How I remember you - final work part 2

Continuing from previous post, the one on the left below is from the previous post.

I was making minor adjustments. I wanted to follow the photo but it made him looked sad (middle painting). Lighten the shadow on his head and leaving out the details and dark shades.

I used a different paper, they are both the same weight 280-300, I can't quite remember. But the previous one above is made in Taiwan and a lower grade paper for practicing. I bought it in bulk, so it was fairly cheap. 

The one below is Japanese paper, unfortunately they don't really specify what type or the differences. I only know the difference of origin. Not unless you bought it from a specialist store, they may know more. 

The paint I used was exactly the same, the mixture of color would be fairly similar. The colors on the Japanese paper are far more vibrant and transparent, and the different layers of color are much more obvious.

How I remember you - final work part 1

This is the draft from last post, the eyes are a little bit far apart or so I thought and the shadow on his face is not illustrated. It does capture his playfulness, the younger version of him.

Hence I painted the second one, with the eyes closer together. 

Turns out it wasn't the distant of his eyes, it was the size of the nose. The shadow on his face is illustrated but it is not quite right. 

The gaze looks like him, soft and happy, looking far away but very much aware of your present. 

He was always a little bit camera shy. In the past, when he spotted the camera, he would look away or walk away to avoid it. On odd occasions you get to catch him looking at the camera. 

I really like this one, the earlier versions I kept painting the younger him. The fur on his face has faded in the last few years, this reflect the period when the photo wa taken. Gentle and content. 

Here is the 3 versions next to each other, from left to right. You can see here that it the size of the nose and the improvement of the shadow on his face. Improvement

How I remember you - strive for improvement

This is rather embarrassing to be sharing this with the world as I feel the drawing below look like children's doodle but I wanted to show my work in progress. The strive for improvement. 

When my parents saw this, maybe because there are still in mourning as well, they really liked it and think that it looks like him.

But as I continue to get a little bit better understanding with the color of shadow, I realise I didn't have the right colors to do do the mix. Went to buy some paint because of it. 

In order for his face to pop, in needed a hint blue and violet that for the shadow. It is rarely something is pure white. 

It's getting close, it might be the portion of his head makes it not quite like him and I couldn't fix it because the more you overlap it would start to look dirty.

I overcompensate before with proportion face with this as it was meant to be an Labrador. But if you only look at his eyes it still looks right. He's got a really long eyelashes.

Something clicked, I don't know what it is, I decided to leave the background out as it is distracting. Finally, a draft that's good enough to work on. He looks like how I remembered. I'll talk about it more tomorrow! 

How I remember you

After drawing those sketches of Dong- my dog, I went through my entire photo collection to look for something that would represent my memory of him. 

I'm not that familiar with watercolor, last time I had an lesson was probably when I was 7. But I had a few lessons few years back on Chinese painting. I thought the principle will be the same, however, unfortunately I find that it's more they both use water and color paint. 

I made quite a few attempts at first with my old watercolor paints I had, I could not get the color right. It's always a bit dirty and grey. Of course my skills and ability to sketch are partly to blame. ( I'll show you later in another post)

I used my Chinese painting paint instead, to find that it made a tremendous differences. Turns out they were artist grade watercolor. 

I'm still trying to capture him, so when I show my parents and my sister, they would say, " nawww~~that really him." 

Hopefully you are able to recognize that it's him after reading my last few post.

That's him questioning if the food is eatable for him. Head slightly tilt, food identifing, now he just have to pop the question. With this~ 

(Pretty please~~~~ MOM~~~ ) his head gets heavier the longer he waits, I don't know how he does it, because I don't think his head is actually that heavy!

This is his face when we say "No~~ sorry Dong, what we are having, you can't have!" ("你不能吃啦!") He understands in mandarin "不能吃", meaning it's not things he can have, it's either salty,  spicy or too oily. He just ages 10 years in a blink when he hears that and give you the face of disbelieve. Look at his cute sad face. 

However, I think there is nothing more fitting than our last walk at the park away from the city, this is how I remembered him. With the big huge smile on his face!

The world seems to be a better place when you are around

I remember vividly, the last time I saw him. He was at the door seeing me off. Looking extremely disappointed that I'm leaving once again. Because of work, I haven't been home for almost 2 years to see my families and my best friend - Dong (冬). 

The day before I left, my parents and I took him to a huge park away from the city as it did cross my mind, that it might be the last time I take him for a walk. He was very happy, the smile on his face is priceless. 

Thank you for coming into our lives.

Food always taste better when you are standing beside acting as if we are having the most delicious things in the world. 

I really appreciate that you were always willing to play with me at a moment's notice. Although we could never quite get fetch right, but you are really good at hide and seek.

Walking around the block becomes interesting through your eyes. 

Although you are really demanding when we travel but you make our trips memorable. 

The world seems to be a better place to be when you are around.

In memories of my beloved Dong Dong(冬冬)

He is named "Winter"(in Mandarin) as he came to us in the winter in 2001. It is our first large dog, at first we really didn't know how to handle him, it wasn't until we sent him to puppy school that we got really close afterwards. 

Dong became a very polite dog, he would stand at my bedroom door requesting for entry. It's hilarious to see a dog asking permission for entry. He makes minor noise by clicking his nails on the floor as he walks up to my bedroom door or knock the door with his head to get attention and uses his puppy eye technique, " May I enter your room? ". He waits patiently if I don't notice him, he will not enter without me giving him a look. 

One look he knows, we communicated without words.  

He does the same thing when he wants treats, we put the treats on top of the frig. If you have had a Labrador, you know what they can do if the treat is not high up. He would stare at us until he has our attention, and then look above the frig. 

As he grew older, he became more demanding. Still does the same thing but he gets inpatient from waiting for us to notice. He bark once, just once, not loud, just a "Hey, I been looking at you for a while, I think it's time for my treat.". 

What I really love about him is his character, he is not exactly the happy go lucky type of Labrador, he is particular and eccentric. He love crunchy lettuces and fruits - if it's not sour. Here is him grabbing a piece of lettuce. 

This next theme is dedicated to him, to some, this idea may be obscured but to the dog lovers, they are family and we hold them dear to our hearts. 

I still talk about him in present tense. I haven't tell anyone yet or speak about it till now, because I wasn't ready to let go, it feels as if it hasn't happen if I don't think or talk about it as I wasn't by his side.  My family was with him, but I was 7205km away and 2 months too late from my scheduled flight back to see him. The scheduled flight is coming up in a few weeks, hence it is becoming a reality. 

I will not be welcomed by him at the door. 

No one is going to sniff my suitcase with this intense interest of where it has been. 

Not going to be stared at for attention or be asked for treats by those eyes.