Pass Along PDJ
May 2009

lot of people ask me how I do my artwork: How I work with the dog, get some reference photos, and what I do from there. Here is a brief description of my process.

The first thing is I like to shoot some reference shots of the dog, for example here is one of my favorite dogs, Tex. Heckuva pointer.

This shot was taken in a training field. I eliminate the background so I can really focus on the dog:

The next issue is finding and developing an idea for the setting and background. I had been hunting with a good friend in some nice southwest type of low desert cover and I used a couple shots to build a nice setting for a pointer to be in.

Here is my setting/background. . .

The setting and the dog will usually be tweaked and painted so that the final portrait shows the character and style of the dog to its best advantage.

After many painstaking hours and some fancy brushstrokes we have the finished painting:

Here is a peek at a painting in its beginning stage. First I paint my road map, so I know where I am going. I block in the light and dark areas to give myself a sort of road map of the image.

After a lot of slapping paint around my road map, the picture is finished.

It takes a lot of hours to get from the initial idea to the finished oil painting.
This is a cool one, the title is Remington on Point.

Most of the time it goes well. But sometimes it doesn't. I have had my disasters to be sure. One time I was working on a portrait of a dog for a customer. I was trying as hard as ever, and at times I thought I had it moving in the right direction, and then, as it neared the end, I felt it just wasn't up to snuff. So I trashed it and started from scratch. If I don't feel it is right, I don't send it to the client or to the gallery. My wife also has a keen eye, and she is vice president in charge of quality control!

Redoing a painting once in while may seem like a waste of a lot of hours, but the resulting portrait must have that spark of life that captures the dog's essence. I would rather redo the whole thing than deliver it feeling I had not done my best for the client and their dog.

I have this theory that for an average guy like me to get really good at something that is difficult, like painting is, it takes a decade. I am about at that 10-year mark in this painting phase of my life, and I am feeling that it is all beginning to work. I am hoping I keep improving for many more years so that when it is all said and done, I will be mentioned in that elite group of painters who have made a contribution to sporting art and especially to dog art.

If you are interested in having me do a portrait of your dog or a hunting scene, feel free to call my studio at (636) 256-7817 or e-mail me at: bob@bertramgallery.com.

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