Maine Coon Kitten~WIP 3

I went as far as I could on the kitten before adding the background. I'd like some of the fur on the ears and head to extend over the background color so it was time to decide exactly what kind of a background suited this fella. I did a little research on Maine Coon cats and learned that their coats have evolved to accomodate cold weather conditions. I decided to create a winter-like setting by mixing up some winter colors, in this case Payne's grey with FUB, and doing a wash which turned into more of a controlled pour. I tilted my board on a 45° angle and did the left side first with the painting turned upside down. When that was dry I did the same thing on the right side with the board right side up so as not to disturb the paint on the kitten. I threw a bit of salt on while the paint was still wet to add some snowflakes and Voila! Windy winter sky. The results are subtle and not as grey as they appear in the image.

In my last post I mentioned that I wanted to increase some of the values, mostly on the stripes in the fur. There's obviously some overkill in a few areas so I will have to adjust the other stripes accordingly. There's work left to do on the ears and head and some tweaking to do on the exterior of the body.

Maine Coon Kitten~WIP 2

As you can see, I've completed the eyes and most of the facial detail. Now comes the really fun part. I've begun working with this one in a vertical position, holding my brush further down the handle as an oil painter might, laying in color and washing it down with an atomizer bottle filled with water. This produces the effect of soft, fluffy kitten fur. I plan to go back in with more saturated color to define the stripes better in a few places and also to produce more variation in values. The outermost body and head of the kitten will eventually be defined by the background color.

So far my palette has consisted of FUB, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. FUB and burnt sienna make the best warm darks and diluted(with a touch more FUB added)also produces a wonderful lavendar grey.

Maine Coon Kitten~WIP

As you can see, I have a ways to go yet. I don't really want to get into too much detail on this one but it won't be as loose as the others. Closeup of the face. Notice the eye color is so similar to a dog's. Btw, I haven't removed the masking yet.

I'm taking a big chance and posting a WIP that's actually still in progress. I don't normally do that. I have no idea if this little guy will turn out to my satisfaction but I couldn't resist posting a quick update. Last week was a busy one for me. Two trips to the printers that take half a day each, shopping to do(and I hate grocery shopping}:( ), getting work ready to deliver to the gallery...blah, blah. Anyway, not much painting went on around here. I had planned to do another dog but I kept coming back to a reference photo of a Maine Coon kitten, submitted by SNAG on WC. Finally I gave in and started painting it. This one won't be as loose as the others. IMO, it demands a bit more detail and time.



Tracey Costescu(see her blog link on my link list!)kindly gave me some pointers on using the masque pen and I've now made friends with the thing. It sure came in handy on this project because Maine Coons have lots of whiskers and an abundance of hair sprouting around their ears. I also noticed as I was painting that Maine Coons have eyes a lot like dog eyes so the timing on this was perfect. I hesitated to use mask on the catchlights in the eyes. I just don't like the results and avoid it whenever possible. However, I knew I'd be spraying water on this as I went along so I had to preserve the lights somehow. While doing the previous several animal paintings I discovered if I paint around the catchlights first, then apply my masking fluid allowing it to extend a tiny bit over the nearby color, I don't get that really hard edge. The masking fluid will lift some color when it's removed so the result is a softer, more natural catchlight.

Bassett Hound

SOLD

Here's my bassett hound. The reference photo I used is from the WC RIL, courtesy of Bigs. I'm not sure I'm happy with the background yet. It may require further tweaking. I may change the crop, too. Not sure yet. He's certainly colorful, isn't he? This is also painted on Arches 140# HP w/c paper. The dimensions are still to be determined.

Pomeranian~My First Dog in Watercolor

I used a gorgeous reference image of a pomeranian for this one that I found in the WC RIL, submitted by fancycat. I chose a pomeranian for my first w/c dog because I have a good friend that used to breed them and they're beautiful dogs. Very energetic and smart. I had never seen pups born before and was called to help out when one of my friend's females had her first litter. It was an amazing experience! Judging by the coloring in the photo, I'd say this one would be called a Wolf Sable in the pom world and by the looks of his high brushed 'mane' I'm thinking this must be a show dog.

