Sophie

Following my work on the Dugan portrait I was looking for other portraits to make when the scrollsaw magazine I subscribe to announced a contest.  The contest had a variety of categories, but one of them was for fretwork - the intricate cuts in wood, usually seen in a portrait or cuckoo clock.

I didn't have any great pictures available at the time so I took to Flickr to look for options.  After not finding anything that jumped out at me, my wife suggested looking for English Cockers.  Very expressive faces, and somewhat curly fur that shows up well in silhouette portraits.  I found a photo that I fell in love with and reached out to the photographer to get permission to use it.  The depth of field was fantastic on the photo and came out extremely well as seen below.

In talking to the owner, Sophie had been their baby who had recently passed.  

I cut the portrait, framed it and sent it on to the photographer - now her family has a reminder of Sophie in a work of art.

The photo was cut from 1/8" Baltic birch plywood with a felt backer.  The portrait was cut to 8" x 10" and framed to 11" x 13".  Lightly sanded and coated with polyurethane.