This is an example of what I can do to immortalize the memory of a beloved pet, place, possession or person.  I have since done portaits of my dog Jasper, a group portrait of three dogs for a friend, as well as several houses and a 1956 Chevy Belair.

     I took a photo of my sweet, big black Labrador mix dog, of him standing in front of the food cupboard, looking up at me with soulful eyes.  I call that face, the “Please mommy can I have a chewy toy” look, as that is also where I store his toys.   I used the photo as a source for my Fundamentals of Art drawing class, using the grid method.

     I started out drawing the grid on 12” x 18” paper, making the size of the image I wanted.  I  drew a grid with the same number of squares on the photo of Sam.  I transferred the image square by square, until I had an acceptable line drawing. 

     I started shading in the tones and values, but was not achieving the look I wanted.  I actually went back and traced the outlines on a clean paper, with marking pen.  It looked pretty good and fairly finished, like that.  People in my class agreed.

     I finished this first version of the graphite pencil portrait.  Gave it to my daughter, Michele, so she would have something to remember our loving pet by.  I did another tracing, then added tone and shading with pencil, to complete a drawing for myself.  Had a little trouble getting the nose and muzzle right, as black animals are hard to render.

     This second version turned out to portray our beloved Sam, excellently.  It has been hanging in our hall ever since.

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