Fur In The Paint

Here’s my progress thus far on my lambs. Still not liking the cute thing, but what am gonna do about it? I put down brown paper so when I color the deckled edges I don’t completely mess up my drafting table.

These lambs are from our first year crop of lambs. A few years after we moved to Iowa we decided we needed to raise some livestock and we thought sheep were the critters for us.

We bought about a dozen ewe lambs of mixed heritage and let them mature fully. We like to think of our critters health in terms of the long haul, and waiting a little longer to breed them was they way to go. So when the time finally came, we went shopping for a ram. Since we had so few ewes, and since we intended to keep the ewe lambs, we picked out an older (cheaper) ram, which we would replace the following season.

He was a handsome stately gentleman, whom we named Chester. (why? Mike liked the sound of it. And of course “He just looks like a Chester.”) Chester was gentle, and there was nothing bully-like in his behavior at all. (You know, what you actually picture a ram’s personality to be.)

Well the girls loved him. He was always surrounded by two or three ewes, nuzzling his nose and ears, leaning against him and just in general following him around like a bunch of groupies. They never gave him a moments rest.

A few short weeks later we found him dead in the paddock. No coyotes or anything noticeable as to why he died. So we just surmised it was old age. Chester had done his job though. Every ewe had at least one lamb.

The following season we got a new younger ram. The girls wanted no part of him. He was course where Chester was gentle. He harassed them while Chester just let them come to him. It was then that it dawned on us that perhaps the girls had just sexed Chester to death. I mean he was older, but they really just kept after him the whole time. Nothing rough, just always gently touching him and surrounding him, grinning and winking.

Not sure if there is a moral here. Maybe, guys be kind to the ladies and you’ll get all the nookie you can handle? Hmm. Probably not appropriate comment for my g-rated blog huh? All I know is we never got another ram who the ewes like half as well as Chester. And oddly enough in the many years that followed, we never liked any other ram half as well either.

Well I am back to working on my lambs. They are coming along well enough. The photo here is (as usual) not so great. It is missing all the subtle soft color changes that I worked so hard on, and is making the colors transitions look harsh.

They are just a little too cute for my taste. I don’t really do cute. Yet somehow I am struggling to keep them from becoming even more cute. They are just about Easter card material as it is. Not sure what my problem is, other than doing baby animals lends itself to cute. (Sigh) I suppose the good news is, that by being cute they will pretty much be sure to be popular.

Well . . . I warned you that I might decide that it was in my best interest to do several smaller pieces, rather than commit to trying to get one large painting done. I still have a few sheets of the smaller handmade paper left. This one is on a 8 1/2 x 11. She is just barely begun though I should finish her up tomorrow. (most likely) The background is going to be an emerald green.

The one thing I really like about these little guys is that I can do some images that I like, but are not really full scale painting material. Like this image for instance. Generally I avoid painting complete profiles, like I avoid brownies with nuts. But for these little paintings, I get to not take the whole art thing so seriously.

My bear will wait until I feel that I can commit all my attentions to it. I really like my concept and don’t want to mess it up because of all the upcoming interruptions like art fairs. He will be back though. I promise.

Bear drawing reworked
Here is my re-drawn bear. I am much happier with the hind leg. I may still raise the front leg up a bit more. I also adjusted my bears position in the composition. I usually try to work on boards larger than I need, so I can adjust the image size as I go. Currently this piece is 19 x 26. I need to quit fussing over it and just get after it.

Long ago in another life. . .
Bears (and wolves for that matter) are rather dear to my heart. At one time (long, l-o-n-g ago) I worked in a wildlife park where I was very hands on with bears, wolves and a myriad of other wild and dangerous beasties. I was hired when a keeper quit, after being attacked by a mountain lion. (He survived. Fortunately when the cat pounced, they fell into the electric fence.) They hired me because women tended to do better with the animals, in the area I was hired for. And because as someone with a vet tech background, I could spot a distressed or ill animal.

So you see, I haven’t always been a Midwest, middle aged woman, living the quiet life as an animal artist. No siree. There was a time when I not only danced with wolves, but I conversed with cougars, and I . . . Ummm . . . Whats a B-word that goes with bears? Brawled? No, not really. Had I brawled with bears I wouldn’t be a middle aged artist living the quiet life, now would I? Ummm bantered, bargained, boogied?

