Tom Brady Courtroom Sketch

I'm only going to say one phrase - Tom Brady artist's sketch.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Part 4 - Wolf - Fifth Painting in Animal Series

Here he is in all his glory.  I love him.  I think I'm going to call him 'Wolfe.'

For sale: 24" x 30" - $800.00

 I left him on my table so you could have a reference on size.  This is really close to its true colors.

A word on black.  Most artists, myself included, do not use straight black in a painting.  You have to be really careful with it or it will look like a big, black hole.  I almost always mix another color into my blacks, or use a nice Payne's Grey.

This painting, however, seemed to beg for black.  The strong blacks and golds work together to make it really dynamic.  This is not a subtle, over the couch painting.  It's a take over the room painting.  Good color choice.

You can find the other animals in this series in my previous posts through the past few months.  The first one was a lion.  I took my dad to the doctor and they wouldn't let me go in with him.  So... I did a lion sketch from a magazine.  When I got home, I thought... "I could paint a lion..." and the rest is history.

In the series:
My first lion, which I named 'King.'  He's up for sale in the DaVinci Gallery in Tomball.
I did another lion, which I call 'Paradise,' as a commission.  Done, beautiful, and sold.
Next was a wildly colored tiger which I named 'Circus.'  He's a handsome fellow I can't let out of my studio just yet.
Then ... well... lions and tigers and bears!  A huge, colorful bear with a simple and thoughtful expression... kind of like he has Alzheimer's.  I call this one 'Oh, My!'

Last, my friend shown above, 'Wolfe.'  A regular menagerie. :)  Satisfied.

Wolf Painting in Process, Part 3 (5th Painting in Animal Series)

Okay, background done.  Now it's time for wolfie.  This photo will show my next step.  You can see the laydown of black paint getting everything in place.  Once I've got things established, it's a matter of going around and adding values.  

I work the entire painting at once, which makes it more cohesive when it's finished.

Most of the 'abstract' brushstrokes from my previous session I'm trying to leave untouched and uncovered.  I like the way the abstract strokes and drips show through his features.

Most of his furry mane I'm going to leave to the imagination.  Everyone knows what a wolf's mane looks like, and I like the looks of the gold drips.  If I wanted it to look exactly like a wolf, I'd take a photo.




I always save the eyes for last.  For me, it's the icing on the cake.  The butter on the toast... the Bailey's in the coffee... the butter on the POPCORN...

Definitely popcorn tonight.

I digress.

Here's a nice closeup of my friend, which includes my favorite spot in the painting, that wild gold splat pointing toward his eye.

You can also see that in just a few chosen places, I added touches of a deep grey-green to unify everything.  THAT, my friend, is the powdered sugar on the doughnut!

Check Part 4 out for the final. :)  For sale.

Wolf Painting in Process - Part 2 (5th in Animal Painting Series)

Here we have the process showing how I arrived at my fine furry friend.  My first step was to paint the background.  Only two paints were used, a nice, thick gold, and black.  This is the most limited palette I've had in a very long time.  I wanted a very serious wolf, with the concentration of focus on his eyes.  That will do it.

 This first photo shows the entire canvas.  This may look like child's play, but you have no idea how many times I had to take it back down to the canvas or wash off portions to get it just right.

At this point, even before,  I knew exactly where the facial features would be and wanted a particular underlying of textures in designated places.  That's not exactly easy when you paint in this manner.

Here is a close-up of one spot in the painting.  Hopefully you can see from this how reflective that wonderful gold paint is!

I like it already!

Part One - Fifth Painting in Animal Series Finished!

Well, today I met myself coming and going.  I literally had to drive six 'legs,' leaving and coming home three times.

In the midst of all this, school has BEGUN!  I've got students everywhere, and getting them signed up, registered, getting supplies straight and figuring out where we're supposed to be every day has literally had me coming and going!

In the meantime, I needed to finish this painting, finished another one for a patron who has commissioned me, and have been brainstorming all week on my next commission piece.

And here is my new ... well, I can't exactly say pet, because he looks rather predatory... how about this... here's my new friend.  Yes.  He IS my friend.  I love his colors and his beautiful green eyes.  There is no brown in this painting, it's all gold and blacks.  The gold is very reflective and lends a really stunning effect.

The first in my animal series was a lion which I named King.  I did a second, stunningly gorgeous lion for a patron who commissioned me to do a different size, and that one looks like a glowing gem out of the Garden of Eden.  Then followed a very colorful tiger, which I named 'Circus,' and a friendly bear that I named, 'Oh, My!'  Last in the series of... how many... lion, lion, tiger, bear, wolf.  Five!

Here he is!  Another big painting.  For sale -  $800.00.

Final on Bear Painting! "Oh, My!"

Yay!  The final!  I decided to leave my eyes a little off kilter to go with the eyebrows.  It gives him, I think, a contemplative, quizzical look, and I like it.  Maybe just a little bit goofy.

One little aspect that photos can't show is that he has a beautiful glaze of thin gold from his forehead down over his nose.  You can see the blues and whites through it, but that gold glaze really catches the light and reflects beautifully. It warms him up and makes you love him.

I went around the eyes quite a few times, wiping off paint and crayon a number of times to get them just right. Although I've gone around the eyes all these times, I'm still making sure that the under painting shows through, including a gold splat on his left eye.  For me at least, perfection is boring. Although I greatly admire Bouguereau, one of my favorite artists, another of my favorite artists, Peter Max, found Bouguereau very inspiring, too.  And Peter Max's work is definitely not perfectionistic like Bouguereau's!  Little surprises like a gold splat in one eye make for much more fun viewing, at least from my viewpoint.

 Last step, the gleam.

I've decided to name this painting, 'Oh, My!'

Yes, he is for sale.  24" x 30"   $700.00 out of my home, $800.00 once I get him to the Gallery. He needs a good home!

Bear Painting, Part Three

All right, Mr. Bear is all laid down.  Proportions are all correct, most of  that left-brain work is done.  Now comes the fun part.  This is where I thin the paint, in my case today it's Payne's Grey, and lay down some gradiated values, chiaroscuro, if you will.

After that comes the fun part - adding in the colors.  I work around the painting, the entire painting at once, to lay down colors that compliment the background.  This part of the painting process is definitely the most fun part.

The differences between the two pictures I have here are subtle.  This process has taken me a few days because I want to make sure it's balanced and that there aren't any gratuitous marks.

I've left the eyes for last, so they're not done yet.  That will be the very last step.

Bear Painting part Two

Okay, now that we've established what the painting IS, or should I at least say what it's destined for, let's go a little further.

In the previous post, you saw how I had done an outline with crayon.  Once I get all the lines and proportions correct, I go over it with paint.

Here's my first paint sketch. I like how his eyebrows are off kilter.  Gives him a Jungle Book Baloo kind of goofy expression.  Like he's thinking, but not quite sure WHAT he's thinking.

Mystery Background Revealed! Bear, Part One

As you saw in my post a few days ago, 'The Continuing Saga of the Desk Top,' I had a background worked up.  In case you couldn't figure out what it was destined for, I'll tell you!  Here it is developed a little more...

Can you tell what it is yet?

I'm guessing not, but if you look at the little pic stuck onto the easel, maybe that'll give a better hint. :)