February 23 2022
This is going to be a challenge. Appropriately sized for a nice big elephant painting, with all the detail I love putting into my wildlife art. Here you can only just see the drawing in of the very light yellow ochre chalk image to establish basic shapes before I fix it in place with paint. With this level of oil painting I will do a warm monochrome undercoat with some of the detail worked up. It does look like a big white canvas even if there is a faint drawing there but that is where you start
Enjoy.
February 2022
Some progress.
I find this part of the process quite satisfying. Carefully drawing in the shapes first and then painting the lines of the artwork in to make them permanent. I like to actually draw the image in by hand as this helps me learn more about the image as I go. I find I pick up more intricate subtleties in the lines and shapes of the subjects with the careful attention it requires to draw them in by hand. Personally I find this process important to inform the beautiful anatomical structures of the wildlife I depict. It is always a learning process no matter how many times I have drawn a subject. Now I can see what it looks like on that large white mounted canvas. I can’t wait to start painting now that the outlines are established. At the same time I enjoy the returning memories of experiences in the african bush where the inspiration came from. The ever present challenge of rendering in a painted image that feeling that I felt at the time. Enjoy
March 3 2022
I love it when the block in stage is nearing completion. I start to gain a sense of what this painting will look like. Even though I have a very long way to go with this artwork, the tonal range is basically established along with the sense of light on the main subject. I hope to create that air of tension you feel when there are unsettled bull elephant at the water hole. Perhaps a touch of hilarity in this one too. I hope you enjoy this stage, a little more than a line drawing now. #worldwildlifeday
Leave a Reply