Emily-Rose Alcock Art

What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

Since the 17th September I’ve painted a pet every single day. It’s been a really interesting challenge because even over that somewhat short time span I’ve seen my style develop and evolve. This is really obvious to me when I look at my instagram page.

• Instagram

One of the hardest pets I’ve painted so far has to be the black Labrador. Firstly black fur is never just black. There are undertones of blue, purple or green and it’s often trickier to create that definitive contrast that’s obvious in other coats.

The Labrador’s coat has a sheen and in order to create that I first had to layer very thin layers of varying intensities of black watercolour. Once that was done I used a white pastel to create tiny flecks of white to mimic the light. But, as you’ll see in this image, initially it looked too much like white fur rather than the sheen I was aiming for.

To combat this issue I used my clean paint brush brush and a little water to blend the white areas, soften them down and reduce the vivid white to more of a faded white / grey.

That subtlety made all the difference.

Each day I refine my skills as an artist, and each day feels like I’m overcoming a new challenge and strengthening my abilities.