Dog on Grass

Avery Speas "Dog on Grass"

8x12, Acrylic Paint, 2025 

My idea was to do an animal painting. I instantly knew that I didn’t want to do one showing an animal face because I didn’t want to worry about doing a face since I had just recently done a painting with two faces. I was sitting on the couch and saw my dog at my feet and thought, “Let’s do a painting of Sully (my dog)”. I found an image of my dog staring at the trees in our backyard from when we lived in Ohio. I really liked the difficulty in the trees and grass and I thought that the painting would evolve into a very close resemblance of the original photo. I knew I had my work cut out for me and I wanted to push myself with the landscape part of the painting. I wanted to get better at brush strokes and textures with this painting. 

I started this painting by finding a canvas to recycle. I came across one in the size that I wanted and decided that that was the canvas I was going to use. I made a shade of green that I was going to use for the foreground and painted the entire canvas that color. I had to apply several layers of paint to get an even coat and had to redo the background a couple times. I then sketched the original photo onto the canvas so that I had a clear outline on what I was going to paint. I then added some lighting details in the background and near the horizontal divide of the canvas. Next, I added some grass details to the foreground and lightened the area up so that I could add more color and details later. I also added some texture in the trees. Eventually, I was able to add several different greens to the trees to give the illusion that the trees were three dimensional. I painted the trunks of the trees before finalizing the light spots of the trees. After that, I moved onto layering the grass using thin, upward stroking brush strokes. I used many different greens so that the foreground and midground were realistic. I had left some room in the center of the canvas to paint my dog so after the grass was finished, I began painting my dog's fur black. I then went in with a blue gray color to give a lighting illusion on his fur and then added the white parts of his fur. Finally, I added some finishing touches to the background and then signed my name at the bottom.

This artwork means reflection. The dog is staring off into the wooded area which is often a sign of deep thought or reflection. Dogs unfortunately are unable to speak but they are capable of thinking. I believe that he was reflecting on what he was seeing in front of him and trying to figure out the beauty of nature in front of him. They can’t see green in the ways that we do so I wanted to capture how we see green because many other creatures are unable to see it. I included a little bit of iconography because I named the artwork “Dog on Grass” and some people use the term “Dog On It” to express their frustration. There was so much grass and greenery that I had to paint which became frustrating at times. I don’t believe that I included much symbolism in this artwork but I think that the iconography and the feeling of reflection are the two main things that I was trying to get across. 

It was difficult to get some of the textures on the painting to work out the way that I wanted them too. At first, I struggled with getting the trees to look full and three dimensional. I overcame this struggle by dabbing the brush in paint and dabbing the paint brush on the canvas, making sure to spread out different colors as I went. When moving onto the grass, I thought that the grass also looked two dimensional and it didn’t have the volume that I wanted. I got some help from Ms. Garrity and she showed me that I should use upward strokes. I applied several colors until I got the right balance of colors. If I had to start over, I would make larger batches of paint so that I didn’t have to keep on remaking it every class. 

The artwork style is realistic. I think that it makes it unique to my own style because I like using different brush strokes to style landscapes. I used both dabbing and upward moving strokes. I love that I look at the painting and it looks super cohesive and yet if you look closer, you see so many different textures and styles. I love seeing my dog and I think that since my execution was done well, it is a painting that I love to look at. I love that I pushed myself and got better as the painting went on. I learned how to manage my time well and I am super proud of myself for making that animal painting.