Painting #6, "Boomer," Yellow Labrador Retriever Painting in Oil

Painting 6,"Boomer," 5"x 5"x 1 1/2",oil on canvas (sold)

photo reference: Ray Horwath (Flickr id:rayh1995)

10% of the proceeds will go directly to Waggin' Tails Dog Rescue in Michigan

This is my 6th painting for my Painting a Pup a Day project of "Boomer", a sweet-faced Yellow Labrador Retriever owned by Ray Horwath. It reminded me a bit of our Yellow Lab Mix, Jedha who is equally as lovable I'm sure. This is what Ray and his wife shared about their precious Boomer:

"They say that the “runt of the litter” is always the last to be picked, but in our case, he was our first choice.
As you can see from Boomer’s expressive eyes, he is truly a gentle soul. The unconditional love he shows for everyone is amazing. He has never met a stranger….everyone is a potential partner in play.
Boomer (whose real name is Spartacus, Hillview’s Boomer Dog!) has one favorite summertime hobby…..figuring out how to get into the pool, which we wisely gated! Woe to the person who accidently opens the door to the house a little too wide when there’s people swimming. We have found out the hard way, it takes boomer about 1.4 seconds from bursting through the door until splashdown! It takes substantially longer to get a lab out of a pool.
Like all of our pets, Boomer has become a much loved member of the family….complete with sleeping on the couch and bed privileges! We look forward to many more years of love and adventure with “our” Boomer."

I loosened up a bit more on this piece, a goal of mine for this project. I read something recently by one of my favorite artists, Karin Jurick, in which she was saying how she was finding herself almost 'drawing' a painting she had been working on vs. actually 'painting' it. That really struck home with me because I think I tend to do that as a painter. As an artist, I started out primarily drawing, and now I tend to approach my paintings in much the same way I would a drawing, but painting should be a bit looser. The paint should be applied with a bit more freedom...have some movement and life to it, so hopefully I have achieved this with this piece. I hope to paint this way as I continue on this journey, although I have a feeling it is going to take some time...