A Two Bun Salute ... or ... A Tale of the Backyard Bunny

A lucky photo; they don't stay still very long

Sketch

1st couple of washes

Finsk

Another pose

Sketch

1st few glazes

More glazing and detailing

Bit of shadow for "ground"

Fin

   This is "backyard bunny". He, or one of his friends or relations, has been living here for years. He has a good life here - lots of places to hide and be safe and warm, good food [he regularly gets some of Bruno's carrots tossed under his tree] So I thought , considering it will be the Year of the Rabbit on the Chinese calendar, this would be an appropriate post.

  

Poem - A Small Tribute to My Much-Loved Friends

somewhere in time's own space
there must be some sweet pastured place
where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
some paradise where horses go,
for by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again

A poem written by Stanley Harrison, a poet and Canadian thoroughbred horse breeder.

          

La Serenissima ... or... Another Chicken Alert

Original photo

I did the chicken 1st, then brought some of the background wash into her as shadows.

Some detail 

More detail

Finished. I'm still working on iPhoto to perfect painting color and value.

As promised, here is the next in my "process" series. I call it "La Serenissima" because she looks so calm and serene, and because I love Italian. She is small, only 6 x 9  inches. Again, the painting was an experiment in loosening my technique, and I think , in that respect, it was successful.

My next painting, perhaps with other "smalls" interspersed, will be a floral. I'm quite excited about it, as the colors are gorgeous, with some really strong value contrasts. 

Damn Cold, or ... as My Dad Used to Say ...

It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. [why a monkey, I don't know] 

Some locals on a little farm down the street

You guessed it - a close-up

Very wooly right now

From High Point, with mountain view

Pat, my inspirational walking buddy

   Pat and I , and her two dogs went out for a good hour and a half tromp through the park and up the hill into High Point. It was quite lovely in the sun, where protected, but very cold in the shade with the wind blowing. The weather is forecast to get even colder next week, with a fair bit of snow to be dumped on Wednesday. Yeah, I can HARDLY wait! I'll have to turn Bruno into the Michelin horse, with extra blankets. And I'll have to start carrying buckets of hot water from the house to the barn. But it does look lovely, so I thought I'd post some photos, and hopefully a painting post tonight or tomorrow.

More Feathers

This is the one from the previous post

This photo I took on overcast day, in natural light, i.e. gloomy

   I've been having the devil of a time trying to get the photos to look as much as possible as the paintings. The lighting makes SUCH an unbelievable difference, especially with the browns and greys, I suppose because they are such a mix of hues. Anyway, I had to do the comparison.  If anyone reading this post has thoughts on photographing paintings for computer presentation, please let me know.

Chickens Today ... Feathers the Next ...

Original photo

Ist all-in-one glaze [aureolin, quin. burnt orange, quin. violet,and feet are quin. bt. orange and quin. pink]  Still wet.

          

Comb in alizarin crimson and quin. bt. orange

Adding depth all over, using same palette with indanthrone blue for darks

HEY! It's starting to look a bit like a rooster.

Very soft, wet background of quin. bt. orange, quin. violet and indanthrone  blue

His Imperial Poultry-ness

  "Chickens today, feathers the next" was one of my best high school/university friends' sayings. Another one I liked was "If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit". I still remember rockin' out to UBC for an 8:30 physics lecture, [ WHO scheduled that one??] with smoke of various legal and not-so-legal varieties billowing out the car windows. Hey ... it was the '60's. And all of us in the car-pool made it through university, and  now have decent, respectable professions.

YAY ... Another Rose Process

Another gorgeous rose from Pat's garden

For a change, I did the background 1st - phthalo. green and quin. violet

Start playing with leaves, wet in wet

More depth to rose and leaves

Decided I didn't like leaves in green, went to quin. violet

Finished

     As I sit here typing, I'm "entertained" by the pitter-patter of little rodent-like feet under my roof. The little bugger has been running a marathon up there! I'm hoping he's here only as long as the cold snap lasts; it should be warming up in a day or so. Anyway, here is another floral painting. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.