Work in Progress watercolor dog portrait by Linda Young

copyright Linda Young2012
"Maggie"

Here's the latest project.  Above is the first underpainting stages and mask is applied to maintain the lights.

Second stage is below it.  I usually wear my glasses when I paint but last night I decided to take them off for this part to locate the lights and darks better.  I've never done that and instructors have always said "squint your eyes" to see the light and darks so I took their advice.  After doing that for awhile my curiosity got the best of me and had to put the glasses back on to see what I had done.

I was surprised to see the only things that needed a little tweeking were a few of the hard edges here and there.  With glasses on, I had to soften them.  Here's last night's work where the darks are being introduced more.  Paint from light to dark and add layers creates a lot more depth.  The mask is still on the painting and will soon be removed in the upcoming days.

Linda Young  website