HORSES!

I had left this one for a while. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with it, nor did I have the courage to work on it, and risk mucking it up. Linda Roth  [blog friend] gave me the impetus to work on it again. She gave me some advice from her reading of R. Schmidt ... darker, more shadow.  

So I have darkened the background in a manner suggestive of falling rain, and I am now darkening the shoulder and neck of the horse, creeping up towards the head. I would like to achieve more than a "picture of a horse". I think I am heading in the right direction. Thank you, Linda!

I have also started another painting of the filly. My thoughts with this are to put together an ebook. So far, I have a lot of photos and no writing, but it will come.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

The Three [Tamworth] Musketeers

I've added more to the foreground grasses ...

... more shadowing to the piglets

I think, other than a bit of tidying up of edges, it's done.
This is where I have taken it, and surprisingly to me [because I did not look at my value study while painting ... uh-oh], it follows the values of the reference photo quite well. This breed of pig is English in origin, and is called Tamworth.  

I am leaving pigs as models for a bit to work on a horse painting.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Pigs and a Chick

Here is Miss S-L Wyandotte, with all the glazing done and the masking off.

I have started to work on her head and feet ...

... and now the details are done [most likely]
I'd like Christine [the purchaser] to take a look before I put the ground shadow in place. 

I am adding more of a red/orange to their coats, and a violet/orange in the shadowed areas.

I've put in the start of a loose background, to give myself an idea of how dark to take the piglets.

Still darkening the pigs, and adding some detail to their faces.

I've been going back in my mind to try to figure out why I have such a strong love of animals. It might partly be my grandmother's doing. She used to put my sister and I to bed by telling us stories she made up, all about the adventures of Momma Pussy, Daddy Pussy and Baby Pussy. I can still hear her voice. And then I remember visits to the zoo in Toronto. As I recall, it had large natural-type enclosures for the animals. My favorite thing to do was to feed the animals pieces of bread and fruit and vegetable through the fencing. I LOVED to watch their excitement at the food,  happily munching away.
That's it for now. It's sunny, the ground is fairly drained, and my big muncher is waiting for some exercise and carrots.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Dare I Say "Hamming It Up"???

A quick w/w varied wash of aureolin and quin. gold ...

Some quin. burnt orange ...

and now some orange with alizarin crimson.
I'm poking along with this one, scrumbling the shadow colors.

One of my neighbors really liked this painting. It has gone to a good home in Seattle - thank you, Beth!
Christine liked the format and composition, but wanted a chicken, so ...

Masking off, after 5 - 6 graded washes of aureolin and phthalo blue.

Masking back on for the white tips of the feathers. I am using indanthrone blue, and a mixture of that blue plus orange and purple for the black.

This is after 2 w/w applications of the blue and the black. I think it needs 1 or 2 more.
This is what I've been doing all day, as the weather is just foul - pouring rain all day.

As always, your comments are most welcome!

The Bubble-gum Pig

I forgot to take photos earlier. I did have a thin wash of an orangey-pink on the pig, and the background. I just wanted to get it finished this morning, not because I liked it, but I wanted to get it off the board so I could start another pig, or maybe the filly.

Once I started working on it, the little hummer began to grow on me! I played with some warm and cool pinks, working w/w, going all over the pig. I began to think he looked pretty good.

At this point, I believe he is "done", but you know I always love to touch up.  The name "Bubble-gum Pig" I think appropriate because of his color, and because it sounds a bit frivolous. :)

As always, your comments are most welcome!

and Now for Something Completely Different ...

... from beginning ..

... to end.
I just have to clean up some of the dark edges  around the mouth, and I am done.  I had a lot of fun painting this one - found myself smiling and laughing sometimes as I looked at it. [No, not hysterical, mad laughter!]  I think I will call this one "SNARF". I'll definitely be painting more pigs!

As always, your comments are most welcome.

FINALLY!

I started out tentatively, with permanent rose and cobalt blue.

more rose ...

I added some alizarin crimson to the warmer shadows ...

... and just kept adding more of the pink.

This is where it started to feel more intuitive, as I was putting in more rose w/w. 

I worked on the leaves this morning, and it just seemed to flow, so to speak. It felt much more natural, easier for me to get the result I wanted. I think I have finally figured out where and how much to wet the paper, and how to place the pigment.

I am at this point now. I may put in a very thin background wash of aureolin,  and drop in some of the green I have used for the leaves.

What a wonderful feeling! It sneaks up on you while you're playing with the paint, and you suddenly realize you know and feel exactly what to do. It must be part of the proverbial learning curve. I know I have felt it a few times when riding, too. It is the "AHA!!!" moment, and there is nothing like it.
I visited the gallery in Vancouver yesterday - no photos, as it was a very wet and miserable day. But the gallery is fabulous! Small, but so perfectly set up, with an unbelievably eclectic and beautiful collection of art. I am looking forward to showing there this summer, and hope they will allow me to participate in more of their displays.  

 As always, your comments are most welcome!