Step 5 Great Egret Bird Painting work in progress

On this step I have completed most of the bird's long neck feathers. I continue to add dark to medium grey and brown pastel as my under-painting, to created those parts of the white plumage that are darkened by shadows. Stay tuned for more feather painting!!

For those who are curious, the bird is a Great Egret, (Ardea alba), also named the Common Egret, Great White Heron.

Painting Progress of a Shetland Sheepdog Portrait

My favorite part of a portrait is when the face begins to pop off the page...and this little champ definitely has the cuteness factor to boot!


Shelties have a gorgeous coat with beautiful color and markings but rendering realistic fur can be a challenge. Here, I've added many layers of pastel to achieve the color, texture and depth of the dog's luscious coat.

I am now convinced that this dog painting is progressing to the point that I am starting to see the light! LOL 

Dog Portrait Commission from photo

I will be working this special commission in between others to reach deadlines. Can anybody guess the breed?

I am using pastels on archival suede which is one of my favorite supports, and the portrait measures 11x14. I hope you will follow me and that you will enjoy watching this piece progress!

Golden Retriever Portrait painting update

You might notice on this update that the dog's left eye has changed position slightly. After looking at them over and over again and observing the image in the mirror, it was apparent that a touch up was in order.

The colors are much richer in real life than on the update below which was taken with a camera.  I reserve the final scan and color adjustment for the last update as I'd rather be painting than spending time matching an update to the original.

Dog portrait update

Here is a bit more on the Husky/Shepherd mix portrait I am currently working on. She is really starting to pop off the page now that I've begun working on the body.

Tonight's progress of Green Heron painting

I am really enjoying painting this bird's lovely and colorful plumage. The image scan appears darker than actual which is always a problem when scanning large sections with black pigment. I will be painting more compositions with a black or dark backgrounds because I can achieve a more dramatic effect. 

Less than 24 hrs...

Up bright and early, here is this morning's update on the falcon painting. I'll be hanging my work early tomorrow morning at the gallery so I will have one last minute framing job to do (whether completed or not)...I never cut it this short to a deadline but since I was compelled to start a new piece, why not include it in the show?



White tiger eyes revealed!

An animal portrait just doesn't seem to come to life until one adds the eyes. This tiger cub painting should be completed very soon and will be on display at my next exhibition (duo show with good friend Ray Thoms) which opens April 30th in Sudbury. I will be posting an announcement regarding the show shortly on my FB page as well as my website and blog.

and slowly the eyes are revealed....

Stop being a slave...

Sometimes, things don't become apparent until I am well advanced on a painting. This is exactly what happened on this composition.The lesson learned today is to stop being a slave to my reference photo and enjoy and take advantage of the artistic license painters are so fortunate to have.

   

Once this painting is complete, I will reveal the original reference photo.

A bit of background...

Backgrounds are usually not my strong point so I probably should have started it first in this case. I just couldn't help but begin with the strange looking bird!

 The plan is to methodically work my way downwards at this point but I may begin to randomly paint the water when I begin to loose my concentration! We'll see what happens...

New Bird Painting work in progress!

The beginings of a waterfowl painting are taking shape on this suedeboard. I am using mainly pastel pencils to draw the detail of this strange looking bird. Watch for more updates to come soon!

The home stretch...

With the foreground and a bit of the back paw left to do, I call this the home stretch!

Click on the image for a larger view.

Scaredy Cat Drawing Progress

There is no denying that I have reached the "ugly" stage of this drawing...a subject with no eyes is downright scary and this cat is no exception! I have gone against my usual and "safe" method of always drawing the eyes first, perhaps because I feel no pressure whatsoever on this drawing (it is not a commission).  

The mood I am feeling today has to be one of bliss; the joy of creating work just for ME. That got me thinking of a title for this drawing...which might include the word "bliss" to aptly describe the cat's contentment...but who knows what cats are thinking?!?!

WIP #9 of wolf painting...more pine needles!

I decided to leave the "paw" alone for a while. It was determined upon further examination of my various references that the wolf's leg is all we would see with the painting cropped the way it is...so no more worries about that paw!

 From my last update, you can see that I continued the pine needles to the left of the painting. I also added an evergreen seedling on the vertical edge of the painting for added interest.  I still have a bit of detail to add to the white area of body fur near the seedling, and of course, I have to finish that foreleg!

WIP #8 of wolf painting...a bit of greenery

After putting much thought into how I was going to draw the foreground,  I decided that a blanket of pine needles interspersed with some vegetation would suffice. I did not like the lawn type grass that was on the original reference photo because it reminded me of the captive situation of the wolf in question.

 I'm not quite sure how I am going to handle the wolf's paw yet. I want to draw the whole paw as opposed to it being partially hidden by vegetation (like on my reference)... but that would mean I have to sift through hundreds of photos to find a suitable reference which I may not find!

WIP #3 of wolf painting

Ah, what a good day I've had in the studio! I feel like I could go on all night but think it's best I take a break and rest my eyes and back! It feels good working on something that I can't put down...I just hope it lasts....

New dog portrait

I started this pug portrait today and unfortunately, all I have to work with are either blurry photos, photos that have bad eye glare from the camera flash or photos that are too small to work with. It seems to be coming along rather well though and I hope the client approves what I have done so far.

Pencil Portrait Step 7: the chest

Well, this is it! The fur has been completed on the neck and chest area. It was amazing to draw those tiny hairs and to follow the direction of the hair growth, especially at the central "cow lick". 

I have decided that the background should be darker still and so off the the easel I go!

Pet Portrait Step 4: the wrinkles and an ear

While it may not seem like the portrait has advanced significantly since my last post, I did put quite a bit of time on what I have done so far. My method consists of indenting fine hairs with my pencil, burnishing, erasing and then applying additional layers of graphite on top of the previous.
I continue (not always in that particular order) until the desired tonal value and level of detail is achieved. This may also require me to go back to previously finished areas to adjust the overall tone of the portrait.

I do find the process more time consuming on a white dog due to the fact that the images I work with are almost always of low contrast and the subtleties in the lighter tones or values are more difficult to adjust.

Pencil Portrait Step 3: the muzzle

In this sitting, I have mainly worked the nose and muzzle area but also started to work the fur on the right side of the dog's face and the wrinkles on the forehead. I will probably complete the top of the dog's head next to prevent smudging as I work my way down. I always use a clean piece of white paper as a hand guard but prefer to work around previously worked areas.