I have trouble starting something new....I think it's the 'blank canvas' syndrome....I'll even do the ironing to avoid a new beginning.
Doing the initial drawing and measurements takes an age sometimes but once I'm happy with the composition and proportions, I'm off!
After putting in a background (this may change later but it's always better to do this first as much as possible) next come the eyes....for me there's nothing worse than two empty holes staring back....as soon as they are in place, the character starts to appear and I have someone to relate to.
So then it's time to find the 'undercoat'....the colours that will create a background to the visible coat....to create form and shade. It's hard to describe...sometimes if you squint, you can see it better. With these two, for the one on the left it's a sort of pinky brown and the right one, a pale mushroom or warm light grey. This gets darker and lighter in tone depending on how much shadow there is but it's basically the same colour.
I also like to use a pale blue and a green to create shadow. Green is in fact a very important colour when it comes to animal fur and in portraiture.....but it has to be the right green which comes with experience really. The right one can lift the whole feel of the painting quite subtly and give a depth to the coat.
So as you can see, I got on quite well today...I think I could finish it in another half a day. I usually get to a point where I need to leave it for a while so that I can figure out exactly what it needs for me to declare it finished...sometimes this can take a very long time...I'll look at it in a mirror which often helps to show up any strange things that are going on with it which I can't see the right way round! I've even been known to 'take it by surprise' ...all proper artistic techniques of course!
Now being new to blogging, I can't seem to be able to upload a photo to show you what I'm talking about....go to www.facebook.com/sueorreygoddenartist to see the results until I figure out where I'm going wrong! Back soon. x
