Latest Paintings - Three Different Subjects.

I mentioned in the Jaguar piece that I'd also drawn a Snow Leopard but then made a mess of the painting, so scrapped it at an early stage. My usual reaction to disaster is to go straight back in so the following day I started again.

The drawing - my usual mechanical 07 2B pencil

Stage 1 completed I painted the rest the following day.

Snow Leopard - 16" x 12" Waterford High White 140lb (300g) not

I was moderately pleased after finishing this, although I think the Jaguar painting is superior. I keep looking at it and think it is missing something. I suspect I know what it is and to do with the background. I used several colours and my usual brushes.

My next painting is another Amerindian, in this case a Chippewa warrior circa 1869. His Indian name is a lengthy and complicated one but apparently a loose translation is `Evening Sun'. What attracted me to it oddly enough was the large fur cap he wore and even shaggier fur coat. Amidst all this his face is quite small. Normally I concentrate on the face and fill most of the paper with it.

16" x 12" Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140lb (300gsm) not

While I'm again quite pleased with this painting one error is that I've made the feather too large relative to the remainder. You can see this quite clearly in the guide photograph.  I used Translucent Brown (Schminke Pbr41) with a little Raw Sienna as the skin colour darkened with either Cerulean or Cobalt Blue. Three brushes were involved, the Rosemary Kolinsky travel brushes sizes 6 and 10, and the Isabey travel brush size 6. The Isabey, while long is much smaller in diameter than the Rosemary 6. It is good for the detail, especially the eyes. About 2 hours max. 

16" x 12" Great Art Centenaire 140lb (300gsm) not

This was my submission for the AVA subject `Interiors' last Thursday. It is on the back of a discarded painting as is the Amerindian. Once again I forgot my camera so cannot cover my fellow artists work. Colours are mostly blues plus Ultramarine Violet, Quinacridone Coral, Perylene Maroon, Raw Sienna and touches of a few others. It is simple and modest  but I quite like it as the subject is one I wouldn't paint by choice.   

Snow Leopard

This is my latest animal portrait and is of a snow leopard. These secretive and solitary animals live high in the mountains of Central Asia and are in danger of extinction as there are less than 10000, some say even fewer, and they are hunted for their fur. There are several hundred in zoos around the World but do we want so many of these endangered species just existing in zoos?

16 " x 12" Gerstaeker No.3 200gsm 

Initially I made a `careful, drawing, avoiding `super' realistic detail, with a mechanical Pentel 05 2B pencil. I concentrated  on the face and reduced the detail outside of this to just a hint. The paper is a cheap own label Great Art product. It is basic but seems to work quite well on subjects like this. I wouldn't recommend it for large washes or where much over painting is done.

With the snow leopard being portrayed in Winter this is inevitably a  very `cool' painting although I have tried to introduce a little warmer colour for balance. Colours used were mainly Cerulean and Moonglow (Daniel Smith) with Raw Umber and (very) diluted Quinacridone Gold (Daniel Smith PO49). There is a little Ivory Black (Maimeri) about the eyes, nose and lip areas. The eyes have some Gold Green (Rowney PY129) in the lower parts. There may be slight touches with one or two other shades. Since I photographed it I have added a little red to the eyes.

I have done several of these animal paintings recently and will now be turning to other subjects, although I like painting animals and birds and will continue to do so. Judging from the lack of comments - apart from spam increasing exponentially - the Rhino painting, which I was very pleased with, seems to have  created little interest, although well received on Facebook, including a nice comment from Trevor Lingard. I am a little disappointed although that's life! I know animal subjects aren't everyone's cup of tea (or coffee). As the February challenge is of Irises I shall be working on some simpler compositions of this flower and if good enough may post the results, prior to the actual challenge subject, which is a much more complicated group of irises. 

Coming up soon are posts on Quinacridones PO48/ PO49 and I will also be featuring the artist Cao Bei-An.

Something Different

Recently I have become very interested, and impressed, with the animal and bird drawings of a a number of artists who paint their subjects in a loose and colourful manner. Some seem to me to fall into the concept of realistic abstracts, while others are more realistic but use colour in a very imaginative way. Jean Haines www.jeanhaines.com/  , Gerard Hendriks www.gerardhendriks.net/ , Esther Hefferman, Bev Jozwiak www.bevjozwiak.com/  and  Lian Quan Zhen www.lianspainting.com/  are among those that have made an impression on me. Terrific artists one and all, although different from each other in various ways and they paint a variety of subjects not just wildlife.

 Snow Leopard

It may be that this photograph is subject to copyright and if I am so informed I'll delete it, but hopefully since this blog has no commercial aspirations this won't happen. This is the photograph I based the painting on.

Snow Leopard- Fontenay 16" x 12" 140lb (300gm) Not

I concentrated on the features and blurred the outer parts to partly blend with the background. Colours used were diluted Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Cerulean Blue and very diluted Quinacridone Rose (Graham) mixed with Raw Umber or Raw Sienna. Indigo also featured quite a lot in various dilutions with some Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber. The background is mainly Cerulean Blue, possibly a little Cobalt Blue in places. For the black marks on the face and just above I used Daler Rowney FW Black acrylic ink. The red of the mouth is a mixture of Cadmium Red and Quinadicrone Rose with some added Burnt Umber. I used masking fluid put on with a ruling pen for the whiskers, and added white for the teeth.

The only brushes used were the two Isabey 6201 retractables, the 4 and the 6. I recently added the 4 to my armoury. Both brushes are very small compared to normal 4's and 6's but are very slim and have excellent points. For the larger areas the Isabey 6228 Kolinsky Size 8. All were purchased from Jacksons www.jacksonsart.co.uk. Am I pleased with this one? Yes.