Kittens and Cats

Today  I give you two felines for your viewing pleasure.  I'm trying to figure out fur, but it's proving a bit difficult  I know it has a certain texture, but getting it just right is tough.  I want to paint a million little lines, but in addition to taking forever to do, that really isn't the style I want to paint in.  I want to be a bit looser than a literal interpretation of a cat.  An getting too loose just makes the cat look like a blob.  Im working on it and will get there soon, but it might take me a little bit.


For those of you who want to see how I painted these two, I'm attaching two videos below.

What Does The Fox Say

First attempt at painting a fox.

I had absolutely no idea how I was gonna do this.  I was worried about color, shape, fur.... I really didn't know what to do.  So what I did was this:

I dropped on some basic color.  Red/Orange for the face, leaving a little white on the chin and chest, and then some green in the background.

I came back and just started putting in fur in one place then another, then another.  Just little bits here and there.  Patches no more than a quarter to a full in width and only the length of a few hairs.  I perhaps did more under the chin than any other place.  Then when it was totally dry, when back over it with another coat of base color.  It kind of smoothed it out enough that it doesn't look too staccato, but not so much that it doesn't look like fur.  For a first attempt that I made up on the fly, I think it turned out pretty good.

The eyes just turned out to be black spots.  Thats not what I was going for,  I may have to go back and lift out  a little black to give a little more color and drop in a highlight.  

Hope you enjoy it.

Faces (not mine) WIP

Submitted for your viewing pleasure are a couple of WIPs.  I did this much last night and will probably spend much of the next few nights finishing them up.

I really just started with slapping some paint on, trying to block in some color, Then I remember that I stink at painting hair, and thought I should try somehow to make the hair more realistic  that in paintings past.  I can't tell you how many strokes I have in the hair on these two.  And I'm no where near done!!

Well, Tonight I will probably work more on the hair, some shading on the faces and maybe the shirt.   Then finish the hair and the background.   I don't know, I'll have to play it by ear, and see what hits me when I get back out to the studio.

Daughter, Again

Ok, so, after I painted my daughter last week, I thought I would take another shot at it this week.

The good:  I don't have, or she doesn't have, hay stack hair.  last weeks hair, I thought, was completely ghastly.

I used my newly reclaimed paints.  As it turns out, it has several disks which are pretty good flesh tones.

The bad:  I don' think my daughters nose and mouth completely line up.  and one of her nostrils seems a bit wide.  Oh well.  If I was a pro, I'd worry about it.  But since I'm not, I think it looks pretty good.

Hope you like it.

Sketching

Ok, so, I've been doing some more quick sketching.  First off, here you see a pair of eyes.  I don't know why I am fascinated with eyes, but for some reason, I am.  Just did a quick draw, and then paint.  The left iris grew in size slightly as I was painting.  But I am happy that everything seems to be in proportion.   I'll keep trying.

I've recently gotten a small commission to paint a few birds.  Time to brush up on drawing and painting them.  I think that you all will be seeing a few of them over the next few weeks.  Probably a few different styles until I find out how I really wanna do them.

Well, anyway, just a few quick sketches like I said.  Hope you enjoy them.

Face, Finished

Stop me if I've said this before.... I hate hair.  Hair is so hard to paint.  I feel like I am never gonna get it.  I thought I might have been onto something with the hair on this painting, but then.... no.  What you see on this is mostly done with watercolor pencil.    I put on a basic color of the hair, then tried putting in some detail with the brush. Err, grrrr, huh.  Terrible!  So then I tried to fix it a bit with watercolor pencil.   I guess that it isn't too bad, but I wouldn't say that it's good either.

Ok, lets get off the hair and try to look a little more critically.  I tried to get a little color in the whites of the eyes.  and I guess I did that, but they still look flat.  The lips fell a bit flat too.  Maybe a bit of highlight with my favorite white pencil would help that.  I don't know.  I do like how the ball of the nose is.  Can't believe that that is my favorite part of the painting.  LOL.   I  just think thats kinda funny.
Well, hope you enjoy it.

