I love my English bulldog, Diesel.
Ask anyone and they will tell you that I’m obsessed with him. And they would be right.
Not only do I love to love Diesel I also have a fondness toward all things bulldogs.
I recently completed a 4-by-4 foot acrylic painting of my English bulldog.
It took me some time to figure out what medium I was going to use for my painting. I was deciding between acrylics and oils.
I like the idea of oils slow drying time so I could take my time with blending, but sometimes oils can take months and even years to completely dry. Also, the cleanup is more complicated.
I chose acrylics because I found I could use a drying retardent so the paint would stay wet longer. I also learned of a brand called Golden Open Acrylics that stay wet longer. And they really did stay wet longer, some parts of my painting were still wet from the day before. This helped me blend colors in my painting.
Below is step-by-step of my painting.
Painting a thin layer of colors.
I did a very light pencil sketch on the canvas. The canvas I bought was pre gessoed, so I didn’t have to prime it. Priming is a must. If you don’t you will waste a lot of paint because it will be absorbed by the canvas. The canvas was originally $90, but I had a 50% off coupon that cut the price in half. The hardest part was transporting the canvas. It barely squeezed into the back of my SUV.
Adding darker shades. I worked in thin layers to build up my colors.
Samantha Dellinger working on an acrylic painting of her English bulldog Diesel.
I worked mainly from a photo to create my painting. Ocassionally looking at Diesel helped me get some of his details done.
My English bulldog Diesel checking out the progress of his portrait.
My harshest critic would be Diesel himself.
Samantha Dellinger working on an acrylic painting of her English bulldog Diesel.
Finding an area to work in was hard too. I ended up setting up my easel in the dining room in front of the french doors to my deck. I wanted as much natural light as I could get when I was painting. Indoor lighting is not the best light to work in, it can make your colors look off.
My son, Vincent standing beside the acrylic painting of our English bulldog Diesel. The dimensions of the painting are 4-by-4 foot.
I had my son stand with the painting to show the scale of the painting. Also, I started adding the fur details. I used what’s called a chisled brush for painting the the hairs. The bristles where stiff so I could use more pressure with each stroke.
More fur and shading has been added to the painting.
Darkening up shadows and adding depth to the blue background.
Diesel posing with the finished painting.
Finished acrylic painting by Samantha Dellinger.
To see more of my crazy love for my English bulldog Diesel follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook under the name Artisticbulldog.
I have an Etsy shop called ArtisticBulldog.
And I have a Society6 shop called ArtisticBulldog.
