Labrador Inn

by Tina Nichols
(Indiana, USA)

Labrador Inn

This is an 8 1/2" x 11" (21.6cm x 27.9cm) acrylic painting painted on heavy card stock. I used acrylic craft paint, commonly used for tole painting.

I have a black labrador retriever that loves to look out of our bay window and I was inspired to paint a window scene with a lab in it.

The most difficult part for me was to find a reference picture of a lab sitting in the right pose, so Jake had to be the guinea pig. I had my husband hold a treat in front of him while I tried to take several snapshots to get the right pose. It was quite funny as Jake was so fixated on getting that treat and he started to drewl. Hubby kept telling me to hurry it up because Jake was starting to blow "drewl bubbles!

Well anyway, I started with the road and the trees first, then the fence and the labrador Inn sign, then I added the grassy area with the rocks, the lilac bushes and the window frame. Then I did the curtains which to my surprise weren't as difficult as I thought they would be.

I did Jake last and I must say he was the most difficult part. I really had a hard time with the shadows in a black dog and I'm still not 100% happy with it but I stopped fiddling with it because I was afraid I'd mess it up.

The labrador on the Labrador Inn sign is supposed to be just a black wooden cutout, sitting on top of the post, that's why I didn't add any shading to it.

As I look at the painting now (several months after I finished it) I noticed that I forgot to add a shadow from the cutout on the post.