The Baby Goose Has Some Siblings ... Work in Progress

You remember this little cutie. Well, there were actually at least a dozen of them scurrying around the field.

I masked the geese, and then painted three wet-in-wet graded washes - quin. burnt orange, pink and indanthrone blue. Then I removed the masking, and started working on their form shadows with a mixture of orange, pink and indanthrone. The beaks were first done with indanthrone.

The blacks of their eyes and beaks were painted with a mix of quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone. And I did a wash of aureolin on their legs.

I am here now. I've done two glazes on their form shadows, and am ready to get their local color  - a purply/grey - started. I have also glazed their legs with a green made of aureolin, indanthrone and orange. I have a feeling the color to be added to their feathers will have to be dry-brushed on ... carefully. That's why I have stopped here to take a break. And Bruno is hollering from his paddock. Time to RIDE!!!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

So ... Long Time No See ... or ... Works in Progress

This was #2. There was too much of the quin. gold - didn't like the overall effect. ONWARD ...

Start of #3.  I used quin. burnt orange instead of the gold. I also used my usual animal palette of quin. violet and indanthrone blue, with some permanent rose and cobalt blue for the tongue.

Started to get some of his local color on.

More black ...

... and still more black ...

I masked out the logo in the background, and did several w/w washes  with orange, violet and dark blue.

Mask was removed, and the logo is there just enough to be noticed but not to overwhelm.

I visited the friend who commissioned the work, and she loved his expression but said he needed more black, so more black it is. I think it's almost there, just a bit of tweaking and probably one more overall w/w application of black. I considered using a dry brush technique, but was afraid that it would give a scratchy look, so all has been done wet-in-wet.

I was coming home from teaching last week, and thankfully had my camera. The girls were out in the field, so I stopped to take some photos. She looks like the epitome of the contented cow here.

Some goslings

Another view

Apologies for being away for a long time. I've been painting, but nothing I really like, and I'm trying to get more sketching done, too. And of course, there's Bruno. We've been doing more trail riding [something he is not accustomed to doing] so I am taking my time. His idea of rebelling is to stop dead and turn to stone, so I have been basically just waiting him out. From the saddle I tell him, "Bruno, I have ALLLL day, but you will miss lunch and snacks and dinner ... " It seems to work :) He LOVES his food! So other than the balking and a minor spook or two, we are doing well.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

A Goose-y Fairy Tale

I mentioned in my last post about wanting to paint geese again. When I drew this, for some reason [probably their positions and postures] a story started to come to mind.

It also served as a poured watercolor demo for last Saturday's class.  I started with thin pours of aureolin, quin. red and cobalt blue. I moved the geese a bit closer together than in the drawing   to have a continuous line of white.

When I bought it home and looked at it, I tried to imagine what they were doing, thinking, where they were going. The two geese on the left looked a bit lost. The goose on the right looked like he was trying to re-direct them ... but WHY? Because they were heading toward a haunted forest!!! Hence the old, gnarly tree in the background.
I did a bit of w/w on the geese, then masked them and did another pour, this time of indanthrone blue.

I gave the tree some color - quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

Did a graded wash of indanthrone ...

... removed the masking ...

... and have started some work on the geese.

Thank you so much for dropping by ... the saga of the geese continues ... 

Captivated by a Cowboy ... a Work in Progress

Reference drawing

Before we continue, here's a word from our sponsor, Maggie, wondering why I am not taking her with me. 

Back to painting ...
Thin washes of aureolin + quin. burnt orange for hat, cobalt blue for shirt, and quin. sienna, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue for skin.

Quin. sienna and alizarin for shirt, splashed in w/w.

More of the same ...

Some shadowing on the face and neck with a thicker mixture of orange, crimson and blue, and some extra crimson and orange for Scott's sunburned skin.

Shadow on front of hat and a bit of reflected red on the brim, too.

Deepening skin tones, and starting on moustache and goatee, using aureolin, crimson and blue.

Touches of detail on hat, and still deepening skin colors.

I am here right now. Scott's hat, glasses, moustache and probably ear need a bit of work, but on the whole, I am pleased with how he has turned out. 

Reference photo

About a month ago, I talked my farrier [he of the Two Bums painting "fame"]  into getting into his cowboy gear, and doing some modeling for me. I took at least 50 photos of Scott posing on the ground and on horseback with his dog, Sadie, and his girlfriend's horse [his own horse needed too much cleaning up]. I wanted to do a relatively small, fast painting to warm up before starting a large painting of him with dog and horse. And this is the result.
I have known Scott for about ten years. He has taken care of Bruno's shoeing needs, and that has been great, as His Highness has a penchant for removing shoes. Bruno was actually stabled nearby, at Scott's barn, when I first met him. Scott has also helped me with some heavy work around the barn. He is just a sweet, generous man - a good friend!
He really is a cowboy - worked in the rodeos for years until he had a whopper accident. He still does volunteer work with local rodeos.

Thank you for dropping by!

Back to the Classroom

This was the new class last Saturday - a very enthusiastic group!
I asked if anyone minded if I took pictures for my blog. All said it was fine, with the stipulation that they could see the blog post. 

Pondering the next step ...

Getting into some wet-in-wet ...

A lot of washes and masking to start my next painting. First the duck was masked, then I did a flat wash over all the background, followed by several gradated washes of permanent rose, quin. burnt orange and indanthrone. Then I masked out the pattern, and painted two washes - a dark violet and a black mixture. This photo is after all the washes with the masking just removed.

This is actually more like the color in real life. Starting the feet and bill now, with w/w washes of aureolin and quin. sienna. This will be called Arabesque, after the ballet posture as well as the design pattern.

Thank you very much for dropping by!

Voodoo II Is Underway ...

This is the reference for another Voodoo painting.

He's very large, about 17.2 hh. [his back is well over my head] He is not classically "pretty", but he has a very noble face and eye.

Another shot, giving more of an idea of his size, and the boniness of his head.

Sketch

I masked out his eye, and did an all-over wet-in-wet application of cobalt and indanthrone blue. Then I started working on the structure and shadows of his head and neck with a black mixture.

I removed the mask over the eye, and you can see the "white" of the paper there - looks almost beige, in comparison to the background of the painting.

I worked on him for several hours today, going back and forth between very dry applications and softening the edges, and painting very wet. At this point, I think the basic idea is there. I'd like to get some hardness to the look to give more of an impression of the boniness of his head. And, of course, an eye would be good, too!
That's it for today.

Thank you very much for dropping by!

FINALLY Feel More Like Painting ... or Do..., Do that Voodoo that You Do So Well

This is from one of my favorite comedies, Blazing Saddles.  I thought the comment about Voodoo was appropriate. So here's a bit of humor ...

And this is the Voodoo I know.

I became so absorbed in painting,  I forgot to take any earlier photos. I had started doing the form shadows of his head with a dry brush technique, but it wasn't giving me the results I wanted, so I returned to good, old wet in wet. The only pigments I am using are quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone. There is a touch of alizarin crimson in the inner canthus of his eye. 

Most of the mask is off, and I have glazed some dark brown in his forelock and the shaggy hair in his ears. The next steps will be more and more and more wet in wet washes to get the depth of the shadows. I have absolutely no idea what I will do for the background.

Thank you so much for visiting!