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I've been feeling lately like I'm in a bit of a funk with my art. I have a couple of small shows I could be painting for as well as some upcoming duck stamp contests. All of these have certain criteria or rules that must be observed such as size limitations, subject matter, etc. I'm feeling overwhelmed and constrained. This is not a good thing for me as I've never been one to color within the lines for long. Eventually, I have to cut loose and run in order to regain my creativity and sanity. Enter my husband with his way of looking at a problem and simplifying it down to basics. "So just paint something for fun, something you want to do. Forget about the shows and the contests for awhile." Well, duh, why didn't I think of that? Of course, I HAD thought of that, but also felt like I had a responsibility to do ALL these things because, after all, I'm trying to make sales and build a career. He also added that perhaps I could paint our dog because Balin is four years old and I haven't done his official portrait yet. Hmm. I had also been thinking a lot about this lately, too. Funny how great minds think alike! And so I began the process of putting together Balin's portrait.

I've done a lot of pet portraits over the years plus portraits of both of my past Chessies, Jake and Maggie, so I had a few ideas of how I wanted to put Balin's portrait together. The biggest problem was what photos to use in the painting. This is always a challenge when trying to put together a portrait that tries to capture the life of that pet. How do you take years of time spent with this dog and tell his story all in one small painting? Especially THIS dog. Balin is special. He's not a normal fur-child. He's a blend of stubborn, determined, lovable goofiness, plus being handsome, incredibly athletic, water-loving and a bird-crazed hunting dog. I mean, just look at this puppy face and tell me he's not special?

So as with every portrait I started with a variety of photos and did some thumbnail sketches. For Balin, I knew I wanted to have a larger head study as an adult dog, then add in maybe a puppy pose, a pose showing his athletic side and some ducks that he's retrieved. Instead of having to re-sketch everything as I made changes I printed out some of the poses in different sizes, cut them out and started playing with placement.

I tried a couple of different poses just for fun, but the composition just seemed too cluttered so next I tried one of my "past to present" layouts with a puppy pose, an adult dog and some ducks because, after all, Chessies were bred to hunt ducks.

As much as I wanted to say so much more about this dog I had to admit this simpler layout was better and it was very similar to what I had done with my other two dogs. But as I said, Balin is just so different so shouldn't his portrait reflect that?

I have to admit, there was a moment when this pose crossed my mind!

In the end, I asked my husband for his input as this dog is very special to him, too. After viewing several of my layouts he liked the simpler versions, but chose one that would be different than the other portraits I've done. The final sketch includes Balin as an adult dog, a pose of him making a retrieve and the ducks reflect the species of duck that was a very special hunt for all of us.

I'm feeling much better now after getting started on this project. Yes, the other projects are still there looming in the background, but I felt the creative juices starting to flow again with this piece. There's a lot I still have to work out with it and I'm sure it will have it's challenges, but I'm excited to get started on something just for me. Once in a while we just have to cut loose and run.