Anyway, I had a few close calls with some of the predators. (I may even post a story or two.) But frankly, it was the raccoons and pronghorn antelope that I really dreaded getting inside the pen with. Go figure.

I’ve got a couple of good excuses as to why I haven’t been posting new artwork. Honest First of all, I finished up my article for the next issue of Apples N’ Oats magazine, a week early! That’s two times in a row. WhooHoo! Also been doing loads of bookwork, like preparing my sales tax figures. Not really a whoohoo, but nice to get it done. And then of course, tis the season for the gallery to get busy. So now that I feel perfectly righteous in my slacking off with the art thing, I thought I would go ahead and show you some of what I have been doing art-wise.

I am putting aside my draft horse by the trailer and moving on. He is almost done and I am sure I will finish him up some time this week. I am hankering for a change. So on this past Sunday, I got three different non-horse critters drawn out. The one that is calling to me the most is this, an Alaskan Brown Bear. I was actually looking for a small bear image to put onto handmade paper, but when I ran across this photo I had an Aha! moment.

So I decided to go large-ish. And of course to add to the challenge, I not only used a reference photo with water, but also decided to move his legs around. This is a zoo bear and it is overweight. Or I may have taken this photo in the fall when it was gaining for hibernation. But it is still more pudge than I want. I am not sure that my painting will reflect any particular season, so best shed a few pounds. I imagine it would be hard to keep a captive bear at its ideal weight. I mean it’s not like zoo bears are running after elk or anything.

I don’t think I am completely satisfied with this pose. I most likely will extend the foremost, hind leg back farther. This will help give him more movement and not make such a straight line along the edge of my painting. Also I may raise a front paw as well, leaving it slightly held in the air. Not sure, but I don’t like the square, boxy shape that I have right now.

Well, it has been a chaotic ten days or so. Budda has been sick. We’ve had multiple vet trips (the last one we traveled an hour away to get some blood work done.) He quit eating. Not entirely, but only a handful of pieces of cat food per day. He normally consumes about 2 cups. I even offered canned stuffs, not cheapo ones either. He got Fancy Feast chicken and cheese soufflé. Let me tell ya, I think had I nuked it and put it on a plate, Mike would have eaten it. Anyway, I have never had an animal with this sort of problem. After much $$$ turns out he is healthy. Or should I say, disease or organ problems were not the cause. Best professional guess is, he was partially impacted in the gut. As long as he ate something, it was a wait and see. Had he stopped eating entirely, it probably would have meant surgery. The good news is, he is back to being ravenous and is bouncing off the walls. (literally)

The other thing is, I have a patron coming on Saturday to pick up one (maybe two) original paintings. I’m not sure how far it is from Ohio to Iowa, but I figured I should at least clean the cat hair off from everything. Thus my blogging and art making has suffered a bit this week. I’ve got plans, though I imagine it will be a few days before I am back to doing anything artsy.

So for today, this is all I have to offer. I am not completely satisfied with my trailer, as of yet. I kinda wanted it to be very subtle and it is a little too prominent for my taste. (though in this photo it is very washed out. I think my camera flashed and I didn’t notice.) Also, I want to darken his butt and neck area up a bit. Give him even more pop. And lastly, I haven’t come up with a name for him yet. Field Day perhaps? I’ve done too many draft horse paintings to be creative with their titles anymore. As always any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Latest WIP
Here’s the latest work in progress. The color is way over saturated but you get the idea. The coloration from the previous post is much closer.

I will post How To Frame Oil Pastels Part3 tomorrow.

The Shire
I was watching the end of BBC America World News (waiting for Kitchen Nightmare’s to begin) and they had a small segment on the Shire horse breed. The Shire has been a symbol of British heritage for centuries. Currently though, they are dieing out faster than they are replacing themselves. It has been projected that they may become extinct (in the UK) within 10 years, unless something is done. The good news is, the global gene pool is strong.

I must say I am surprised in this day and age of cloning, embryonic transfer and frozen sperm, that extinction in a domestic animal was even possible.

It seems, that currently the Shires that are being bred, are primarily for show purposes. Oddly enough, those people who are actually interested in getting a good work horse are buying Percherons. The French have national studs and work hard to promote their breed. It is estimated that they need at least 300 Shire fillies born each year to maintain the status quo. Last year 150 fillies were born and 50 mares were exported, so only an additional 100 mares were added to the population. Unless steps are taken, the Shire may go the same way as the Suffolk, and fade into history.

