HARLEY the Yorkshire Terrier
12” x 12” oil on board
This photo of ‘Harley’ (bottom middle) was taken on a family holiday on the beautiful ‘Isle of Skye’. I was conscious of keeping distinct bands of colour running horizontally through the painting - the cool grey mountains, the ochres and greens in the band of distant grasses, the stronger blues and greys in the rocks and stream, then I went for mauves to bring the slab of rock that Harley is sitting on into the foreground. I’ve also made the composition square, opened up the stream a little and moved him up into the centre slightly. You can see from the close-ups that each individual brushstroke has a change of colour, size and direction…I try, where possible not to blend the colours, but to consciously place them, building up the shapes till the jigsaw puzzle is complete!