Dixie Sue

 

6/14/25 Dixie Sue (reference photo by Kaitlyn This)

This portrait of Dixie Sue, who recently crossed the rainbow bridge, was commissioned as a gift to the pup’s grieving mom. What a sweet face – I smiled all the way through the drawing.

Material notes: For most of these pet portraits, I’ve been using Stonehenge Lenox Cotton, which is intended for printmaking. It has a lovely velvety finish that’s beautiful with colored pencil, too. One of many things that surfaced during my downsizing and decluttering was a pad of Derwent Lightfast paper, which I’ve had for years but hadn’t tried before. Its hot press surface is designed specifically for colored pencils.

On a whim and without testing, I used it for Dixie Sue. Not surprisingly, it is a joy to use with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, and I also like its slightly warm tone with this animal subject. When I finished the drawing, I started to reach for Viarco ArtGraf water-soluble graphite, which has lately been my go-to for the slightly mottled background I’ve been making for pet portraits. Just as I was about to hit the paper with a brush, I suddenly remembered that I had never tested Lightfast paper with water. I decided to skip it.

I tested a scrap, and it didn’t react well with ArtGraf; I could see that it’s not sized for use with water. Maybe I can still use it with water once I figure out how much it can take, but a commissioned portrait is not the place to test that. Whew – that was a close call!