Acrylic Painting of a Yellow Labrador Retriever Swimming at a Local Lake
STORM
Portrait size: 11" x 14"
This portrait features our beloved Yellow Labrador, Storm, enjoying a rare swim in the lake at QEII Country Park near Woodhorn, Northumberland. Unlike most Labradors, Storm wasn’t fond of deep water and never took to the sea, making this moment especially unusual. He preferred splashing through shallow, muddy puddles, so capturing him mid-swim was a rare and meaningful experience. I chose to omit the stick from the final painting to maintain consistency with the other three portraits, Casper, Pip, and Haze. I used a second reference image to reconstruct Storm’s mouth accurately, prioritising anatomical structure over the distortion, and luckily it worked perfectly.
The story behind the portrait
This painting is one of a four-part series honouring our dogs. Pip died in 2015, followed by Cas in 2018. Haze and Storm both passed away in 2023, within six months of each other. The series was developed as a considered tribute, with each portrait designed to hang as part of a unified display. Each painting shows the dog swimming in a body of water. While not all of the dogs were eager swimmers, with the yellow Labrador being the least inclined, the water provides a unifying element across the series. This allows each dog to remain the central focus of its portrait, while the shared theme creates cohesion and introduces subtle variations in each setting. As the group takes shape, this piece will be adjusted alongside the others to ensure balance and harmony across the collection.
This painting was documented throughout its creation, allowing me to capture each stage of the process for a YouTube video. The recording follows the work from its earliest layers to the final details, offering a step-by-step look at how an acrylic painting develops on the canvas. You can watch the full progression in the video above.