IMO, dogs are much more difficult to paint than cats. Their noses are more complicated structurally and I found the eyes trickier to get right. I think I should practice just painting canine eyes for awhile before attempting another dog. I used a palette mainly of FUB and burnt sienna. The eyes were another story. They didn't show up well in the reference photo so I had to improvise. I made use of a tutorial on WC to help me make them believable. Getting the color correct was hard. There's even some magenta in them although you'd never know it.

Catnapping III~Tired Tonkinese

Here's another in my latest series of sleeping cat paintings. I found the reference photo in the WC RIL courtesy of Crias. Tonkinese cats have beautiful but tricky coloring to duplicate with paint. I finally went with Warm sepia, DS Moonglow, cobalt blue deep and a very, very light under wash of quin gold. I did fiddle with this one more than I would've liked but I kept seeing things that had to be tweaked. My inner control freak was nagging me to distraction this time around and I gave in more than a few times. I think for that reason I'm not as happy with this one as I was with the first two. Constant tweaking and loose style painting don't even belong in the same sentence, much less the same painting.

The background has a more greenish cast to it than appears in the image. I was unable to recover it in my photo editor.

Catnapping II~ Tuckered Out Tabby

Transparent watercolor on Arches 140# HP w/c paper

Dimensions: 15" x 11"

I found another napping cat reference tucked away in my picture albums so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not sure where I found the reference as I've had it for awhile now. I'm pretty sure it's from the WC RIL. Unfortunately, I neglected to make note of the photographer. I don't make that mistake anymore.

This kitty is snoozing on a stone bench but I decided to leave him hanging mid-air with only a suggestion of the bench seat beneath him. I used much more color this time, as you can see. I liked the angle this one was shot at, the paw being closer to the camera lense so it appears much larger in proportion to the rest of the cat. Some may not like it for the very same reason. I fear I overworked the face and the right(viewer's right) leg. I've found the trick to painting in this style is to get in and get out and DON'T keep going back in to fiddle. The temptation to add unnecessary detail is still pretty strong with me but only muddies up the final result.

Catnapping I~Digby Takes a Catnap

15" x 11" on 140# Arches HP w/c paper

Having gotten a little tired of painting frogs, I found myself wondering what to paint next. I was going through some of my older photos and found one I had taken of Digby, one of my own cats, taking a power nap on the sofa. I love it when cats feel safe enough around me to sleep belly up. It's a cat's way of demonstrating true trust.


After I decided to use this photo as a reference I was stuck for a palette. I had never painted a white cat before and had no idea what colors to use. Except for the nose, I wound up with mostly cobalt blue deep and DS Moonglow, an old favorite of mine. Actually a white cat could be approached colorwise just like any other white subject because white tends to be very 'colorful' if you really take the time to observe it.


I also tried out my new masque pen and wasn't impressed at all. It tended to blob and even blew bubbles at me out of the tip a few times. Very hard to control the application, too. Maybe there's a knack to it I don't know about.


I do plan to paint this again...maybe several times. I was inspired by Jean Haines's cats(see link to her website on my blog list)and her wet and loose approach complete with blooms and drips.


Note: I have a nice new bottle of acrylic gesso(!)so I'll be playing with that again soon.

Frog on Matboard~No Gesso

I'm out of gesso at the moment but I'm still on my frog 'kick' so I decided to try painting wet into wet directly on matboard. I sketched in the eye and the general shape, then just winged it. There were a few moments when I thought it got away from me but in the end I think it looks like a frog!

Frog Pond #2

New Photo, better color

Last time I over did it. This time I may have 'under did' it. I used a much softer palette with a not-so-heavy hand. This image is not the greatest as I took it in poor light but did the best I could to correct the colors. I will take another photo tomorrow in better light and replace this one.

I completely changed the format. This is 7" x 15", taller and narrower than the first, and I only gessoed the areas around the frog while protecting said frog with frisket film. I'm not sure I was able to integrate the two surfaces to my satisfaction. The jury is still out on that. I had much more control on the un-gessoed area but I really missed the effects I can achieve on gesso, particularily the mottled 'look' I can create by misting partially wet paint with clear water. IMO, my frog would've looked better had I been able to give that look to it's skin.


