Goldie Portrait Commission WIP 1

I have just received a new commission for a portrait of a dog. She's a real sweetheart too! Goldie is a 17 year old mixed breed dog and the love of my client's wife. My client wants this to give his wife for her birthday in August. I think that's sweet, but I'll have to work fast!

I'm going to be doing Goldie on gray Pastelbord, because I don't have to worry about heat & humidity with it. It's a sanded primer painted on a wooden surface, so it's pretty tough stuff. I first did a practice painting of a cat on a 5 x 7 piece of Pastelbord to practice techniques and such since I have never done an animal on this surface before. I don't want to mess up Goldie, so I wanted to make sure of everything before I got started.

I have now sketched out Goldie and have just begun work on the portrait. So far, I have worked on her eyes and nose, but they are not finished yet. They won't be completely finished until the whole portrait is done.

Goldies eyes are now very dark and have cateracts in them. When she was younger, she had more brown in them. I'm lightening her eyes a bit, adding some brown, and taking out the cateracts, but trying to not change them to such a point that they are unrealistic for her age. Her nose needs much more work. I always seem to have trouble with the colors in a dogs nose. Next I will start working more around her nose and eyes, bringing out the 3-D look in them.

The first photo is the entire sketch but not including the background space. I have also included a close-up of her eyes and nose.

Any C&C's are always welcome, especially at this stage!