Teddy bear picnic

I was recently commissioned by a friend of mine who is a fabulously talented artist as well - www.samanthasandbrook.com - to create a portrait of her pet dog Ludlow. Rather than the usual pet in front of bland background Samantha had an unusual and imaginative request to paint her puffy toy pup at a formal teddy bear's picnic. Ludlow, looking like a stuffed toy himself, looks right at home among the bears.

I began by sketching out some different possibilities for the composition. Sam and her husband settled on their favorite two and suggested combining certain elements from both of them. From there I worked up a linear. Samantha requested mainly neutrals with pops of color. Since I'm used to working in a high contrast colorful palette I decided to do a color linear. This lets me check that she likes the color, as well it gives me a reference to print and stick to while I paint.

I'll show the final 16 x 16 painting once I'm finished.