Fox Play, work in progress 5.

It's coming along. I was a little afraid to post a work in progress, "in progress". Although I do it a lot, you have no guarantees anything good will happen. You might end up throwing the painting in the trash, then you'd have to tell everyone that's what happened to you!

These fox are very bright, and that's a got a reason behind it. I want this to look like a "fun" painting. I know I have more to do to this, but I don't know what it will be yet. So while Robert is in therapy today, I'll sit and think about these fox-es. I could hardly sleep last night for thinking of them. It still bothers me how the top fox doesn't really stand out like he should.

In case anyone wants to know, I'm using Rembrandt, Sennelier and Rownery pastels. I like the soft, silky feeling pastels. This was on a green suede board, but it's lost most of the green.
donna

Fox Play, work in progress 4.

I worked on the grass some more and I've been working on the top fox. I almost wonder if I should name this, "Now where is that brother of mine?"
donna

Fox Play, work in progress 3.

This is where I'm at right now in this painting. And the actual painting is larger than this, I've been scanning portions of it because my camera is in the house and I don't want to go get it. At some point today, I'll take a photo of this and you can see the entire thing. It's actual size is 11X14 inches.

I've got a z composition going on in here now, your eye is lead into the picture by the grey dirt at the front of the fox hole, then it goes up the bank and across the other fox.

To the left of center in the painting, is going to be a center of interest and it will be formed by the lightest lights and the darkest darks in the painting. It's going to be kind of a straight line going down from the fox on top, to the strong colors on the bottom fox.

I'm planning for the main focal point of the entire painting, to be the expression on the face of the bottom fox. She knows from experience, her brother is likely to be up there getting ready to pounce on her, but she isn't sure. Her ears are listening as hard as they can to hear him and she's ready to play the game of pounce and wrestle.

When I get to this stage of painting, the painting itself takes over and I don't need to look at my reference photos any longer. It seems the painting tells me what it wants to become. There are times when I stare at it for a long time before I see my next step, other times I can work away for an hour before I have to stop and take stock again.

I want my animals to look "real" but I also want them to look like animals in a painting, not animals in a photo. I want them to have more personality than the photo, and more "life" to them. So I'll make expression on their faces by positioning their eyes, flattening their ears, exaggerating the angles of their feet or the tension in their bodies...Whatever it takes to make them seem more interesting and more lifelike.

It helps to have seen these guys actually playing in the wild. You have first hand experience of what they do and how they do it. You feel the intensity of their play and the strength of their interactions with each other.
donna

Fox Play, work in progress 2.

At this point, I'm kind of playing around with colors and where I want things to be in the painting. With the fox being so orangey, I want a lot of blue in here. I love complementary color schemes. The colors I lay down now, will show through somewhat in the finished work. They might seem strong and to dark now, but they'll be layered over many times with other colors. I like the depth that brings into a painting.

Pastels are fun, you can add many many layers of colors and they seem to melt together in the end.
donna

Fox Play

I'm working on a painting for the Canine Art Guild show, Dog's Just Want to Have Fun. I'm hoping I can get this finished in time for the deadline which is fast approaching.

Do not ask me why I was in such a funk I couldn't paint a thing for the last few months. My mind is so strange, I think it had something to do with being invited to show in a museum show. For some reason, that event boggled my mind to the point I couldn't think about painting. I thought that was an event that would maybe happen right before I died, and to have it happen now, threw me for a loop. I began to wonder what I had to aim for now?

But I finally got myself on track, it's really simple, all I have to do is aim for the next painting, who cares where they go after they're created!

But I am hoping to finish these little fox in time for the Fun show!

I have a photo blog and on that blog, I have a photo story of these little fox playing. There are more pictures of them there if you wish to see them.
donna

"Flower Napper"

This sleeping Belgian was between White Sulphur Springs and Cascade, Mt when I took a picture of him. There were no flowers around him, just green grass. So I added the flowers so I could name him "Flower Napper".
donna

Bluebird on the Barbed

I did this painting yesterday. We found the original bluebird when we traveled back roads from Cascade, Mt to White Sulphur Springs. I took a picture of it and created my painting from what I saw in that picture.

As soon as it dries, I'll post it on ebay, probably sometime next week! I tried scanning it today, and smeared the bird. Had to fix it. It was really wet.
donna