The Champions- Two Border Terriers in Color Pencil and Watercolor Paint

Rosie and Penny, seen here in color pencil and water color paint, are two Border Terriers that live down in area of Sunnyvale, California.  The reason I titled this “The Champions” is that these two dogs are champions of the Earth Dog Competitions.  The owners are very proud and so they should be.  The husband decided he wanted to surprise his wife with a portrait of the two dogs.  The photo taking process began.  Right away I noticed that the dogs coats in the photos looked significantly different.  The difference was the color and the texture. This particular breed has something that is fairly unique to their type  of coat.   When the hair needs to be groomed it is done by a process called “stripping”.   The longer hairs are actually pulled out and the softer, shorter undercoat remains.  It is a very time consuming process when done properly.  The two shots that I liked for poses had the long coarse top coat.   The husband had requested that I draw the coat as it appears after it is groomed. The hair would look shorter, lighter in color and have a softer look as well.   The beard on the dogs would be the only thing that would remain.  The profile shots I used I decided to have the dogs looking away from each other as though they are working as a team and they “have each others back”.