I went for a much simpler composition...maybe too simple. I may add some more tadpoles or something to better balance it out. I'm really happy with the river rock/pebbles at the bottom and I like the splash/water turbulence around the frog. That was done by creating the right texture with the gesso around the frog before I began painting. After I had finished painting I took a Q-tip and gently wiped away any paint to reveal the white gesso.

Frog Pond~Starting Again

My new comp thumbnail sketch. I will probably change the proportions of the various elements when I enlarge it.

This time I decided to focus on only one frog and take more care with the development of it. I want to include more detail too, so the frog will stand out more. I also came up with a different composition. I'm shooting for a more underwater atmosphere..kind of a frog's eye view of things beneath a pond. Zhen painted something similar and I quite liked it.


The quandary is....how do I get a greater amount of detail on my frog and stay with a gessoed surface? My solution is to only partially coat my paper with the gesso while saving the frog itself under frisket film. It should work but time will tell.

Frog Pond~Watercolor on Gesso

This probably should be called Nightmare Frog Pond. I knew days ago this one had gone horribly wrong but I kept at it just the same. In the process I learned a few new tricks to use when working with w/c on gesso so it wasn't a total waste. For example...Q-tips are great for smoothing out the inevitable hard edges that form on a gessoed surface when applying transparent watercolor. I intend to try a second time, most likely with a new composition and maybe a few different colors. I won't be so heavy handed with the pouring either. That last bit will be hard. I love to pour paint and don't always know when to stop.

Awhile back I made a vow to post some of my failures along with the successes. For some strange reason I think it will make me feel more honest.

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs

My trusty #2 squirrel quill for those who aren't familiar with this type of brush, which I used for my painted frogs

These are my w/c sketches done with the quill. I numbered them in the order painted.

This one's got the look of desire...a desire for lunch!

He's got the look of love

The bullfrog


I've had frogs on the brain for days now. My oldest son requested I paint a few for him and I realized I've only painted one. Nothing makes me think 'frog' more than the good old bullfrog. To me, they're as American as apple pie only not as tasty. I went looking online and was amazed at how many websites there are devoted entirely to frogs and the people that love them!

I did a few pencil sketches trying to come up with a concept, theme....whatever. My first thought was to put a frog on the Moon. Afterall, I put cats on the Moon. Why not frogs? I shot that idea down and decided to try a few other ideas which I've posted above.

Today I was admiring Lian Quan Zhen's work(I have the link on my blog list)and decided to try my hand at a more loose, sumi e-style approach. I worked with my #2 squirrel quill brush which was a little large for the job but I think as I went along I began to improve. I've got another concept in mind now but I'm waiting for the gesso to dry so it will be a few days before I'll be posting my results if (big IF)I'm successful.

Japanese Irises~Completed

SOLD

I've been fiddlin' around with this one waaaaay too long to be objective anymore so I'm calling it done, at least for now. I've included a long shot(some tape is showing...sorry, camera distortion), a closeup and the piece framed with the mat & frame that I intend to use. I did a lot of fine tuning, both with color and cleaning up rough edges. That's another thing I like about working on gesso. I used masking fluid on the irises and I can never get a nice sharp tip or corner with that stuff. I used a very sharp exacto knife to gently scrape away the surface paint(be very, very careful if you try this) and managed to get perfect points on those little top petals.

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My oldest son has requested that I paint some frogs for him so that will probably be my next mission. Ribbit!

Who Can Understand Cats?

Cute but not my idea of a house pet.
He knows it's there. He brought it in! Does he care? No!

Because I sure can't! Today while I was working on a painting, Digby, my male cat brought me a little 'present'. A chipmunk...alive! He proceeded to turn it loose in the house and shortly afterwards, casually sauntered back outside. }:-( There was a day when my cats brought me presents but none were alive and kicking when they arrived. If any unfortunate critter happened to get in the house it would've been bedlam. They'd have been in hot pursuit, scrambling under and over things, knocking over furniture and plants with the chase ending in bloodshed. I think they're getting old, or lazy...or both. Or maybe Digby thought I needed a new pet? Who knows.........

