I was a little nervous when I chose the reference photo for Jerod, because it included his dog Delilah (RIP sweet pup). I wasn't nervous because I have a hard time painting animals - on the contrary, I'm actually pretty good at that. But this series is BEAR portraits, not animals **giggle** In all seriousness, people just love animals, and I worry viewers would get distracted by the dog and miss the point of the painting. But heck, here I am doing almost exactly that in the description of the piece. As for Jerod and the painting as a whole...
Jerod is one of the guys in this series that I've had the pleasure to meet in person. He used to be local, but has since moved, so I consider myself fortunate enough to have met him when I did. And I think the painting of him turned out quite nice - the likeness is strong, and it captures the feel of the brightness of the day, while still providing a richness of tones in the dark areas, and all the colors just pop really nice. It is an odder shaped piece; it doesn't have super common dimensions (a little taller than average) but I think that adds to the fun of the piece as a whole.