"Sour Milk Gill" Oil Painting by James Swanson

"Sour Milk Gill" Oil Painting by James Swanson
"Sour Milk Gill" From the award winning painting series.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Here's to Bailey!



"Angela's Bailey" 12"x 16" Painting by James Swanson
Traveler for this painting was Angela Espin ,UK

When my old puppy Amber past last year I decided to pay tribute to her by painting a dog painting a day for a month- "A Dog Day Month". When I started the project I didn't worry about the painting part of it. I knew I could do that, for me it was to find the right painting subjects for it. So I put out a call to all my Traveler friends with pets to start the thing off. 

Angela and Bailey
Old friend and hill walking traveler Angela I thought was a no-brainer. Her and her buddy Bailey have been scampering around the mountains of the UK for years and I knew there was some great paintings to do from their travels.
 A Sad moment: I contacted Angela about what I was going to do and find out if it would be alright, but I heard back something that I never expected. Poor Bailey had just past that day. Oh I felt so bad for them.
Angela did agree to let me paint something for the project and sent me many photos of Bailey, but I had this one in mind. I didn't know that this was from their last walk together when I asked for it, but I did when I painted it.
This is how I went about the painting-

 The painting started with a light Burnt Sienna wash. I pulled out the white areas with a paper towel and roughed in the drawing.

 I mixed up my palette of colors for the painting and started with the dark areas letting the canvas come through.I then painted in the background and sky. And then the gate.

 I then painted the fence structure with clean simple strokes. Bailey was next. I wanted him to feel and be painted just like everything else at this point. At that point the painting was all blocked in and I knew all the finishing details were next.

Here is the finished piece as it was on my easel that day. The photo from my iPhone did an OK job to show it for the project on Facebook, but the color was a little off. The details that I loved putting in on this painting (besides Bailey's) were the plants in the front and the light on the fence posts

This is how it really looks.
"Angela's Bailey" was one of the more heart felt paintings that I painted for that series. I liked the way it turned out so much I made into the cover of the calendar for the project.


I must say Angela had a hard time getting over her Bailey dog and who wouldn't? Bailey was a great friend and companion. Their walks together were beautiful and memorable. Bailey will not be forgotten.

Now on to new adventures in painting! See you on down the road.

See more of the paintings from this project at TheArtistAndTheTraveler.org