Start of a pup portrait

My sister asked me to paint a portrait of her puppy a couple years ago, and I'm just getting around to it. I might have done it sooner, but I lack confidence in my ability to pull something off. And rightfully so. I haven't been at this whole painting thing very long, so trying to do something to fill somebody else's expectations feels like a tall order. But for her, I figured I would give it a try, since I can always trash it and start again later (I've done it before, and I'll do it again!). I painted a pet portrait for her a couple years back, after our little family chihuahua passed away. I made a lot of mistakes (like painting under incandescent light and not realizing there were warm vs. cool reds... oops), but still, the fact that I did it at all sort of felt like a fluke, and it came from a place I didn't really have conscious control over. Totally in the "zone" for that guy, which is kind of cool, and also kind of scary. What is that magical place?

Anyway, here's a little progress shot of how I proceeded blocking in these areas yesterday. Sometimes it feels like drawing with paint is easier than drawing with a pencil, because you can push the line from either side. I think I'm going to let this layer dry fully and then try to attack this in layers, maybe area by area. I don't know. I have an idea in my head of how I want this to look when all is said and done, and getting there will be tricky.

And speaking of trashing things, here's one that got trashed yesterday. I was experimenting with charcoal and trying to "eyeball" my measurements without a plumb line and all that. I thought it might be a good exercise, because that's a little more how doing a portrait from life feels. I'm not usually close enough to work sight-size, so it's more of a relationship and angle checking game with life portraits. Anyway, I got fed up with this guy and decided to move on. The likeness wasn't coming together. It's Sargent's Olympio Fusco... except not ;)