Yellow Lab Portrait – “Balzac in the Sunlight”

This Yellow Lab portrait has an inspiration. There’s an amazing photograph by Edward Steichen called “Balzac, Towards the Light, Midnight.” I didn’t come close to the photograph’s emotion and intensity, but it did give me inspiration to do this Labrador portrait this way. Hence the name. You can see the photograph here.

Yellow Lab Portrait Sketch

This is the preliminary sketch used for the final painting/drawing. The dog was actually running a few marks at the “Field of Dreams” down near Thomasville, GA  – handled by a very accomplished trainer – Jim Dobbs. It was a treat to see Jim work dogs again. We spent a lot of time on the road together and at what was once the Tri-Tronics Training Center when we both worked at Tri-Tronics. It would later become the Dobbs Training Center. 

Sepia watercolor and and graphite.

Image size: 23″ x 20″