Smokey - Commissioned Dog Portrait - Part III - Background

So far, I've been working on the sofa and the decorative elements that will surround Smokey. Like me, Rick loves colour and encouraged me to be colourful with Smokey's painting. Above, I thought the red was too bold.

Keeping with the First Nations theme of Rick's art gourds on the left, I added two colourful pillows. The pleats and drapes of the blanket have to be well defined before I paint in the stripes.

The striped blanket makes the composition very dynamic, just like Smokey. The organic nature of the leather sofa and the gourds lend themselves very well to a native theme - it's coming along very well.