Magnolia Blossom acrylic portrait magnolia flowers

Ok my boy (or girl) is completed and I am pretty thrilled.  It turned out better than I had hoped for and I think I was in it all the way until the end (had to work on staying present toward the bottom as I was really ready to be done).

Afraid to do too much  more as it will begin to get fussy or I may undo the darker areas or generate smears.  Since I wanted the animal to be dominant I don't think I need to do anything in the background.  But darn it I see some hard edges; once you get it on the screen here it gives you another perspective and now my fingers are itching to make some changes.  Checked it backwards in the mirror and didn't see anything that jumped out at me as a big negative, it appears to be in perspective, but let me know if you see something off as you know photos can be deceptive. 

Two shots, different distances and different angles. You can see original reference photo a couple of posts below and I hope I stayed true to it and didn't lose the likeness to this particular animal.

 Toward the end this was very tedious and I tried to keep most detail in the face area with just less detail as I worked out so the emphasis was on the eye/muzzle area.  I do think I got into a rhythm on the fur and am going to work on another dog variety to just make sure as I'd really like to get the hair line techniques even finer.  Also I think I may try this again either in colored pencil or pastel as I'd like to take the hair concept and put color to it.  Know I am not ready to get a good picture in acrylic, but it might force me to learn how to use the fan brush, so maybe.  What do they say, "never say never"!

But this drawing is a keeper and was a good use of free after work night time hours while one eye was on the tv and I was still present with my hubby.   Might, who knows, be the start of a dog portrait portfolio.  People here in the States really love their dogs, and many treat them like children so they might want to have a remembrance of a current or one they lost.

I have a friend with three dogs, one is similar to this mixture, the other is Shepherd and a spaniel.  Might see if he has some decent reference photos and try to arrange them all in one picture.  I have read you should blow up a reference shot to 8"x10" and I have to agree, in this instance I really needed that size to see the detail and hair growth.

Thanking you in advance for you comments and thoughts.