Milo Painting Progress

I got down to business today on this expansive painting, and was able to create a very subtly patterned background and block in colour on Milo himself (whislt watching the olympic mens ski-cross event - awesome!).

So far I enjoy working at this much larger size than I am used to. Though there is, of course, a lot more canvas to cover, at this size I am able to be a little more free with my brush strokes, and have found that I'm using less paint than what I thought I would.

So here is the background with a bit of patterning, which I toned down in the previous step as I found the colours were too harsh. I didn't want the pattern to take away from the dog, so I reduced it by over-painting with the original solid background colour (the lighter of the stripes).

And here is Milo beginning to take shape. I've blocked in most of the basic areas so that I can determine the darks from the lights and shadows.

So far so good, and I am already pleased with how the progress is coming along.

And now, I must take the dogs out and prepare myself for the Canada vs. US mens olympic hockey. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it, the suspense is killing me. Go Canada Go!!