Eye Can See Clearly Now, The Rain Has Gone

Still doodling, and sketching.  Really trying to get better at painting people, so I am working on different body parts.  here are a few eyes.  I didn't have a reference photo while I was sketching, nor did I have a mirror, so the eyes are just kind of a made up assortment of parts.

It's really funny to think that sitting on my couch with a football game on, I can paint something that actually looks like what it is supposed to be.

Once again, I am just using regular paper.  I think the type of watercolor paper I have been using, in the climate I live in, is not really the best paper for the way I want to work.  Using this normal paper allows the page to be a little wetter a little longer.  My normal paper would soak up all the water right away and there could be no possibility of blending or mixing of color on the page.

These 3 eyes are watercolor and pencil.  I don't know if that is the most effective way to do this, but sitting on my couch, it seemed to work.  Looking back, i think I should have spaced them out just a bit and put on some eyebrows.  Well, maybe tonight.  Enjoy

Laura

This is a portrait of an on-line friend.  She had posted a sepia tone portrait of herself, and for whatever reason (probably that it was in sepia tones and easy to see the highlights and shadows) I really felt that I could paint it and do  a good job of it.

I used VanDyke (I don't think it's named after Dick) brown, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, raw umber and burnt sienna.  Starting with a sketch of her, i started adding color to her face.  A LOT of layers.  I basically put on a tiny bit of paint, then smoothed out the edges so there wouldn't be any hard edges.  Then move onto another spot and do the same.  Once an are dried I went back and did another layer.  I think at its deepest, there are 6 layers.  It makes for a glowing painting.  I did it this way because in the past I have put the colors on in thicker layers and it has just looked flat.

I did use colored pencil on the hair.  Hair is really tough for me (and probably for everyone.  I guess the only way to get better at hair is to keep practicing.  My only regret with this painting is that I used such soft paper, and it didn't like the constant washing.

All in all I think I did a pretty good job.  Laura I hope you like it.  Everyone els too.  Enjoy.

Another Portrait

Ok, here is another portrait.  I think I did ok on this one, but probably not great.  I like some of her skin.  But in other places, not so fond of it.  Hair is always a problem.  It's tough.  This was additionally tough given that she is a blonde.  How do I differentiate her hair enough from her skin to make you notice .

I liked the picture when I originally saw it, and still do.  Face, hand, arms and hair.  All the things I wanted to work on..... And all the things I think I still need to work on.

I do think the eyes are better.  The problem I had with this painting was trying to determine how dark to make the eyebrows and lashes.  The picture that I painted from has dark eyebrows and lashes, but they look too dark for some reason.

Well, I still think it is a good effort and I think I learned some really good things from painting it.  Hope you enjoy it.

Nude, but covered

I'm calling this a WIP (work in Progress) because I am gonna go back and add a background at some point.  I like most of the shading and coloring, but I think it needs a bit more.  The only thing is that I am not quite ready to do it yet.  I've been busy and will be even busier throughout this week.  I don't wanna rush thought and put on a bad background.  I'd rather let it sit and come up with something better after a while.  I also think I need to put on a little darker shading.  Its really hard to notice when looking at it right after you've painted it.    Maybe that's the key.  Paint it and let it sit for a while before you mark it as finished.

I tried to give her some realistic skin tones, while trying to not just use one color.  There are reds and yellows and greens in in her skin.   Believe it or not, the only brown i used is in her hair.

I also used 120 lb paper, which I don't normally use, but it was all I had on hand when I started. The paper has a different feel, and holds water differently.  The grey that you see in the scan is from the paper being just off the scanner bed.

Well, I'm off for now.  Enjoy.

Check out these Hooters!

Ahhhhhh, the old bait and switch.  There is only one hooter.  Having a little success with human eyes, I thought I would give a a try to an animal that has perhaps the best eyes.  My thought was to have the eyes crystal clear and sharp, then as you moved further away from the eyes, the painting became fuzzier, so that your eye would focus in on the eyes of the owl.  I'm visualizing this owl sitting in a tree staring out through the night.  If I were to come across an owl on the golf course, this is what, in my mind I would see. (btw, I run into them on the course all the time.  I give them a wide berth knowing that owls can be really mean.

