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Sunday, April 13, 2014

Raven ~ complete?



I finally got this one done...I think. I hope she reads as a black cat because there is very little black in this painting. It's mostly Carbazole violet, Quin. violet, Cobalt blue deep and Moonglow. I only used the neutral tint to tone down the other colors. I cut it 1/2 & 1/2 with Carbazole violet to make my 'black'. Even Moonglow will go quite dark if used with enough strength. I did wind up playing with my color study and gave it a overall wash of yellow ochre. The results were pleasantly surprising and seemed to unify the entire painting without taking anything away or causing a distraction. I'm not sure yet if I want to go this route with the current painting.

5 comments:

Katherine Harra said...

No question that this reads as a (beautiful) black cat. I speak from experience. Not of painting mine, I've not yet attempted that (I'm taking notes here!). But of knowing and loving black cats best of all. Raven looks wonderful here. Maybe I'm still not ready to try. Color aside, my cat drawings are so rarely up to snuff. This looks great!

Billie Crain said...

Thanks for your comments, Katherine. :) Raven is the first completely black cat I've tried to paint and I was a little hesitant as to which direction to go with this. Black is the most difficult 'color' to recreate with paint, isn't it? If you love cats, check out the work of Rachel Parker, especially some of her older pieces. I love her cats paintings.

Anonymous said...

pretty nice blog, following :)

Billie Crain said...

Thanks, Skyline. :)

Katherine Harra said...

Billie - finally checked back here, saw your comment, and went to look at Rachel Parker. I'd say SHE knows what to use to paint a black cat. I think I will have abandon cats (painting them of course, you understand). There are too many of you doing such a wonderful job.