DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE [FELINE VERSION]

Scragglepuss, looking very noble

My rendition

Scraggs in another pose, looking a tad malevolent

My drawing

First the eyes ...

... then some of the darker areas ...

... some wet in wet all over, with quin. violet and phthalo blue, followed by some black . He looks all right here, but somehow unfinished, so ...

... in a frenzy of paint-slapping, I added a thin, black background, and then went over the area of his body with a glaze of thicker paint.

One of my neighbours very kindly fed Bruno a few times when I was working. So I thought I would paint a portrait of her cat, Scragglepuss, to thank her. We had a visit, I took some photos, and off I went. I finished the first painting a few months ago, and gave it to Norma. [She loved it, and is having it framed.] But for some reason, I hadn't said all I wanted to say about Scraggs. I found another photo that intrigued me, and did this painting. I'm not sure that I like it, but it certainly says "CAT" to me. I did learn something through this - stroking with a lot of force on a flat brush using the thin edge gives a beautiful impression of long fur.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

A TALE OF TWO KITTIES

Looking absolutely nothing like a cat!!! ... just thin washes of alizarin crimson and burnt orange

Wet-in-wet applications of aureolin and burnt orange for the eyes, and thin direct applications of a black started on her face.

STILL not looking much like a cat. Continuing with direct applications of the black ... 

Another w/w of burnt orange for the eyes. Then I wet the entire area on which I want some black. I start with a very dilute mixture to get the paint flowing over a large area, then stroke on some thicker pigment. I continue till the paper is too dry to accept paint.

A pair of pupils - always a good idea. Also another w/w application of a dark brown from the top of the eyes to simulate shadow. NOW she's starting to look like a cat! 

A bit of touching up with thin glazes of black, and she is done. Just a hint of background needed. 

Another strange-looking beastie! I have wet the entire head and neck and stroked in some phthalo blue and a mix of that blue with a bright pink.

These eyes are also done with w/w applications of aureolin and burnt  orange; the ears with pink and a touch of burnt orange. Lots of teeny, fine brush strokes in the direction of hair growth ...

... and still more brush strokes ... 

I like how the process of wetting and softly brushing in black softens the appearance of the coat. So once again, I mix up three dilutions of color, wet the entire area to be black, and start dropping in paint.

And here is Black Cat #2. I wasn't sure if I really loved the look, but after leaving the two portraits for a day or two, and putting them side by side, I quite like them. YAY!!!!

I worked on these two together - just mixed up a vat of black paint and got going. They were both done inside of a week [that must be a record for me!] The next one is going to be more of a challenge - he has a very flat face ... almost no facial "structure" to work with, as well as having some fussy coat coloration. But that's five portraits done so far!!!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

The Tale of the Tabby or Another Painting Process ...

Drawing

First washes - light grey for fur, aureolin with phthalo blue and burnt orange for eyes 

Adding texture to fur

Several washes, and many teeny strokes of dilute color ...

More of the same ... and shadowing her eyes

Adding part of the body

Intensifying and detailing

Here she is so far. My plan is to get all eight cats to this level of completion, then line them all up and decide on a unifying background for all of them. So far, I have three done ...
The colors I use with this cat for the eye are aureolin, phthalo blue and burnt orange, with the shadow made of burnt orange, scarlet lake and indanthrone. Her fur, both greys and blacks are made with burnt orange, scarlet lake and indanthrone. The initial stages are a wet-in-wet technique, followed by one heck of a lot tiny brush strokes [a somewhat meditative exercise]. 

Such a sweet-looking girl.

Another photo I am using to get a better idea of her striping.

The next two cats, both blacks, are waiting on the board. One will be getting a phthalo blue under wash, the other a red.
The cat saga continues ...

Thank you so much for your visit!

WELL ... IT'S DONE ... A TRIBUTE TO THE AUROCHS

Isn't he magnificent?? You can understand why they were revered and worshipped long ago. I think this is one of the Spanish wild bovine breeds. There are several groups in Europe that are "back-breeding" to re-create some of the older breeds of animals. They were actually better suited and more fit to survive in their environment. The concepts of back-breeding and re-wilding are fascinating to me. I wanted to create an homage to this magnificent animal. My idea was to have him roaring out of the cave, with images of his ancestors behind him - sort of symbolically showing his return.

This is a photo of a skeleton in one of the German natural history museums. I used  the shape to create my image.

First tentative washes, with burnt orange and an indanthrone/pink mixture.

Getting into the blacks - pink, orange and indanthrone.

Gradually building up shadows defining musculature and indicating light source.

Starting a scrumbled background with aureolin, pink, burnt orange and indanthrone.

Finally gently spraying the entire paper, and dropping in black and letting it flow.

Darken one side of the face and neck, and add [by direct painting and lifting] some prehistoric graffiti  on the wall behind him.

My critique ... the bull does not look massive and impressive enough. Perhaps a different format? Also, having the bull emerging from  the cave-like background would have been more readily accomplished using a lifting technique. Ah well, live and learn.

Thank you all for dropping by!

A Portrait's Progress - the Young Lad in Watercolor

Since the last post, I added Jules' hoodie, done very loosely in a wet in wet wash of violet, orange and indanthrone. I didn't want it to attract too much attention, so used the violet colors of the background, and kept the values in the light to mid range. 

Several thin glazes were done to his face and neck with mixtures of aureolin, permanent rose and cobalt blue. The hat was thinly glazed with the background color, painted to give it a bit of shape and depth.

The fedora was then done in three segments, painted wet in wet with a black mixture made of orange, violet and indanthrone. I think I'm done. It doesn't look exactly like Julian, but it's a good rendering. I really like the contrast of the looseness and softness of the background with the detail and depth of the face and hat. I will put this aside to give a thought to doing a bit more to the sweatshirt where it is close to the face.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

The Watcher in the Woods ... Class Projects

A photo I took a few years ago. I thought the old tree looming over the open area really did look like it was watching over the spot.

This was a class demo on splattering. I masked the large tree and the bottom snowy area and covered the sky with irregularly-shaped pieces of watercolor paper and tape. Then I splattered with quin. gold, quin. burnt orange, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue. I lightly sprayed to encourage the colors to mingle a bit. When dry, I did a graded wash of cobalt blue all over the painting, then removed the masking.

Thin wash of burnt orange over the large tree, and some thin lines of grey to imply some scrub trees in the distance.

Played with some lines in alizarin, indanthrone and orange to get some bark texture.

Started to shadow the tree ...

... realized I didn't like the brown color, so glazed over it all with indanthrone.

Deepened the shadows in the bushes here ...

 ... and here

Added some softened line of blue-grey for shadows in the snow ...

... and I am here now. I think the tree needs a bit more work, but overall the painting is a nice example of what can be done with splattering.

I also had requests from some students to demonstrate how to paint eyes. Like all of us [me included], the students want immediate results! I have a feeling the idea of glazing at least four or five times to achieve the result put them off. But the effect one attains is worth it!

I wish you all a Happy Easter! Thank you for dropping by!!