Red. 11x14, oil on linen. 2016
This portrait of Red was finished last week. Like many commissioned portraits he got a few little tweaks once his owners had had a chance to see a preview of the painting.
I used the Ned Jacob palette for most of the colors, together with some burnt sienna (mixed with ultramarine blue) to create the darkest darks. It's an incredibly versatile choice for many animal portraits and seems to be a natural fit for reddish-brown animals.
Although I was working from some photos of Red that had been taken in his back yard, I decided to create a more neutral background that didn't have any green in it. I kept some of the sky that I could see in the photo and extended it down, introducing a ranges of grays that are reminiscent of the sky at dusk.