In Progress

First I started with the background. Knowing I wanted to put detail into the hunter and the dog, I decided on a soft background. If I had put a lot of vegetation in the distance, I think it would have distracted from the main subjects.

After playing with the background, I moved on to the hunting vest, working my way from top to bottom. The camouflage shirt was tricky. It just didn't have that "RealTree" -like feel until I blended the all the colors with a soft brush and went back in and made sticks and branches.

Next, I tackled the pants. It was interesting moving around the wrinkles. When I finished the pants, I noticed that the hunting vest was looking too green and needed a more canvas feel. Adding some yellow ochre helped. Then to the gun. The most difficult part was the barrel. How to get the metal sheen. I used a combination of dark browns, light blues and thick paint (titanium white with a tad of cadmium yellow deep). When it dries and is varnished, I think the barrel will read as a metallic.

Finally in this set, I painted the arm, hand, and the pheasant tail feathers sticking out the back of the hunting vest.

Stay tuned.