Jody Whitsell

Jody has always loved animals - especially dogs. Their loving expressive nature makes them wonderful subjects for portraits. What makes all dogs unique is their distinct personality, and in order to capture the “essence” of the dog, she relies on a photograph that portrays the dogs typical mood or expression. She then sketches it on a 36"x 36" canvas. The large size allows her to make the dog larger than life, and the square format lets her be specific in the placement and cropping of the image. She generally has a portion of the dog visually leave the canvas, to accentuate the in your face characteristic that she strives to portray. She also enjoys using the composition to accentuate what it is that she finds interesting or unique about each dog.

Then comes the fun part, which is painting the acrylic portrait! How much joy, companionship and pleasure our canine friends give us! How better to convey this then through an expressive use of color? Jody studies the portrait sketched out before her and feels what colors are needed in the background, which starts the energy flow of the painting. The bold contrasting colors, loose, uninhibited brush strokes and repeated layers of colors reflect the energy I have put into the artwork. This energy is what brings the portrait to life. She believes that all the energy she has put into the painting comes back out, impacting the viewer, resulting in a big smile. After all, a dog and a smile are a few of life’s simple pleasures.

Links to Jody’s website:

• BIG DAWGZ SQUARED - Dog Portraiture by Jody Whitsell