Japanese Iris WIP~Watercolor on Gesso

This is what I've been working on for the last few days. It's on a half sheet(almost)of Fabriano Uno 140# CP w/c paper coated with Liquitex gesso. I'm using DS pyrrol red, quin. gold and DS perylene green. The reds are a little brighter IRL than in the image above. I did my best to correct the color in my photo editor. I plan to leave the irises white but will add some detail to them eventually. I'm still sorting out the greens on this one. The greenery looks great when wet but when dry it looks flat to me. Dare I even consider varnishing this one? I don't even know what product to use and on a gessoed surface...well, I may be courting disaster.

Continuing to Experiment

This is my outlined iris. I kinda like the way this looks and would love to try other colors of ink in this way as well.

This is an example of some textures I've been playing with. I dropped white India ink into a wet wash, then sprinkled shavings from a purple watercolor pencil into the mix.

That's right...I'm still playing around. The images above are just a sample of the things I've been trying out. Some worked, some didn't. Have you ever thought, "I wonder what would happen if I did(or didn't)do this, or added that or just dribbled on some ink and swirled it around in a sea of wet watercolor." I love the idea of breaking the 'rules' in my artwork and I'm searching for something unique. Who wrote the so-called rules anyway? And who enforces those rules? I'm not looking to do something different just for the sake of being different and some rules are necessary because they just work...period. Instead I'm trying to find my own voice in my own artwork.

Right now one of the areas I'm exploring is watercolor texture, primarily for background work. At one point in my artistic journey I absolutely dreaded backgrounds. I focused all my attention on my subject, then wondered what the heck to do to fill the rest of the paper. Why not make the background just as interesting as the subject while at the same time making sure they both relate to one another?

Another idea that captured my interest was an article in the June 2009 issue of Watercolor Magic featuring the work of Jonathan Frank. Mr. Frank outlines (yes, you read it right...outlines)areas of his paintings with a Kohinoor Rapidograph pen filled with various colors of India ink. Talk about breaking rules and his work is nothing short of amazing! I gave this a go on a hastily painted bearded iris. All I had handy at the time was a Micron 03 pen with black ink but I liked the effect.

Lily-of-the-Valley on Gessoed Paper

I guess this one IS done. I just sold it!

I wanted to try gesso on watercolor paper for the simple reasons that I have more paper than mountboard, I have more options regarding size and if I happen to create a painting I'm truly satisfied with, it'll be easier to frame.

This particular painting may still be a work in progress. I haven't decided yet. However, I did discover a few things while working on gesso.

1. Artists tape coated with gesso will still release easily.

2. Masking fluid can be used on gesso.

3. Two coats of Krylon fixative will reduce the lifting problem.

This painting is done on Arches 140# HP watercolor paper coated with Liquitex gesso. I had no subject in mind when I applied the gesso and have decided I really should decide on a subject and composition beforehand.

I'm A Cat And I'll Sleep Anywhere I Want To

All tired out from ticklin' the ivorys
They're putting really cool prizes in cereal these days!

OUCH!!!

It's been one of those days

My youngest son's girlfriend, Jamie sent me these via email and I just had to share.

Sunning

I made a few changes. The catchlight on that little screw in the background was so distracting it drove me nuts. This is a reminder of why I'd love to paint in a more loose, expressive style. All those tiny, little niggling details can drive me craaazy.

I'm pretty proud of myself. I've been painting almost everyday which is new for me. On the downside, I've been producing nothing worth posting. Lots of experiments, lots of failures. Trying to loosen up when you're used to detail work is harder than I thought it would be but I don't plan to give up. It can get disheartening, though so I took time out to do a detailed piece. This one contains more detail than I usually include in my work. I must have needed a 'fix' worse than I thought!
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These are quotes I've found to be inspirational from the book, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland:
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"The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars."
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"You learn how to make your work by making your work … art you care about -- and lots of it!"