I was asked to create this miniature pet portrait of spaniel Millie for a friend's nephew for Christmas 2019 and I thought you'd like to see the various stages of its creation.
First of all I did the initial drawing and laid down some light washes in watercolour (below):
![Dog Portrait](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/87fbcf_b089fff9753d4cffbe71da4dd87f25e8~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_221,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/87fbcf_b089fff9753d4cffbe71da4dd87f25e8~mv2.jpg)
I worked more on her fur and added a ball (below):
![Watercolour dog portrait](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/87fbcf_1c3900e0a9854d44aca860116bb53a99~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/87fbcf_1c3900e0a9854d44aca860116bb53a99~mv2.jpg)
I knew that the lady who commissioned the painting likes purple so I created a background based on those colours. I also used fineliner pens to pick out certain elements and give it a more illustrative style (below):
![Watercolour pet portrait](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/87fbcf_9aa0e69a74704fbbb56609cc12d7e886~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_209,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/87fbcf_9aa0e69a74704fbbb56609cc12d7e886~mv2.jpg)
Millie framed and ready to go to her new home:
![Watercolour dog portrait in frame](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/87fbcf_458f4f585e554affa387bea0fac686b9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/87fbcf_458f4f585e554affa387bea0fac686b9~mv2.jpg)
Sometimes on a large painting you can sometimes become bored or frustrated, so I really enjoy doing these smaller paintings as they allow for (almost!) instant gratification.
Hope you like her.
Kelly x