The Fifth Painting

I have now finally begun my fifth and final painting for the Society of Animal Artists application.  But back to the new painting in a minute.

I was looking at the photo of the painting of Red and see that her head looks cut off from the body, I think partly because her head looks really round but her body doesn't.  So I need to go back and work on that.  Adding a glaze of shadow color on the tummy and more white to the back leg (it is lying flat and therefore nearly all in the light) should do the trick.

Now back to number five.  Here are two juvenile vervet monkies feasting in a mango tree.  My objective for these first few sessions was simply to get a base of color over the entire image without losing the lines I had transferred.  I have underlaid the mangoes in the tree with a cream color but in the end they will be green blushed with orange and red.  On the two monkies, at this point I am simply trying to establish the darks all over their bodies and faces - the colors that will show between the hairs when I put them in.

My idea is that the two monkies are sitting high in a tree.  The light green behind and beneath them is supposed to be the sun shining on an opening in the foliage.  Perhaps I should bring some of the sky, or sky holes, down below the big branch.  At this point, I think this light green isn't light enough for what I am in intending.  But in general I'm happy with the composition and my progress this far.