Acrylics - Bess
Australian How To Paint|Issue 27

This artist can turn his hand to a variety ofsubjects and many of his pictures featurepeople and animals. For this demonstrationhe has chosen a charming canine.

Barry McCann
Acrylics - Bess

I mainly paint from photographs as most of my subject matter is animated and will not stay still for very long. Bess is a golden retriever in her prime. I loved the expression on her face.

STEP ONE

I explore my options with some sketches. This helps me work out my composition and the abstract pattern or design. I felt the head was turned slightly too far to the dog’s right and the tip of the nose touching her back was distracting – so I moved the head a little, back towards the viewer.

STEP TWO

After a careful line drawing onto 300gsm rough watercolour paper, I taped this with masking tape to a light-weight ‘Gator’ board – allowing me to move the work around easily if required.

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