Painting in progress

So I wanted to share the progress one of my latest paintings, which there was a sketch of last week. It's still not quite finished but its almost there. The finished painting will probably be uploaded to my deviantart account next week so check it out then. There's another painting that I would really like to share but it has to wait a couple of months but I will do a WIP (Work in Progress) for it and talk about it when I am able as I think it came out pretty well.


Work in Progress: In a Melting World

So here's the sketch that I showed last week:

So this was creating a basic composition for my painting and the elements I wanted in it. The parallel lines across the bears face are to help keep facial features in proportion.

Here I've finished most of my background. First I did a block coat of blue as a base layer and let it try before another coat of blue and some shading to create some depth under the bear.

Working on reflections can be particularly challenging at this stage. I concentrated on the ice and the reflections of it and the bear. The base shading of the bear is done both with a warm blue for the main body of the bear and a cool blue of the water's reflection.

At this point I had done most of the shadows and highlights in the body of the bear and had just started putting down the base tones of the head.

Here I've worked again adding the cool and warm blues into the face and the darks of the eyes and nose. I've also added bubbles into the water which adds a sense of movement. This is where I am up to today so hopefully I only need to do finishing touches and sign it.

Furthermore, I think this is the only painting I've actually titled long before painting it as a concept, rather than the usual having no idea what to title paintings. I hope it makes people think a little about the other critters on this planet and how they are doing instead of just the bubble of their immediate surroundings.

Hope you like what I have at this stage!

See gulls

I've just started painting a little study of a beach scene with a gull in the foreground. Sounds simple (and it kind of is really) but when you are painting wildlife it can be important that you get an accurate depiction of the species you are painting (and we're not talking about proportions here). In this case - there are a lot of sea gull species and if you are presenting to a wildlife savvy bunch they're going to know if what you have painted is right or not. If it isn't it can be a little embarrassing as you should know what you are painting. I've certainly made that mistake in the past and it isn't just features it's also their behaviour and habitat. In my case I portrayed a carrion-eating critter as a fierce predator. Whoops.

I've decided to paint a Common gull, so it needs to look like one. So what makes this grey-and-white gull different from all the other grey-and-white gulls? In fact how do you tell any of them apart? Thankfully I have a bird book and to me it seems there are 5 main things that are useful to look at: the bill, the head, the back, wingtips, and the legs.

The bill: this is usually red or yellow in gulls. Some have yellow bills with a red spot for young to aim for to get food from the adults. For me I have to remember the common gull has a shortish yellow bill, no spot.

The head: usually gulls have a white or black head, although the black-headed gull actually has a brown head. Common gull has a white head.

The back: how dark the grey is on the back can be useful, Herring gulls have light silver backs and very dark backs belong to Greater black-backed gulls.

The wingtips: most gulls have black wingtips with white flecks called 'mirrors'. Some lack the mirrors and a few even have white tips such as the Glaucous gull.

The legs: Sometimes this can be sometimes the only real visible difference. Gulls tend to have yellow, pink or red legs. Although the Kittiwake has black legs and the Common gull has green.

So sometimes painting wildlife isn't as always as simple as you think. But I think as an animal painter I should want to learn about the subjects I paint and it certainly helps you enjoy the natural world more when you know more about it!

Here's the process so far.

Roughing out the scene

Making the background more opaque, adding little reflection touches.

Working on some of the gull's details, adding some sand texture and shadow. I still need to work on the foreground, details in the gull and the lighting before I'm done.

First Post

Hello, and welcome to my very first blog! Here I hope to post about my artwork and nature as these are two important elements of my life as an artist and countryside 'dweller'. I hope to have a dedicated website for my artwork in the not-too-distant future but for now people can see my artwork at katie-z.deviantart.com or if you've come from there - Hello!

I am aiming to post at least fortnightly and will be showing paintings or drawings I am working on with a little bit of local nature thrown in.

To all budding artists I recommend joining the forum at WetCanvas at the moment I am taking part in their April Class in the Animals & Wildlife forum getting some practise on painting animal eyes. My dog Jazz is the unwitting subject as I paint her in my sketchbook.

The completed painting can be found here.