Foxes Complete!

I finished my fox painting today.  In addition to finishing the right fox, I did a bit of refinement on the other one, worked the snow in front of them, added more weeds and the left foreground shrub, and, most importantly, added a tail to the rear fox.

After I finished the painting I photographed it and took a horizontal sliver of it for my new banner in my Etsy shop, The Foxes Garden.  (A link to my shop is in the right margin of this blog.)  My plan is to do a new painting every quarter until I have a banner for each season of the year.

I'll offer this painting for sale in my Etsy shop, but if it should sell, it will be difficult to part with it.

Working on the Foxes...

 



After a wonderful trip to see my daughter and her family, I'm back to my painting.  As I prepared to get back to work so many other project tempted me, but I vowed to continue on this one until I finished it.  So here's what it looks like after painting today.

 

The first thing I did was bring the pine tree closer by eliminating the strip of snow between the pine tree and the weeds to the right of the foxes, and I think this was a plus. The bright spot in the weeds far to the right was an accident, but I like it.  It seems to be where the light would be hitting beyond the fox's shadow. 

 

Then I began working on the left fox.  The lost edge on her chest was a challenge for me, but I think it was important to leave it and not try to define it more.  There are still refinements to be made, such as better defining the left side of the chin and face.  But I got it to the point where I could begin on the other fox and I'm still in the process of getting that first phase on him done.

 

It felt good to get a brush back in my hand, and so far so good.

A Mistake - What to Do?

When I looked at this painting yesterday something seemed wrong but I couldn't quite figure out what it was.  Now I think I see.  The depth and scale are off.  From the size of the foxes they should be close.  And from the size of the deciduous tree, they should be far.  The pines would be mid-way.  But it doesn't look like that.  Distance is indicated not just be relative size but also by how high up vertically an object is.  The further the object, the higher it will be.  But those deciduous trees are about the same height as the pines.  That means they should be the same distance back, but their relative size says that the pines are closer.  So we have conflicting information - and that's confusing.

Also, the dead weeds look like cat tails.  But they're also in the same distance plane as the foxes.  So that either makes the foxes huge or the cat tails teeny.

I've got real problems here, and I'm not sure how to solve them.  But this is an interesting lesson.  At least I think I did a pretty nice job on the snow...

A Beginning for the Foxes

 

I'm starting a painting of two foxes.  Aside from just wanting to do the painting, when it's finished I'm intending to use a detail of it for my Etsy shop banner since my Etsy shop is named The Foxes' Garden.  My plan is to do a different fox painting for each season and change the banners as the seasons change.

 

So here is step one.  Actually, I guess it's more like step one-and-one-half.  The first step was toning the canvas with blocks of color that would serve as an under painting.   This is still visible in the lower half of the painting.

 

After that I worked on the sky and background trees, undergrowth, and pine trees.  There is still work to be done there but I've done enough to be able to move on to the other areas of the painting.  The tan strip under the foxes will be the grounding for a rather thick area of snow-covered weeds.  I can see now that this strip is too curved and follows the shape of the background tree line too closely, so I'll change that.  I'll shift the left end upwards so it's more of a level band and so that it doesn't end in the corner of the painting.

 

At this stage, the composition seems flawed as the eye travels out of the painting to the left.  I'll have to watch that as it develops.  I'm hoping the strong band of reeds and the detail in the foxes will counteract that.  I've noticed that I seem to favor very still compositions.

 

By the way, my support is canvas adhered to hardboard with acrylic gel medium.

 



Coyote Pine Needle Basket

 

 

I listed this pine needle basket I made on Etsy and thought I'd write about it because I don't think I did so when I was making it.  About three years ago I took a one day workshop on the basics of constructing pine needle baskets and found that I enjoy it very much even though - or maybe because - it's so tedious.

 

 The needles in this basket are from my own property here, from large Digger Pine branches that came down in a big snowstorm in December 2009.  I like that I harvested and dried the needles myself. 

 

 When I began the basket I didn't really know where I was going - except round and round of course!  I knew I wanted an oval but that was about the extent of the "design" process.  Once I was done I knew it needed something on the top so I made this little animal out of polymer clay.  It appears that I was a bit confused about what kind of animal it was to be.  It looks a bit fox-like but the coloring is more coyote.  As always, I couldn't resist a bit of beading.

The closure is an antique copper button that I bought on eBay that has a fox's head on it.  Those types of buttons were made for hunting jackets, hunting being an activity of which I strongly disapprove.  But I buy them because I like the foxes so much.

I found it difficult to actually use the button when I made this piece (rather than keep it in my collection).  And now I've found it even more difficult to list the piece.  But of course listing it doesn't mean it will sell.  And if it does, hopefully the new owner will appreciate it.  

The Birth of Venus

 

Last weekend I gave a demo on polymer clay mosaics, so of course I needed a bit of a head start on a piece.  I decided on my theme first - "The Birth of Venus" after Sandro Botticelli's painting.  But this time Venus was to be a lovely frog arising from the seashell, and her surroundings were to be based on her pond home.

 

One of the things I like so much about polymer clay is the rich colors, and for this piece I picked one of my favorite color schemes - turquoise, yellow, and yellow-orange.  It turns out that I have quite a few mica powders and metallic pastes that enhance this combination of colors.

 

Before the demo I completed the frog, most of the fish, and the background tiles for the entire piece.  Then after the demo it took me a few days to finish it up.  Originally I had planned to use a large Czech glass button with a golden dragonfly as well as a brass stamping of a bird and more pearls and stones.  But in the end I thought it was better without so many different materials.

 

The two ribbon inscriptions both say "The Birth of Venus" - the top one in English and the bottom one in the original Italian.  With both due respect and apologies to Botticelli, I'm happy with this piece.  And I've listed it in my Etsy shop.

 



Back into the Etsy Swing of Things

After several months with nothing listed in my Etsy shop I finally got back down to business by listing this little polymer clay polar bear totem and two other pieces.  I think this bear has a very sweet face and an engaging pose, but I'll just have to see what potential buyers think.

I'm renewing the look of my shop in a couple of different ways. 

First, I created a series of backdrops that I plan to use for all of my photos.  They're simple sheets of poster board that I sealed with spray primer then painted.  For each backdrop I used two colors - a base color and a slightly lighter tint of the same color with which I added overall texture with a large fan brush.  So many Etsy sellers use plain white background and I know that there are several advantages to those, but I prefer something with a bit more color than the stark white.  So I have made six background from which to choose - taupe, gray, gray-green, purple, dark brown, and off-white.  Those colors provide a wide range of value so that I can find a ground that any piece - light, dark, or in-between - will show up against.  Also I've chosen colors that suggest nature which is the source of my inspiration.

Second, I'm going to rework my shop banner.  My current one is too visually weak.  I'm going to do a painting of foxes then take a detail from it for the banner.