This one turned from another eye exercise to a looseness exercise.  Trying to get that etherial look around the edges.

Hope you enjoy it.

Oh and if I give post a title like this one, I'll get 3 times the amount of hits that I normally get.  Funny how that works.

Sleeper

I've been working on this for a while.  I've had it drawn for well over a month.  I was determined to finish it today as I've got others I need to need to get too.  I'm happy with it, but looking at the scan, it looks like he doesn't have any whiskers.  They are definitely there in the painting.  That might be one think I have to go back and darken up before it's delivered to it intended recipient.

Here is the inspiration picture.  I know its not an exact match, but I think its a pretty good resemblance.

Well, even if it isn't perfect I had fun painting it.  Hope you all enjoy it.

One Final Portrait

This painting for sale 9x12 $30

Ok, so I think I have saved the best for last.  Trying to pull together all the elements of a portrait that I have learned this month.  The eyes, the hair, the proportions  all of it.  I am certain this is my best work to date.  Laying down a bit of color on wet, or damp paper and blending seems to be the way I am gonna paint from now on.  There are plenty of artists that can user watercolors in only one layer, or two at most, but I think I have learned that that isn't me.  I need to put down a lot of layers in what I am doing.  This painting has a lot of them.  The background itself is two or 3 layers, then in order to ge the highlights on the face, I started out really light, and I bet I've got 5 or 6 on the face and that many on the neck too.

Here is a little bit of an intermediate stage.  Sorry I don't have one where I had just the drawing.  notice that I did paint into the area where the hair will be.  That is so that if you are gonna see through the hair at all, I want you to see some of the background color.

Here is the original image.  You can see and judge for yourself if I've done a good job or not.

Hope you all enjoy the painting, as you know, I had a great time painting it.

The Eyes Have It

So I learned that eyes aren't just almond shapes.  I also learned that iris' aren't solid colors, the whites of your eyes aren't white, and your lid folds into a slot called and eye fold.  All these together make an eye kind of a tricky thing to paint.

Noses on the other hand have two dark ovals (the actual nostrils, and a rounded point.  The outside of the nostrils get shading to give them definition, even if when you look at someone you don't necessarily see it.

I tried to take what I have learned in the past two weeks and paint a better pair of eyes and a nose.  I think I am making definite progress.

Why the big push for learning eyes?  Well, since I've been trying to paint faces, I've learned that if the eyes look good, the painting looks good.  If the eyes look bad, the painting looks bad.  So, if I learn to paint eyes, regardless of what I do with the rest of the painting, the painting will look good.  (at least thats the theory)

Oh, the base for these eyes are green because I was painting a different picture and already had green on my palette and didn't feel the need to mix new.  Enjoy.

Another Face

Another face.   I think I just missed the mark on this one.  I may have to go back and tweak it just a bit.  I think the eyes are a bit better that previous pictures, but i don't think the scan is doing it justice.

I tried a little something new with the hair.  I for the most part it worked out.  The hair on her right hand side I think looks good.  On the left below her ear could use some work.  I love her smile, and I'm willing to bet that my auntie Roberta will like her teeth.

I think that I am gonna go back and rework this one a bit.  Maybe put a little more shadow on her forehead under he hair, and on her left cheek.  you might see this one painting re-posted at a later time.

This time, again, I used the same technique that I am hoping to use in most of my paintings from now on.  I've no idea what it is called, other than wet-in-wet painting (but it is not strictly wet-in-wet).  I do a lot more than just that.

Well, for now, this is what I've got.  I still have a few more portraits to paint, so be on the lookout.

Another Portrait

This painting for sale 9x12 $30

First off, I think this looks a bit odd because I didn't paint quite enough of his neck, but what the hay.  I painted this in the way I am gonna try to do all my paintings from now on.  I got the paper wet, and then let the paint do what it do on the paper.  I actually have about 5 or 6 layers of paint on most of this.  I don't know that I'll be using that many layers all the time, but I'll definitely be using two or three.

