The hard work done, I began last week to add the final dark values to my Yorkie. This shows the fifth value.

Value 5

And this shows the sixth value. She really comes alive once the deeper values have been established.

Value 6

And here I’ve added her black nose.

Nose

I actually had marked some black spots around the mouth, but they didn’t make sense at all — so I added a seventh value. It’s subtle but it’s still nice to have. I also ripped off that red mouth. Now that I had the dark values laid out, I knew it was a mistake.

Value 7

This is my newest take on the tongue. I took what was previously my lightest value & made it my darkest one. It seemed odd to me — but her tongue is really a light pink — a blush with a lot of white on top of it. I even managed to stay within my stash at home — which I didn’t originally think I could do (I don’t have much pink fabric on hand).

Tongue

After that, I worked on the detail in the eyes. The left one is not really visible — she’s turned to the side and it’s obstructed by her hair curling out over it — but the right eye is detailed. Her iris is yet another really dark brown. It’s not much different from the black in value — but it needs the break to define the eye.

Eyes

Today I’m studying my color wheel and thinking about what to use for her collar and the background.