Finished

 

Glace' Seal-ing

18" X 24"

Original Oil 

 

Fur-ing out the polar bear took some time. While I had the direction of the fur established, there was so much more to creating the depth. 

A polar bear's skin is black and his fur is hollow.

I have spent time on the ground with polar bears in remote camps north of Churchill, Manitoba. It is amazing that though there is no pigment to their fur, when they are in sunlight their fur has a beautiful and striking golden glow. 

The above image is from my phone. It will be a while before the painting is dry enough to scan. Scanning always yields a more accurate representation of the original. In a couple of weeks, you can check out my web site to see the scanned painting.   www.BesseArt.com  (See originals, large paintings - mammals)

Polar Bear

 

Above I've finished the basic fur direction for the polar bear. I use this as a template for my brush strokes.

 

Below you can see I am starting to fill in both the light and shadowed fur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I like the broken bits of floating ice in the foreground. They break up the reflection of the foot. There are some adjustments I anticipate I'll want to make but will wait until the polar bear is painted.

 

 

 In this stage I am roughing in some of the colors I will use for the polar bear and making my brush strokes in the direction of his  fur.

 

 

Still needs more work

 

The water reflections are getting closer but after stepping back I don't like the two reflected "hills." My floating bits of ice are not horizontal which needs to be fixed. I also haven't figured out how much of the polar bear's front leg should be reflected. Maybe there should be floating ice to break up his reflection.

 Could I have figured all of this out before I started? I am not sure. And, there is something quite organic and beautiful in feeling your way through something new in a painting. I find this especially true when painting water (or frozen bits of it!)

 

 

Tackling water and reflections

 The closer snow is painted. To make it brighter than the distant snow I used a smidgen of cadmium yellow in the titanium white.

 

On to snow reflections and bits of floating ice.The snow the polar bear is standing on is rather complicated. The problem is how to make the floating ice stand out from the reflected snow bank. Not quite sure how to do that - yet, so I give myself the liberty of trying out some ideas. The joys of working with oil paint.

On the left side of the painting I have floating ice chunks in the shadow of the reflected snow. I think these bits work but I can't use this device for the lighter areas of reflected snow.

 

 

At this stage I am wondering what I got myself in to. It is a jumble. None of the reflected snow has been softened/blended so it looks especially confusing. I still like the concept so I will continue with the reflected snow and insert some floating ice bits where I think they look good. I knew this section was going to be the most challenging.

 

 

 

 

 

Solving Problems

 Just about every artist has had paintings which almost paint themselves. The brush takes over and you are along for the ride.

Then there are those paintings in which you feel like you are solving problems the whole time. Some of those pieces will never come together but some will be your best because you really pushed yourself.

This next painting I knew was going to be a problem-solving one. I have done a number of polar bear paintings and in each one I have "stretched my brushes."  I want this new piece to be brighter than Ice Bear (see below.)

Ice Bear

 

Other polar bear paintings I have done have included the northern lights or peach skies. 

 

Arctic Fire

 

Arctic Reflections

 

 

In this painting I want bright snow and interesting water reflections. First problem, what color to make the sky. I didn't want powdery blue but neither did I want a really dark sky. Beyond that, there is making the polar bear "winter fat" as I've only been close to wild polar bears in summer and fall in remote northern Manitoba. Then there is the snow and sea ice (which is subtlety different than fresh water ice) and the finesse in creating convincing water reflections of the main mass of snow and the bits of floating ice.

 

The start

 

 

Finished and scanned

 

                                                                            

 Movie Star

 26" X 14" 

Original oil

In addition to finishing the giraffe's coat and mane, I added more blues to the far background to keep it further in the distance. To get an even "coat" of cooler tones I glazed on the color.

 

I started with the idea of using a simplified background to showcase the subject. You can see the background acts as a supporting element and lets the "movie star" shine.

And, this is what happens when I see a giraffe in Africa. The surroundings fade in comparison to this striking iconic African animal.