I began this portrait in sepia tones as I do most of my paintings and liked it so much I decided to finish it without adding color. I think it gives it a spooky and old fashioned look and reminds me of my Halloween portraits of my dog Bingo. I'll be selling prints of it in my Etsy shop Curious Portraits beginning this weekend.
For some reason I didn't post these in progress. Probably because they are a little different in style and I wanted to see where they were heading. I sketched these out over a year ago and even converted them into needlepoint charts which I'll probably be working on for the next year. The sketches have been hanging on my wall of ideas waiting for me to decide how I wanted to approach them and finally a few weeks ago I just dived in and began. I am very happy with them; they are a little whimsical but I think they convey the warmth and dignity of the humble mourning dove which is after all my favorite bird.
