A Pet Portrait With Imagination

My friend Anne's husband Michael, contacted me a couple months ago and asked if I would paint a portrait of two of Anne's favorite things. That would include the following:

Anne's golden retriever Libby:
As you are probably aware, cardinals do not make their home in Oregon. If you are unsure, here are the facts:
The northern cardinal can be found in most parts of United States east of the Rocky Mountains. It is also found in parts of Arizona, California, and New Mexico.

So with that in mind, I thought and thought, about how I would put both Libby and a cardinal in the same painting.

I used the app Procreate to try out different size dogs and cardinals, and backgrounds.

Here are some of the ideas I considered:
1 I found a picture online that depicted a bear in the snow among trees. I thought it might work well if I substituted Libby for the bear. I also added another cardinal into the picture using Procreate.
2.I found another snow scene online and added a cardinal sitting on a branch using Procreate.
3.Then I imported into Procreate the actual image of Libby and I added another cardinal. I was trying to adjust the sizing of the images. I was still using a snowy backdrop at this point.
4.I tried to incorporate a cardinal up higher on a branch with a snowy background and some leaves.

I'm not sure why I was stuck on using a background with snow. But then I started to consider that Anne's birthday is in March, (which is the beginning of spring), and this painting was going to be a birthday gift for her.

So, I changed some colors, still using Procreate, to make the grass green without the snow and then I added Libby to the scene.
5.Anne's husband Michael wanted the sizes adjusted so Libby and the cardinal were larger and the main focal point of the painting.

After making adjustments I was ready to sketch the drawing and then paint it on watercolor paper. The image of Libby and the cardinal is what I completed. I hope you enjoy it.

Click Here for More Information