I like to get an idea of the dog’s personality before I paint their portraits. When Tucket’s family told me her favorite activity is duck hunting it posed an interesting challenge for me. I wasn’t quite sure how to incorporate this into the portrait. I did several small sketches to get a better idea of what kind of portrait her family wanted. In the end they chose a portrait of her standing proudly over her days work. I combined elements of several photographs to create this portrait. I used the pose of one photograph and added the bright warm colors of another to create a happier tone.