First Oil Brushstroke

 Our art club is having a challenge for the month of October.  Each of us will challenge ourselves to do what we've been wanting to do for a long time but haven't gotten around to.  My challenge is to finally paint in oils.

Beginning was a bit intimidating until I remembered this start on an acrylic that I had done in a 1/2-day workshop in the summer of 2014.  It's from a photo of my very photogenic cat Zeke.  I only just got a very beginning on it at the time, so I thought I'd start with that base and finish it in oils.

Below is my progress after a few hours.  I've worked on the background and then just a bit on the face.  My plan is to pretty much finish the background, block in the cat, make any adjustments to the background, then focus on the cat.  Wish me luck!

Before I started I thought the oils would be very similar to acrylics, but they're not!  It will take more working with them to figure out what the differences actually are and how to handle them.  But it's fun!

The Fox Icon

I finished the fox icon after having the fun of going through my collection of metal stampings, bead, and other "stuff" one more time.  Because the other three had the beaded flower springs I thought this one should have one - or more - also.  But I had used up all the ones I had.  So the first step was to make four more to march across the bottom.

 

I also used a fox, an owl, and a filigree stamping, a bejeweled key that I took off a funky piece of costume jewelry, flat back rhinestones and pearls, size 6 seed beads, and leaf-shaped Czech glass beads.

 

My concept was a young fox in a late spring meadow high in the foothills.  So for the background I paint-sketched a sky, distant hills, middleground pine trees, a meadow with wildflowers, and a foreground tree.

 

These have just been so much fun to make.  Now to photograph them and put them in my Etsy shop.  And until - if ever - they sell, I'll just enjoy them!

Rabbit Redux

(I prefer to see a painting before it is cropped and matted and framed because I so enjoy the raggedy edges and the scribbles in the margins testing color and brush load.)
Once I was done with the little fox portrait I was ready to proceed with my wildlife portrait greeting cards as I had the frame and the four animal portraits - hare, raccoon, black bear, and fox.  Or so I thought.  But when I went to the computer to begin printing my previous scans to put the cards together I couldn't find a scan of the hare!  I guess I just didn't do it.  And now that little painting is glued into the rabbit icon behind glass.  There was nothing to do but paint another, and here it is!

This one is a completely different look from the first - a cottontail rather than a hare and an expression more sweet than serious.

So now I have my four animal portraits - onward with the cards!  And meanwhile, I'm pondering what to do with this little painting.

A Christmas Card Possibility

This is a small painting- maybe 4" tall.  I did it for the focal point of a polymer clay wall piece along the lines of the one I did in Laurie Mika's class (post from last month) but not so glitzy.  Actually, I will scan the painting then make an archival print and use the print for the piece.  The portion I will use will be smaller than what you see.  I've decided to hold on to the original and maybe frame it.  It may also form the basis for Christmas cards.

I began with pencil on Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  Then I added light washes of watercolor, gradually darkening the color with additional washes.  I got the background (no spruce branches yet) the darkness I wanted it to be in the end, but left the deer a bit lighter than I envisioned the finished piece.  Then I turned to acrylic ink and a crow quill pen.  I used Black, Sepia, Burnt Umber and a bit of Burnt Sienna.  Then I returned to the watercolor washes and deepened the color and added the spruce branches.

My final steps were to add a bit of white fur with acrylic ink and dot in the few snow flakes with white acrylic gouache.  I like the colors.

Young Renard

Here's the little ( 2 3/8" in diameter) of a young fox for my animal icons and wildlife cards.  It was exciting trying to capture his sweet expression.  Can't wait to see how he turns out in both the projects.

Recognizing a Mistake, then Finishing

Here's the finished frame for the wildlife cards.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake before I put the very first brushstroke of paint to paper.  I forgot to erase the vertical and horizontal pencil lines that I used to position the circle.  I ordinarily do not erase pencil lines because I think they add to the story of the creation of the piece.  But these particular straight lines are just a distraction.

There's faint, but they're still there, and I wish they weren't.

Anyway, I darkened the sky, painted the oak leaves and branches as well as the bare branches the owl is sitting on, and added the details to the owl, bird, and rabbits.

I'm getting closer to liking watercolor!

It's very close to what I had originally envisioned, and I'm happy with it.  Now to "assemble" the final images for the cards by placing the portraits in the center.

Wildlife Cards

As I've been making my animal icons, it's seemed a shame to have only one use for those tiny paintings.  Fortunately, I scanned them before I put them under the glass, so I have the images to continue to work with.

I decided to use them in blank greeting cards. I'll sell the finished cards in my Etsy shop to benefit Sierra Wildlife Rescue.  My idea was to paint a single "frame" to surround the round animal portraits.

So I began by penciling out a 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangle (the size of smaller greeting cards) on a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper.  I placed a circle the same size as the portraits, then began drawing my design.

Here's the way it looked after the first stage of painting.

I decided to use watercolor because the portraits are watercolor, pencil, and ink.  The watercolor will complement the portraits but will be secondary to them because of the ink on the portraits.

I began with very light washes of color over the whole piece, except painted around the owl, moon, bird, and rabbits.  Then I deepened the background color, painting around the leaves in the upper right and lower left.  Painting around little things like this is a pain, but masking would be impossible working this small.  So I just kept at it.