The photo here, is of a handsome shire stallion, taken at the MN Horse Expo a couple of years back.

From Concept to Creation
This oil pastel, is as of yet, un-named. I am considering a couple of things, but nothing is firm. The size is currently 16×23.

I don’t think I realized just how much my artwork was influenced by compositional elements, until I started my artist journal, followed by the magazine articles and now the blog. I have always been sort of a visceral artist. I never really devoted great deals of thought, about how and why I do what I do. But since I have been keeping a constant written commentary about my artwork and how it’s created, I have really learned a lot about myself and my work.

Composition
It is the simple looking portraits that rely heavily on composition to make them interesting. It becomes about form and line, pattern and negative space.

The real desire for doing this painting was (as always) the horse. I love him. He is part of a matched team of Percherons that I had seen at two different events last summer. This guy in particular is stunning. I followed him around like a groupie, madly snapping pictures. His expressive eye and head shape are simply gorgeous. The reference photos below, are from both events. These are my main photo references for this painting. But I have around 20 others on my drafting table to look at for various reasons. Including another team that I photographed 15 some odd years ago, at a pull in South Dakota.

I could say putting him in front of a steel trailer, was totally a commentary on the draft horse’s usefulness in todays society, as most drafts aren’t really workers anymore. But in truth, I liked the compositional elements of the geometric shapes, set against his soft curves. I chose a roached mane (shaved close to the neck) because it strengthened the vision of that iconic working horse. And I will put him against the steel trailer (actually, it is probably aluminum) because of the symbolism it represents.

Subtle Differences
I spent around 20 hours draw time on him. This would seem to me a good argument for projecting. That being said, I made several small changes that I would not have been able to do, unless I had the ability to draw what I see. So please, learn to draw first, then project when necessary.

Most of the draw time was spent on the harness, which always takes a huge amount of time to get right. Also, I changed my mind in-process and had to re-draw the collar area. At first, my drawing didn’t have the reins draped over the hames of the collar. I thought it made the image too complex. But once I decided to removed the bridle and to roach the mane, suddenly it needed them there to add interest. I also changed the harness from a modern BioThane to a leather. I just love a horse that looks like it works for a living.

Quick Tip
I cannot draw a horse facing left, from a photo of a horse facing right. A person who is more photoshop loving than I, could just scan it in, flip the image, print it out and tah da! But being more lazy than that, I just held the photo face up to my table light, and drew from the ghost image on the back. All I really needed was the basic shapes. I have used my lamps to reverse the image many times. Extremely quick and quite effective.

So here’s the latest on my work in progress (WIP) on Catch’s portrait. I am totally loving working with watercolor pencils again. But it is really kinda of hard on my hands. The callus that was on my index finger from years of being a pencil artist, has all but disappeared in the past two years of working in oil pastel. Maybe it’s because I am getting older and my joints can’t take the stress like before. Or maybe it is just because I am going at it full tilt, and working 4-7 hours at a whack every day, (having too way much fun to stop.) But my hands are all achy and crampy. Sigh.

Anyway, here’s the worst bit. So I go and stand by my husband who is working on the computer, and say something similar to the above paragraph, but with a whining intonation. He briefly glances at me. I hold up my hand in a claw-like gesture like I’m some B-movie villian, to impress upon him the severity of my condition. Mike, never one to pander to my whining, rolls his eyes, looks back to the computer and says “Well babe, there’s a reason you switched to oil pastels.” Humph! Maybe I’ll go talk to the cat.

I had big plans on doing a proper post today, about watercolor pencils. But as I am feeling a bit under the weather it will have to wait until tomorrow. I did however, get the go-ahead on my new horse painting, a portrait of Catch. The painting is currently 15″ x 22.” This size may change because my compositions usually expand and contract as I work.

I had completely forgotten (or blocked from my memory perhaps?) The amount of effort required in layering in the color. This represents about 8 hours of work, and the face is not yet completed. However, I am having a blast working with the pencils again. I love the effects that they provide. And apparently, I also forgot how much fun, being anal about all the tiny little hairs was. (Sigh, its like coming home.)