Saturday, December 21, 2019

Final Steps

The next step was to complete the left zebra.
Before playing with the foreground, I wanted to darken both main zebra. The shadowed "whites" were too light.

The foreground did not need much. Some rocks with shadows helps the illusion of the sun from the left side.

 Challenger
20" high X 36" long
Original Oil

Note: more accurate color and lighting by using my Canon EOS rather than my phone for the photo.

This was an interesting experiment with the shape. I have no idea how well it will be received by potential collectors, but I am glad I painted it. The framer now knows that a double frame will be on the piece and I think her fainting spell was temporary. 

Monday, December 16, 2019

Stripes and more stripes


The painting started out simply enough. A light morning sky with soft peach clouds. By the time I was done with the sky and the trees, I knew it was all wrong. The sky was sickly sweet and the trees were too vibrantly green.
Time to start over.
I scraped off the sky and added a soft dull yellow to the area. The trees were also too detailed so I mixed a dull green and painted over them.
After painting in a background color for the grass I began on the stripes for the two distant zebra. Using darker colors I finished the stripes on the two featured zebra.


At this stage, the three right hand zebra have their "whites" painted and it is on to the rearing zebra.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Playing the Angles

It was time. I have been thinking about this painting for quite a few years. While the subject matter would be important, it was the shape which drew me.
I wanted to paint a piece on a trapezoid-shaped gessoed board. To be more specific, I wanted the board to be an isosceles trapezoid.

The first was a practical consideration. Could my framer frame it? Could my husband cut the board the shape I wanted? When both said yes, it was time for designing. Whole number angles would be easier for both. Having the obtuse angle at 103.258 with the acute angle at 76.742 degrees would unnecessarily complicate the entire process.

For some reason, I always pictured the painting with zebra. Running through my thousands of recent zebra reference, I came up with quite a number of photos from which to build the painting. This was a fun idea, but the composition needed to be enhanced by the shape of painting. There had to be a reason why the piece was this shape.

Using a rearing zebra with its back line a different angle than the board seemed to make the whole concept more dynamic. I played with the composition and was able to work out the obtuse angle at 105 degrees with the acute angle at 75.

The painting is finished but if you'd like to see it in progress, the next few posts will show you how I painted it. Sorry, no photo of my framer pulling out her hair. She doesn't know yet that I think I want a double frame!






Monday, December 9, 2019

Richeson Contest Winner

Richeson75  Animals, Birds, & Wildlife 2019 International Competition has just announced their winners.

 Ice Bear

My painting Ice Bear won 2nd place! Even more heartwarming was the comment from the Awards Juror, Terry Stanley.

"This piece is a master class in 'how to depict white'. The textures and subtle color variations are wonderful. Not to mention being a conversation statement piece memorializing that which may not be around much longer."

 Awards Juror
Terry Stanley

Terry Stanley was the Founding Director of Richeson School of Art and Gallery. She is a professional artist who has studied with Masters like Everett Raymond Kinstler, Michael Shane Neal, Stephen Quiller, Mort Solberg, Robert Bateman, David Cheifetz and David Kassan, among others.

She specializes in commissioned animal portraiture. Terry has curated and acted as juror for exhibits and competitions across the country and teaches workshops frequently. She is currently the Executive Director of Wisconsin Visual Artists and the Museum Tour Director for the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation.
 
 
My paintings One Step Away and West Wind were awarded Meritorious Status.  

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Elephant Finished

It has been a while since I posted the elephant in progress. I've completed it and the painting was dry enough to scan this afternoon (gives a much better representation of the painting than quickie photos with my phone.)

Tusker
15" X 20"
Original Oil