted in dashed layers - I have shown the yellow ochre and orange stage before finally toning everything down, ensuring the colours and tones balance and darkening any areas that needed attention. ‘Tis done!
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