Howling gray timber wolf painting using soft pastels on Uart sanded paper

I was absolutely thrilled when I was asked by one of my wildlife art collectors to paint a wolf portrait for them. They wanted a second portrait to match the Canada Lynx portrait they previously acquired from me and I thought a wolf would be an excellent subject to accompany the feline art piece. This particular composition I created with some artistic creativity and about four different reference images. I think my favorite part of painting this piece was when I added the mist created by the wolf's warm breath.

I really do have to paint more wolves as they have to be my absolute favorite wild animal. And who doesn't like to hear their haunting howls?

"Northern Serenade"-Gray Timber Wolf

soft pastels on UArt sanded paper

7" x 7"

Sold

www.colettetheriault.com

Large Wolf Painting Wildlife Art

Below are some photos of a pastel painting I sold earlier this year.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing your own work proudly hanging in a client's home! Feeling elated!

Gray (Timber) Wolf Painting in pastel SOLD!

After doing a few more touch ups this morning, I finally call this painting done! I haven't created a large painting of this size for a while because they take so much time to complete. Although, some of you might remember I did start this piece early last year, I had to put it aside to concentrate on more pressing work. One of my New Year's resolution was to finish this piece before starting any new paintings.

I hope you enjoyed watching it progress, albeit, rather slowly, I admit. I hope I haven't bored any of you with my many updates as I felt at times it would never progress to the final stage!

So here is my first painting of 2014!

"Proceed With Caution"
(Grey Wolf)
Pastel
16" x 26"
to view more of my work, visit my website www.colettetheriault.com

Forest wolf painting update

Well, I'm finally back at work on this big painting of mine. After spending nearly a week working on re-designing a whole new website (not quite done yet), I felt I could hear the wolf calling me to finish painting him.

Previously, I had completed the front leg and foot but did not post the update due to troubles with blogger again.
On this step I darkened the back leg and added the back foot of the wolf. Then I slowly and painstakingly began to add the short grasses and some ground debris that make up the forest floor. And yeah, I still have to go back and make some touch ups on the fur...but no worries, I am used to that!

 

Wolf face painting details...

Here is a closeup photo of the wolf's face, showing more detail, especially on the "white" areas. I am continuing to build up layers of pastel but not quite done the wolf's face just yet.  Stay tuned for more updates on this stalking wolf painting!

Wolf Painting update

I have been having issues in the past few days uploading images to blogger which is one reason for the delay in posting an update of the wolf painting progress.  To be fair however, I have been putting off working on the painting because of the busy holidays, making art videos and working on a new website...so there was a slight learning curve involved!

Anyhow, here is the latest on my wolf. The photo is actually pretty terrible and much of the values and subtleties are lost but I will try to do better on the next update.

Wolf gaze...painting in progress

After working hard to get the eyes to look realistic, I think I am now satisfied with the wolf's gaze. I may go back and do some tweaking but for now, I have to finish that back leg!  

 

The eyes have it...painting the windows to the soul!

Like many portraitists, I usually begin a painting by starting with the eyes. It is most important to get them just right so I won't continue a painting until I am satisfied them. You can see from the image below that I have done the exact opposite in this case.  Since this painting is large for my standards,  I had to work my way down the painting as opposed to working from the eyes outward to prevent smudging of the black pastel. Now wouldn't that be a disaster!  

 

I hope you enjoy following the progress of this wolf painting. Please share if you like!

 

Today's painting update of stalking gray wolf (pastel)

For now I am leaving the ears and moving on to painting the left side of the wolf's head. I will probably go back to touch up the ears again later but they will have to do for now.  I've included an enlarged cropped section of the ears to see the detail of the fur. Too bad my camera could not capture the richness of the colors but that will have to wait until I am ready to do the final scan.

 

 

Note the difference in the shape of the ears from this update to the previous entry.

Stalking wolf painting update: those furry ears!

It seems I am stalling at finishing the ears of my wolf...perhaps that is because I am having some difficulty with them.
The main reason is because the original reference image had the ears folded back and I did not want to portray them that way on my painting as I felt it made the wolf look too mean. So I hunted the reference library for "better" forward facing wolf ears to use as a guide. 
You may notice the ears are now slightly smaller and shaped differently from my original outline. Let's hope this works! 
My second excuse is I am having trouble getting focused on painting during this busy holiday season. Too many things to do in so little time but I do hope to finish him before the new year!!

Still painting more wolf fur!



On this step the fur on the wolf's back was done in many layers of carefully applied pastel. It is unfortunate that this photo does not capture the detail of the fur accurately. I will attempt to take a better photo for the next update.

 



Underpainting fur

On this step, I continue to work on the underpainting for the body fur. Many layers of pastel still need to be added to achieve the look of his luscious coat.

 

It will be a while before I can begin painting his beautiful face but first things first! 

 

What Wild Animal Painting is on my easel?

Some of you might remember this painting I started many months ago and only progressed to the storage bin.  It is a large piece for my standards, and part of the reason for the delay was that I needed to acquired a stand up easel to complete the piece. But enough excuses...here is a bit of background I added today. 

 

Timber Wolf Painting in Pastel ~ Dreaming of Eden

After today's work in the studio, I have reached that point of not wanting to work on this painting anymore for fear of turning it muddy. I am sure any painting could be worked to death, looking for further improvements, but I have to call this wolf portrait done!

The title I chose is self explanatory...I can't help but feel for the plight of the wolf since no animal has been persecuted so cruelly throughout history and continues to be to this day.

The wolf portrayed in this painting lives at Kisma Preserve , Mount Desert, Maine. He was rescued as a pup from people who were keeping him illegally and unfortunately, due to his age and tameness, could not be released back into the wild.  I had the opportunity to meet and photograph him and his cage mate last August so watch for more wolf paintings to come!



"Dreaming of Eden"
~ Timber Wolf Painting~
Size: approx. 13" x 15"
Medium: pastel

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 #7 of wolf painting

After spending a whole afternoon doing website updates on my main site (and other time consuming shores around the house), I am now back in the studio, at least for the remainder of this day.

 In this step of the wolf portrait, I've added more of the body fur to the left and also added more detail to the short fur on top of the wolf's head. You might have noticed that the shape of the muzzle is slightly distorted at the tip but this is only temporary, as you will soon find out.

WIP #6 of wolf painting

In this step, now that the other ear has been added, the subject is beginning to look more like the wolf  it should be. I like to pass that stage of a painting as it gives me a visual overview which makes it easier for me to determine if the subject is turning out like I want it to.

WIP #5 of wolf painting

Well, I did set out to do what I intended for today and that was to complete the wolf's left ear. During the next sitting, I plan on continuing laying down the fur of the cheek and then starting the other ear.

WIP #4 of wolf painting

In today's sitting, I decided to finish the upper part of the painting. I think I should best work the ears next and then continue to add the layers to the fur on top of  the head. In this manner, I will avoid working over top of already finished areas.
The image below represents the approximate dimensions of what will be the finished piece.