The first lioness

Now that the first lioness is mostly done, it might seem that the second will be a piece of cake. All the colors are mixed, the lights and darks are established...should be simple.

With the second lioness closer and in a different plane of field, all the colors will need to be slightly adjusted. I'll be making the cools a little cooler, the warms a little warmer. Darks will be magnified and there will need to be more detail inferred in the fur.

Most artists dread the "ugly stage" of their paintings. The place where it doesn't really look like anything yet and they need to drag the piece into their vision. For me, this is the stage I most dread. The painting does look like something and I need to paint the rest of it with the same quality and dynamic range.

While I'd like to get right on the next cat, I have a show on May 30th in which I will be doing a quick-finish demonstration. In a quick-finish, the artist can have as much of the painting done as he wants. He just has to finish it in an hour and a half. For these types of events, I like to have most of the painting done with the edges dry. I'll be working on the piece this week and then I can go back to my kitties.

Working with oils

One of the things I like best about painting with oil paint is the fact that it does not dry quickly. This works particularly well for portraying fur. Put on some color, move it around, add more color, grab an angle brush for tighter strokes, slide it around some more ... in essence, play.

Rembrandt oil paints are my favorite because of their buttery nature. Simply highly concentrated pigment in linseed or safflower oil, they contain no fillers, no waxes, no fast drying agents. When we artists refer to the buttery nature of our paints we mean they are not stiff and hard to move. Rembrandt oil paints are buttery enough that I use no medium. Just mix directly from the tube.

Mediums like Liquin can give paint a smoother feel so it glides more easily. Another advantage is that the paint will dry more quickly. A disadvantage (and a major one I believe) is that you are diluting the color just as adding water to water-based paint dilutes the color.

Detail

Establishing colors

This first cat head will be the slowest section of the painting. I'm constantly adjusting my colors. Cooler, warmer, lighter, darker. I may paint in a section and then see it needs more cad yellow with a hint of yellow ochre. I'll be keying the rest of the two cats from this section.

Eyes always take me a long time as I work on the right look. Pupils too big and she will look scared.  Iris too dark and her eyes will sink into the background. Just the slightest bit off and the eyes can look cross-eyed.

The painting wouldn't look so weird if I had posted after the ears were painted but I wanted you see this stage.
Also since the last post, I made the foreground shadow more blue. The cooler color adds more temperature contrast to the painting.

Grasses

One brush. I have been thinking about how I wanted to paint this first base of grass. For a piece this large, I could just put in a large blocks of color, wait for them to dry and then put additional grass layers on top.

I opted instead to mix a number of colors and using a 3/8" deep angle flat brush began painting. And painting. There is a lot of real estate here. It might have taken more time than using a large brush, but I think the result will be a seemingly more detailed grass section. I am not finished with the grass and will further refine it once the animals are painted.

Getting Started

Another big piece is on my easel. It has been a while since my last post and a lot of the time was spent working out the composition for this planned 30" X 60" piece.
There are a myriad number of decisions to make before a single brushstroke of paint hits my gessoed board.
1.) What do I paint? Why?
2.) Is this something fresh and new?
3.) Am I excited about the idea?
4.) How big?
5.) Do I use a white or Venetian Red gesso?

After that it is hand applying gesso to the board. Then, drawing. Logistics come into play with a board this large. I have a 28" X 50" one-inch thick drawing board with a ledge at the bottom. The backside I prop up with some of my thick bird reference books to give a slope. A pencil and an eraser and I am off.

What I have painted so far may just look like gobbly-gook. I may make adjustments to the background later, but for now it has the movement and colors I want to create a sense of depth.

No photo

We are fortunate to live in the country surrounded by wildlife - a great inspiration for my paintings. Turkeys and deer are common. Grouse, quail, porcupine, 5 species of woodpeckers including pileated woodpeckers, coyotes, and flying squirrels are also visitors. The occasional moose, bear, bald eagle, and sharp-shinned hawk are rare treats.
Yesterday I saw "our" snowshoe hare. It was not a very long look. Just long enough to see his white feet and paws before he hopped into the brush. We always see him roughly in the same place and alone. Is he the bravest of a group or alone in the woods? Snowshoe hares live 3 -5 years in the wild depending on how rich the area is in predators. Unless this guy is really, really old we've had more than one. But, is he the last? Sometimes we go a year without seeing one.
I could spend some time trying to get a photo. I know where he hangs out and it would be fun to see him for a longer stretch than the usual fleeting glance. But, getting a photo would almost certainly add stress to his environment. It isn't worth it. I am satisfied with the knowledge that a snowshoe hare lives here.

I will leave you with a photo I did take this month in our yard. This guy could care less about the camera.

Photo by Linda Besse, April 2015

Finished

Shorebird

12.5" X 24"

Original Oil

Despite the fact that I love birds, I sometimes find myself placing them in broad categories: songbird, shorebird, gull, raptor, LBB (little brown bird). When I take the time to really look at them, it is then I see their amazing beauty.

This is a willet and I admit I had trouble with the i.d. Three of my eastern U.S. bird books had only the winter plumage which is quite different. This bird is from the eastern group of willets which feed along beaches, mudflats, and rocky shores. They breed on barrier islands and along coastal salt marshes, which is exactly where I found this bird.

Now that I have painted this piece, for me a willet is no longer just a shorebird.