Charity Postcard - Leopard Portrait

The exhibition to sell artists' postcards to raise funds for Save the Children has now ended so I feel that I'm finally able to share my painting with you as it had to be anonymous before now. Unsurprisingly I chose an animal theme for my postcard and as the size was so small I chose to paint a close-up portrait of an animal rather an a larger scene so I could capture more detail. I photographed it as I went along so you can see the stages of the painting.

I attended the artists' preview the eve before the exhibition was to be opened so was able to see all the postcards as well as find out whereabouts mine was. It was fun to see it there on the gallery wall and it had even sold by the time I found it!

Here is the finished painting in my hand. Read on to see the stages of how the painting was made below.

Although it was stated the card was suitable for oils I decided to further prime the surface with gesso and finely sand it so I had a smoother surface to work on which I prefer for fine mark-making.

Using thinned down paint I sketched onto the postcard marking on the facial features which included the spots as well as the eyes, mouth and nose. You can just about see the horizontal lines I used to make sure they were aligned which helps prevent proportions from getting skewed. The eyes look a bit creepy at this point as there are no highlights just some general colours and darks. I've also begun blocking in the muzzle colour.

I've added in the highlights to the eyes and it makes such a difference. I've also built up the colour in the eyes and added some detail to the irises. I also added some texture to the nose and roughed out most of the spots and fur below the head which I want to keep fairly lose so not to distract from the face. I also started to add some darker details and colour to the muzzle.

The darkening continues with the cheeks being blocked in. I've also added some fur highlights under the head and around the eye including 'eyelash'-like hairs which helps settle the eyes into the rest of the fur.

The highlights are growing further, working their way to the bridge of the nose. Dark details have been added to the checks and I just started work on the mouth. The same process of blocking, darkening and highlighting continues until the face is done and then the fine details of the whiskers are added to complete the image.

I hope you like it!

Website Announcement!

Hello,

after what has been quite a long time coming my website is now finally up and online, hooray! Please make sure to check it out at www.katiezartist.co.uk. There you will find a range of my artwork both oil paintings and sketches of wildlife and pets as well as some information about me. 

I am now open to commissions for those living in the UK. So if you or someone you know would like to get a piece of artwork made of a pet, let me know! My wildlife art is also available to purchase locally for those in the Kent area. 

Either way I hope you check it out and enjoy what you see. Feel free to ask questions if you have any, give feedback, and so on. It will be regularly updated with new artwork so check back ever-so-often to see what's new.

My website is finally online!

If you live in Kent you might want to check out the Art Postcard Exhibition that is running from the 18th of October through to November 1st. This an event being run during the Canterbury Festival that is being run to raise funds for Save the Children as part of the No Child Born to Die campaign. The idea is that a number of postcards are produced by artists, including some well known ones, to be sold for £25 each but each is sold anonymously without the buyer being aware of the postcard's artist until they buy it.

What is it? It's a mystery for now!

I've contributed something this year which I thought turned out pretty well and I will be posting a Work in Progress for it once the exhibition is over. If you are interesting in visiting the Exhibition it is being held at the Lilford and Stark Galleries in Castle Street, Canterbury. Let's raise lots of money!