"Velvet Elvis" - Pet Portrait of Elvis the Pug

I've been working on a new art project the last couple days.  Here's the background story behind it & why I'm doing it.

My husband's sister and her husband (so - my sister & brother-in-law) have a pug (dog) named "Elvis".  They adopted him from a shelter after their last pug passed away suddenly.  His name was "Chester".  After they checked Elvis' paperwork, they found that he was actually related to their old dog, Chester.  Small world.  

Anyway, my brother & sister-in-law are collectors of vintage/antique things, like bizarre alien figurines and vintage Godzilla figurines, and other oddities.  One thing they have, that I always admire when I visit their house is a velvet painting of Clint Eastwood.  It's painted in the style of "Velvet Elvis" paintings.  So, I thought - since their dog is named Elvis, that I should paint them a "Velvet Elvis" Pet portrait - on velvet.  That's what I'm doing right now.  And, when I bought the velvet, I ended up with extra, so I am also doing a velvet pet portrait for my Dad - of our old family dog, a schnauzer named Skittles (his full name was "Baron von Skittles").

I first glued the velvet onto two wood panels.  That was a bit trickier than I thought it would be.  I first tried a new spray glue that I had never used before and, well - it didn't stick at all.  :(  So, then I ended up adhering the velvet to the wood - using just plain old Elmer's glue that I watered down a tiny bit.  That worked.  It was sticking, but as the glue was drying, the velvet kept bubbling/puckering up.  I had to continually smooth it out by pulling the edges tight.

On to the fun part...

Here is a photo of Elvis that I took last year:

It's the only good one I got where he was actually sitting still!  He's usually kind of a "spaz" and wiggles around everywhere!  Silly pug!

I wasn't really quite sure if painting on velvet was going to be difficult or not.  I figured, since I am a fairly experience painter, who used to paint scenery for a living- how hard could it be...? 

I first drew the images on with a white chalk pencil.  This worked pretty good. Then I started painting.

Well, it's a bit tricky & fussy.  Here's why:

1. The paint needs to be somewhat thin so that it will flow. But having it thin allows the paint to soak into the fabric
2. since the paint soaks into the fabric, you have to re-apply the paint to each area 2, 3, 4 times to get more vibrant, solid colors.
3. When you brush paint across velvet, each little fiber of velvet that is standing upright (like a mini shag carpet) flicks little microscopic droplets of paint as they spring back to their regular standing up position.  (hard to imagine, but it happens!)

Otherwise, it is fairly straightforward.

Painting on black velvet means that the black shows through your washes of color.  Many layers are needed if you want an area to be white - for instance.

Here are some more progress photos of the two velvet pet portraits I am working on (sorry - some of these photos are a little on the blurry side):

It may be a few days before I am done with these.  I'm hoping to give them both as Christmas presents.