So, I got on a little bit of a mermaid kick lately. It started a couple of weeks ago, and has just about run its course. This might be about my last one. I really think her tail fin turned out great on this on. Also, I'm really happy that the shading of her skin turned out pretty good.
Under her hair is darker than her face and chest. Her left arm is darker than her right. She even has a little shadow on one butt cheek. Not too back on a little painting.
The hair didn't quite turn out like I thought, but it isn't too bad either. I'm totally happy with this little painting.
If you want to watch me paint this, you can view the video below.
I must be on some kind of bird painting kick. Here, I've painted an Oriole. He is sitting on what appears to be a broken branch.
This bird was really fun to paint. The vibrant orange color is made from a couple of different reds, and a couple of different yellows. I did use a pre-mixed grey (payne's grey) but I augmented it myself. I don't usually use the grey right out of the tube. It's mot a bad color, just a little bit flat.
I've given the bird just a few indications of feathers. Just enough to enhance the shape of the bird.
He sits on a stick that has obviously seen better days. Its got some pitting and dents in it.
The background was originally going to be a bit more mottled, but I think I forgot to mix another color into it. As it is, the colors are phthalo blue and ultramarine blue. The green parts are windsor green and viridian. The blue behind the orange really makes this bird pop off the page.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the painting and the quick read. If you want to see how I painted it, check out the following video.
Once again, i've ben playing with chickens. They really are fun to paint. These ones might get a little grass under their feet soon.
I'm trying to get a little addition by subtraction, and not painting everything on the chicken, but enough detail that one's mind will fill in all the missing bits. I think I got (or got close to that) with the body of the chickens, but I lost it a little bit in the tails. They are just a little too busy.
I also picked a couple of pictures that weren't totally in profile. Not sure how I did with that, but.... Well, they are done.
Ok, so I've moved past truck. What do you think the next thing I would paint is? Well, it's kitties. Here are two that I have quickly done. They are just quick sketches to give me a little indication of how I might paint them. I never really know where to start with each painting so these sketches are valuable in helping me figure it out. I think these came out kinda cute. Be sure to look for bigger better ones next week.
I was a bit unsure of how to paint fur with watercolors. I originally thought I might not need that much detail, but as it turns out, I don. But it looks like there is so much going on in the tail that if I were to paint the fur on the entire cat, it might be too much. My solution, detail on the closest part, much less detail on everything else. It kind of worked.
This cat is sleeping in a blanket. I tried a bit of the same technique: more detail on the head, less as you go back. Again I'm not sure I really got all of it, but it's a start. At least in this one the blanket looks like it has some folds to it.
So I hiked up to my new favorite spot on campus again today. And again, there were horses around the pond. I decided to just try another sketch of them, and I think these ones came out a lot better. The veiw is actually pretty spectacular, you can see the peaks like are in this picture but if you were to pan to the left you would see another one framing the valley behind. The horses were very gentle and I took a few minutes to talk to and pet them on my way too and from the side of the pond. I'm not sure if they wanted to be painted or not, but after about 15 minutes they got a little restless and 2 of them wandered off. I guess I should have said that there really were about 6 or 7 horses there.
On my way back, I stopped off at the Arboretum. I wanted to see if there was anything of interest there to paint, and if there were any seating areas where I could spread out. As it turns out there are a lot of interesting things to see there. I'll definitely be doing a couple of paintings from there. Get ready to check them out.
This panting currently for sale. Contact Michael for details.
Ever been in 4H? No, neither have I. But you have gone to the state, or at least county fair right? Right. Then you've seen all the chickens at the fair, and you probably have seen one that looks similar to this.
He's a nice little rooster painted in 3 to 4 different layers of color. The first is just the base coat. The second and in some cases the third give definition to the bird and feathers. The final layer adds the details to the feathers, crown and beak, eyes, etc. I'm actually pretty happy with the way this one came out. I may go back and paint some foliage in the background, but even if I don't I think he's a nice bird. Enjoy.
