Finished

Woven
33" X 44"
Original Oil

Almost Done

Whites

My go-to base color for whites is titanium white. For the brightest whites I add cadmium yellow deep, just a smidgen. Before I start with that color, I also mix some blue-whites (ultramarine blue and a little raw umber) and some warm whites (yellow ochre, raw umber). Seeing the range of "whites" on my palette helps me develop subtle consistent shadows.

Zebra

If you hadn't guessed my subject matter, guess you can now. Hard to tell from this photo but the highlights in his stripes have touches of blue which form a nice contrast to the background.

Black and Red

Detail

For the black I used ultramarine blue and burnt umber. Adding the "black" is really giving the piece the punch I wanted.

After finishing the black, I painted the red. You'll notice that the "red" is a different color middle-top than at the sides and bottom. The upper middle red is cadmium red and cadmium orange. For the darker red I substituted burnt sienna for the cadmium orange.

Squares

This is the slowest part of the painting. So many squares and angles. They form the foundation and I am using subtle shading to help create depth. The paint mixtures are various blends of titanium white, yellow ochre, and burnt umber with some burnt sienna in the mixture in the lower right. You might notice that everything is not perfectly straight. I wanted an organic, hand-made feeling to the background.      

And now for something completely different

It has been over a week since I last posted but I have been busy working on this next piece. The composition was tricky and drawing it on my gessoed board was time intensive.

Rather than going into detail about what it will be, I'll let it unfold for you. I will tell you the painting is large, 33" X 44". The dimensions may seem unconventional but adding even an inch changed the whole feel of the piece.

Detail

Further Along