Kevin Roeckl
Jul 20, 20242 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 11 - Greens and golds
Shasta herself is finished. I always love the way it looks when the subject is “3-dimensional” on the flat grey paper! Next I’ll start on...
4 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jul 17, 20243 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 10 - Pausing for a little blue
After I finished Shasta’s head and neck, I continued working my way down her body. But I had to pause my pencilwork for a series of steps...
6 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jul 17, 20241 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 9 - Perfect for notecards
Shasta’s white ruff is finished. A set of custom notecards is included with my portraits. Usually the whole portrait is on the card. But...
3 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jul 11, 20242 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 8 - The story behind the art
Cheryl sent me the most adorable picture of Shasta “belly up” on the chaise yesterday. I’ve come to know her through Cheryl’s and Tk’s...
5 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jul 8, 20241 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 7 - That happy smile!
Shasta’s happy smile is finished. This is how the whole portrait looks now. The background will be a detailed scene of a hiking trail in...
6 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jul 5, 20242 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 6 - What color is a tongue?
Today I'm adding Shasta’s tongue. What color is a dog's tongue? Pink, you might say. Is it really? There are some colors in a dog’s...
7 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 29, 20241 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 5 - The importance of eyes
It’s the day I’m doing Shasta’s eyes. The most critical part of any portrait. A whole bunch of reference photos are on the monitor to...
4 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 26, 20242 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 4 - "Value control"
Started working on Shasta’s head today. When Diane saw these in-progress pics, she wrote: “Looking good! EXCITING!!!!” In my last two...
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Kevin Roeckl
Jun 25, 20241 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 3 - The forests of Vancouver
The forest trees are finished. In my last post I shared an explanation of how I’m using the grey of the paper for most of the color in...
5 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 22, 20242 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 2 - In a sunlit forest
The first 3 days work on Shasta’s portrait. I’m working on a sheet of “Felt Grey” Canson paper, my favorite background color to work on....
8 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 17, 20244 min read
Shasta portrait in progress 1 - The foundation
I'm starting a portrait of Shasta, an Australian Shepherd. It’s a gift from Diane Barnes to her son Takeshi. Takeshi’s girlfriend Cheryl...
12 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 14, 20242 min read
Briscoe portrait in progress - start to finish
March 10 Starting a portrait of Briscoe, a Border Collie and the heart dog of Gloria K. The first thing I saw when I began working on...
7 views
Kevin Roeckl
Jun 12, 202410 min read
Cooper portrait in progress - start to finish
April 2 I'm starting another portrait of a Doberman with a special story. Maura Reilly asked if she could get on my wait list for a...
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Kevin Roeckl
Apr 25, 20241 min read
Cooper portrait finished!
This portrait was a surprise gift from Maura Reilly to Diane and Michael Schurman. On Facebook Diane wrote: “You’ve made Michael and I so...
16 views
Kevin Roeckl
Apr 19, 20243 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 8 - Tools of the artist's life
I wanted to share a few of the photos I took while working in the studio over the course of Cooper’s portrait. With some...
7 views
Kevin Roeckl
Apr 15, 20242 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 7 - Color swatches help the artist
I'm working my way down Cooper's body. This photo, taken in the studio while I was working, shows his body in progress with the pencil...
12 views
Kevin Roeckl
Apr 12, 20241 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 6
Cooper's blue collar added. I could have made the collar any color, but blue worked well with the colors in this portrait. To make these...
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Kevin Roeckl
Apr 12, 20241 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 5 - Emerging...
1 Now that Cooper’s face is emerging, you can see why I wanted a background color that is a bit “wild”. 2 Cooper’s face completed. It was...
2 views
Kevin Roeckl
Apr 9, 20241 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 4 - The perfect color
Cooper’s face beginning to emerge. This was definitely the right background color for Cooper. He is starting to pop out nicely. Colored...
4 views
Kevin Roeckl
Apr 6, 20241 min read
Cooper portrait in progress 3 - Starting at the top...
In my last post I shared some of the unusual paper colors I was considering for Cooper’s portrait. It was fun to read your contrasting...
12 views