OTIS the Boston Terrier
12” x 12” oil on board
I’ve been looking forward to painting Otis for a while now... not only is he handsome - he has an unusual hobby…
My favourite bits are those wiggly junctions either side of the nose where the pink meets the black 😊
If the viewer can look at my painting and experience the same joy in the marks that I have enjoyed making - then we have made an emotional connection through the painting. That’s what I’m aiming for, that’s the magic of a good painting.
You can see here how I’ve used the ‘islands to oceans’ method of working as described in Carol Marines book ‘Daily Painting’. The first islands are the eyes, then the nose, then I start on the oceans - the spaces in between the eyes and nose. I love photo 6 – where he’s just a ball! That’s where I left it overnight - my 8-year-old thought it was hilarious.
I often don’t have any fixed ideas about the background when I start. I know that whatever colour I use will ‘pull out’ that colour within the painting. Had Otis been a ‘girl-dog’ I might have gone with pale pink… but I opted for the pale apricot which matched the inside of his ears. The apricot is a little stronger in real life than it appears in the picture.