I didn't want to overdo the beard and hair for fear of doing too much too it.  I still might go back and draw in some individual hairs with a pen, but basically, what you see is what you are always gonna get.  I might go back and make the eyebrows a bit bigger too.  But again, I might just wanna leave it this way.

Here is the picture that I started with.  Sorry, hat I forgot to take it as just a drawing.  You can see part of the first layer of paint, though.

Here is the picture mostly done.  Interestingly, you can see that I took the picture with his beard just a bit wet. As the paint dries it lightens up, so you can see that it is much darker here.  Also, he looks a bit devilish with no eyeballs.

I had a great time painting this one, hope you have a great time viewing it.

Another Portrait, and maybe more to come

This painting for sale. 8x10 $20

Once again I have a challenge to paint portraits.  I guess I could try it a little more conventionally but... sometimes you just don't wanna do it that way.  If I had done this the conventional way, then you would know what everything was supposed to look like exactly.  You would immediately look and see flaws in the picture, and they would stick in your mind.

Painting this way, you see the colors, and the the shapes, but not necessarily what you mind tells you you should be seeing.  There is a little leeway for me to make a few mistakes.  Actually, I think it makes it a much more dramatic picture also.

Here is the picture I started with.  You can see the drawing and that I had just started to paint.  There are a lot of coats of paint on top of the one that is down on this picture.

Actually, I should say that I really like to paint this way.  It takes longer to paint any particular picture, but I think its more fun, and I think the result really looks nice.  I don't know if I could do something like a landscape this way, but for defined shapes, I could do this all day.

Here is the picture that I used for the basis for my painting.  I still might go back and splotch in some freckles to give her face a little more detail, but if I don't do anything, I'm totally still satisfied.

Oh, and yes, like the headline says, expect mor portraits.

Female Face

This painting for sale. 8x10 $20

Inspired by February's portrait painting challenge, or maybe by re-finding an artists work that I had hoped to duplicate, or getting some inspiration from a newly found friend, I trudged ahead with a new style of painting.  (You may link to the inspirational sites here and here.)

I used a lot more water than normal, and allowed the paint to do whatever it is that the paint does on the paper.  I'll admit to not being the most proficient with this right now, but  I love this style of painting.  I'm gonna be doing more, so get ready.

Cyrano de Bergecat

I don't really know why I think this little guy has such a big nose, but I do.  I ran out of time painting this one, and so its a little unfinished.  But I still thought it was good enough to put up here.

I look at this picture and it looks like his nose is really bit.  I don't really think that it is, but to mee it looks like it.  For what he is, I think he came out pretty good.  This is another one that I am gonna use as practice.  I think that a few more and I'll be fairly proficient with cats.

Enjoy

Not This One, The Otter One

SOLD

This is a little change from the norm for me.  When I started painting, just about all I did was wildlife in and around my town of Morro Bay.  Then at some point, I got away from it and started painting all sorts of other things, recently its been cars and trucks.  Well, this one brings me right back home.

I found this picture on line.  An otter all wrapped up in kelp.  For those of you who have never seen them do it, the love to.  I don't know what benefit they get from it, but they love to wrap themselves up in it.

Here is the picture I started with.  Just a basic outline of the otter in the water.  (apologies for the darkness of the photo, the flash on my iphone was on, but must not be quite bright enough. )

The next step was to add fur and kelp.  I kept the kelp really yellow at this point.  I wanted it to really stand out when you saw it on the finished painting.  To do that I make it really bright to start with, and then add more colors over top.  Blues, reds and browns will make the final colors of the kelp.

The real challenge is to paint the fur without making it all run together   I chose to make the feet a little darker, and the face a little lighter.  Hopefully it all worked out.

As you can see the finished product has water around the otter and just a bit of reflection.  

I hope you all enjoy this painting.  I really had fun painting it.