When I was asked by a dear friend if I could do a portrait of her dogs, I felt slight hesitation. I had never been a fan of a traditional animal portraiture. I found it more often than not predictable and cliché. I wondered if I could make it captivating and emotionally close to the owner. Ultimately, I decided on the idea of making it appear as a scrapbook collage. My second intention was to make the background appear as an abstracted starry night. Scattered stars and constellations, and taking the center stage, her pets. Like twins Castor and Pollux of Greek mythology (and actual stars in Gemini constellation), subjects became part of something larger than ourselves. Playfully I decided on naming the painting Diamond Dogz as a homage to the great “Starman” David Bowie, but also because the scattered starts on the painting reminded me of diamonds (not the mention the connection of a diamond to something that is priceless).
I prepared the canvas in the manner taught to me by my mentor, maestro Rivera. When the preparation was finished, the surface felt like a façade. This gave me a fine base to work on. I continued by paint the portraits using deluded black gesso, which gave me a matte black color I wanted to create the least amount of reflection and depth.
What followed were layers of acrylic color and acrylic ink, sometimes mixed together on canvas for additional reflective effects. Addition of rubber cement and interference pigment added the final touch.
I was very pleased with how the painting turned out, and so was my friend.
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