Growing up, we always had dogs, usually cross breeds. They were dear and loving members of our family who doted, in particular on Mum, who they followed from room to room. Bess was my grandparent’s dog and she was spoiled rotten by my Grandad who would give her secret treats under the kitchen table at meal times!

It has been an intention of mine over the last couple of years to film a lesson on painting a dog and I loved this photo as soon as I saw it. It’s not Bess but it’s a carbon copy of her.

It’s a challenging lesson that’s for sure, with a fair few techniques that will need to be mastered but I encourage all abilities to give it a go, even if its just for practice. I advise you to take your time on the sketching part in order to get the correct proportions. As always there’s a sketching diagram to help you with this.

Good luck and enjoy!
Michael

Difficulty: Advanced
Panel Size: 13 x 13
Brushes used in this lesson: Michael James Smith Professional Brush Set

In August 2019 Michael switched brush manufacturers and as a result the series numbers/names are different in some of the lessons. In order to be able to complete the lessons regardless of which set you’re using we have put together a chart which lists the equivalent brushes from both sets.

Oil paints used in this lesson:
Titanium White
Ivory Black
Burnt Umber
Cerulean Blue
French Ultramarine
Dioxazine Purple
Winsor Yellow
Winsor Lemon
Permanent Sap Green
Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)
Cadmium Orange
Permanent rose
Burnt Sienna