I've been hard at work trying to make the vision I have in my head for this piece come to life on paper. Nevermind that I have no real reference(this is from my imagination...scary, huh?), I'm working on HP watercolor paper which I'm not used to working on with a brush and I'm going for effects that a digital artist could probably whip out in no time flat. Ok...enough excuses. Whether this one turns out the way I'd like it to or not I can always try again with knowledge gained.
Starting from left to right, the first image is my grisaille, done with DS Moonglow over a very light wash of D/R permanent yellow. I've applied frisket film over that and I'm preparing for my washes on the background. I drew a circle with an 'F' pencil to indicate where the Moon used to be and added a few drops of Misket fluid to mask out the stars.
The second and third images are successive washes done with DaVinci Indigo and D/R ultramarine violet. I'm shooting for that 'night sky in the forest' look. Before I applied my washes I drew in my fireflies and used Prismacolor colored pencils for the fly's 'fire' and to act as a 'resist' for the paint. I still had to carefully dab out my fireflies with a tissue after each wash. I also gently scrubbed out my ferns after each wash.
The last image is where I'm at now. I've started applying darker and darker washes to the tree and cat, indicating the cat fur, creating texture on the bark. etc. I've left the cat's tail for last for some reason. Maybe I will add some leaves tucked into the tail fur? Right now it's all fine tuning.
6 comments:
I remember this from your original sketch idea! Now its coming to life and it looks great.
I love that you showed the stages of getting there too. There's always something to learn from you.
And yes creativity is fun, especially when it turns into this!
Springtime must awake the imagination, Jeanette. i've put this one off for so long but felt now was the right time to give it a go. having a background in realism like yourself, i think it's good 'therapy' for us to cut loose and do something totally out of character for a change.
this is looking great - such a good thing to play with different ideas :>)
thanks Vivien.:) i couldn't agree more about trying new things. it opens a whole new world of inspiration.
Billie, you have my utmost admiration to tackle something from imagination but with your talent I know this will be another great cat painting.
thanks for the vote of confidence, Mary.:)sure hope you're right. I'm at the 'sit and look at it for a few days' stage. i'm contemplating adding some pastel to this one. still not sure yet.
Post a Comment