Finished

 

Buoyant

18" X 11"

Original oil by Linda Besse  

 

 

 

 

More color

 Almost all the "non- white" color is in at this point. Why won't each buoy have color? It would be too much, a cacophony of color. And, not all buoys have a color other than white.

 

While this might seem like a jumble, it's an ordered disorder. 

 

 

 

Buoys

 Usually I paint background to foreground, top to bottom. Not here. I'll skip around the piece, choosing the next buoy whose color I feel like mixing.

  

 

 

 

 

In the Meantime...

 While waiting for the darker grasses to dry before adding the lightest layer of grasses on my leopard painting (see previous post), I am working on my summer Sea, Sand, & Shore collection for the Louisa Gould Gallery on Martha's Vineyard.

 

So, something completely different!

 

 I thought a window reflection would add a different twist to the piece.

 

 

 

 

The colors of the buoys will give me a chance to mix colors I don't often use in my wildlife paintings. While tempted to start playing with them right away I want to finish the shingles first.

 

 For the shingles I have three main colors mixed. Using strokes of cool and warm and playing with the shadows on the shingles will give the buoys a more 3-D look on the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foreground Grass

 

The foreground grasses are going to take some time.

You can see in earlier posts that I painted the base layer of the sunlit section. I wanted this to dry while I worked on the leopards. I've now added some depth with some mid and darker grasses. Most of the grass will be very light and bright which will also increase the feeling of shadow underneath the trees where the cats are lying.

 

I'll wait for this to dry before adding the final grasses.

 

Note: it is difficult for me to wait. My main method of painting is to work wet-on-wet but there are some times when that is not the most effective way to achieve certain looks. For me, grass is one of them. While waiting I have four more paintings drawn and only have to choose which one to start.

 

 

 

 

One cat almost finished

 

Next up, the female.

This photo was taken with my good camera, rather than my phone.

 

 

 

The in-between

 Before starting on the interstices (painting between the spots) I decided to block in the rest of the background. This is the area which is fully in the sun. Once this base is dry (or mostly dry) I'll paint all the bright sunlit grasses on top.

 

 

 

 

I chose to start on the male. With his position partially in the sun, he'll have the greater range of temperature in his colors.

 

Speaking of colors, below are my palettes. The one on the left is the one I used for all the background and the spots. The smaller palette on the right has colors ranging from cool to warm for the cat. 

 

 

 I started out a bit too cool on the cat so have warmed it up with cadmium yellow deep toned with some burnt umber.

 

 

You can see the spots look two-dimensional. That's due to their sharp edges. This is why once the rest of the cat is painted I'll repaint the spots and feather their edges in to the wet paint of the lighter colors.

 

 Keep in mind that this entire cat is about 10 inches long.