Long-haired Dachshund - Portrait Commission. Work in progress 1.

Meet Ambrosius; he's a much loved long-haired Dachshund and his portrait has been commissioned as a gift for a member of his family.

Originally the portrait was to be head and shoulders, but I realised on this 12 x 12in canvas, that without anything else to relate to, the scale gave the impression that Ambrosius was a BIG dog. I really felt the need to show all of him, particularly those characteristic little legs. Fortunately the client agreed.

Apparently, Ambrosious has a 'cheeky' personality, so chose this composition where his face is pushing forward and his body recedes.

Regular visitors will recognise the first stages of the process, where I roughly block in the background and loosely fix what goes where. In the next session I'll begin to add layers as I develop the palette and tonal values. A long way to go.