As I have been working on these dog pictures, I have been learning a bunch of things. First, dogs are shiny. Unlike birds who are not shiny. They're fluffy. So the idea of shininess is new--and with that comes the seeing and trying to understand the wonder of highlights (and shadows). But for me, the lights are on about highlights. Man. Can they do a lot in a pretty brief amount of time. I find myself squinting these days to get to the highlights in everything, faster. Highlights can really pop a subject and at the same time, define the shape (and in the case of the dogs, either their skeleton or the muscle structure under the shiny skin). I have been sketching for a while, and never saw the highlights or the ping in the eye. To me, now that I am on the path of trying to see, the eye is made up of all sorts of highlights and shadows as the round shape moves in and out of how it sits in the eye socket. The glossier the dog, the more obvious the highlights and high mid tones...the more graphic the dog becomes.

More later. Gotta go.