Harley - mans best friend

Sketchbook Art, small format

Decided to knock out a quick fountain-pen sketch tonight—a loose contour line drawing with a little splash of color for fun. The star of the evening was Harley, one of our dogs. He’s a Shiba Inu, he’s getting up there in years, and at this point he has absolutely earned every nap he takes. He is a very sweet dog, super friendly. The kind of dog that lets small children pull his ears.

I started with a fast contour line sketch to keep things relaxed/loose, then added bits of color where it felt right. I’ve been really wrapped up in the watercolor work of Charles Reid lately—what an incredible painter. He had such a brilliant sense of light and color, two things I love most about watercolor. I’ve been reading through several of his books lately, so this piece definitely carries some of his influence. I even tried to catch a little bit of his breezy, effortless style while painting Harley. I used Quinacirodone Sienna, Teal, Indigo, and Phthalo Blue - for my color palette. I am trying to keep my palette small - it forces me to create colors and learn from mixing them. I also wanted to have a nice contrast between cool and warm colors.

Hope you enjoy this one. I have a feeling more pieces in this spirit will be popping up as I keep learning from his teachings.