Penelope: The Color of a Dog

Anthropologists credit humanity's survival against Neanderthals with its domestication of dogs.  This means my childhood home would probably have starved to death in ancient times. Growing up, everyone except myself had allergies to cats and dogs. So beyond the once-in-a-lifetime hamster and a series of fish, I never got to live with a pet until I was nearly in my 30's.

Although I'd always pictured myself as a cat person, I married into a dog home and converted. Look - I can admit I got very lucky in how I was eased into the dog world. My "starter" dog was very timid around other dogs and people - with the exception of my immediate family.  My second dog loved people but was anti-social with her own kind. Now, we're raising a puppy who is social with dogs and humans alike.

I really didn't start paying attention to the colors of a dog's coat until my second dog, Am-mi. She was visually striking. Her coat had a light-brown hue that would get very red in the summer, and dark fur pigmentation around her eyes that gave her an Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra look. Once a month, someone would comment she looked like a fox.  Every week, people stopped to ask me what breed she was. (The unimpressive answer: a mutt).

It's in these interactions that I recognized how often humans make that impulsive connection between coat and breed: a dog-lover's search to find the right companion that will meld with one's home. (Though now raising a puppy, I find I agree that the breed is really only as good as as the owner.)

So deciding what to paint my first canine figure carried some weight with me.  I'm looking at Penelope, Ulix's partner in herding pigs.  Malifaux books describe her as "a brown merle coat -- her eyes... ice blue in color."

The problem with painting her "merle" is that it looks Dalmatian-esque or a like a glaring palette mistake since the mutation neuters some pigmentation. I wanted my first foray into paint to not look unfinished.  So I opted to try my hand at a brindled coat instead. The brindle has a tiger stripe marking overtop of a more blotchy under-pattern.

Penelope Color Palette

• Eyes - Black Dot: Vallejo Black; Center: Reaper Lighter French Blue
• Muzzle  - Base: Reaper Cloudy Grey, Wash: Reaper Dusky Skin Shadow
• Undercoat - Base: Reaper Desert Tan; Splotches: Reaper Golden Brown, Wash: FolkArt Coffee Bean
• "Merle" Coat - Base: Mix of FolkArt Walnut Brown and Cloudy Grey (very thin) also Dusky Skin and Ashen Brown highlights
• Chest & Forelegs - Base: Mixture of Reaper Desert Tan & Apple Barrel Antique White; Highlight: Reaper Bloodless Skin

First coats to get the blotchy under-pattern I mentioned above.  It looks like a failed pattern here, but I trusted my instincts that the brindle application would pull it together.
 

First passes on the brindle stripes filled the coat out they way I wanted.
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A few grey highlights to add some shine to the brindle stripes of the coat.

Overall very happy with the final pics.  The brindle coat came out the way I hoped it would - and it's a good day when you can say that!