Portrait Marathon: Iker, #18

Iker
acrylic on canvas, 5 x 5
© Xan Blackburn

Iker!  This loooong face belongs to a galgo, a Spanish greyhound, rescued from unhappy circumstances and brought to Canada to live the life of love and luxury provided by his new mom and shared with his canine housemate, Treasure.  

His frightening history has left him feeling like the world is a very dangerous and untrustworthy place, but he's made huge strides since coming to N. America.  I imagined him coming into the light here.  Even if it sort of knocks him a bit sideways!  ;)  

Last but not least in the Marathon is Darlene's Mosa, who's smiling face is a real opposite to Iker's!

Iker - in progress
© Xan Blackburn

Portrait Marathon: #2 Darcy

Darcy
Acrylic on canvas, 5 x 5
© Xan Blackburn 2012

Alrighty!  Darcy swam up out of a clear blue lake, or anyway, that was my experience of painting her!  Watch the animation to see what I mean.

Darcy's mom calls her a "heart healer".  At almost 12 years old, with this sweet face, you can just see her wisdom and compassion.

Next up is Riley, a handsome whippet guy with serious bedroom eyes!

Darcy in progress
© Xan Blackburn 2012

FPM: Faye Oops Portrait Completed!

Faye Oops portrait catching some side-light
© Xan Blackburn 2011

Fall Portrait Marathon, Painting #5: Faye Oops

Faye Oops left her family broken-hearted last week.  While her passing was gentle, with her loved ones present, it is never easy to lose the ones we love.

Even though so much of my work is to give a lasting memory of a pet who has already moved on, it still gets to me.  I got stalled out very close to finishing, finding it hard to give the portrait the right feel of quiet contentment, rather than mourning.

While I stepped back to catch my breath, I received a surprise foster, who has proceeded to distract me entirely for a few days.  A young borzoi rescued from S. Korea last summer, Coco is timidly making progress with us and our two greyhounds.  You can read more about her here.

I got back to my painting yesterday afternoon, getting it right up to the finish line, then gave it those final touches this morning.

Faye Oops, work in progress
© Xan Blackburn 2011

I'd taken the painting quite a ways since my last post.

Faye Oops where we left off last post
© Xan Blackburn 2011

Here's where I picked up the thread yesterday (the larger image on the right).  Lots of additional darks, and more color in the cushions and on her collar.  We're nearly there.  But, you can see that her muzzle above her dark nose leather is too dark, making her muzzle look short, and what's with the blue under her chin?  Details, details!

Taking my finest brush (I need a new small brush!  :P ), I pursued the tiny hairs and minor details that all add up to the final product.  I'm just going to rush up to the finish line here, so I can get Miss Faye Oops into the spotlight, then into the mail, and me on to the next person in line!  So, without further ado, here she is, Miss FPM #5 herself, the lovely, the Mona Lisa of greyhounds, the much-loved Faye Oops!

Faye Oops
5" x 5" acrylic on deep-sided canvas
© Xan Blackburn 2011

FPM Painting #5: Faye Oops!

Fall Portrait Marathon, Painting #5: Faye Oops

Okay, not exactly "legal" to take a break during a marathon, but, there was Thanksgiving, and I had a sick dog (now much better, and bugging me to play with him), and then there was a lot of communications going on about some rescue dogs coming from Seoul, one of whom I may or may not get to foster, or at least give a ride to.  *update* Nope.  I don't even get to give her a ride.  :(  But, I wish her well in the next phase, and congratulate her foster mom for all that she's done for  Coco so far!

But anyway!  Back to the marathon!

Faye Oops reference photo

Faye Oops, Laura tells me, came to them as a 10 year old bounce last year, and new right away she was in her forever home.  When she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma last month, it made that final horizon look awfully close.  Laura and Faye Oops know each other's souls.  She's "the ultimate cuddle hound", and loves to lay her head up on a pillow as in the picture we're using as reference.

This is the photo, already cropped and the eyes repaired from their flash-bulb blot-out.  I also colored her collar to the royal blue Laura asked for.  I like how her face is a little squished against the pillow.  It's so relaxed and un-posed!

I got started in the usual way, transferring my drawing using pastel.  This time, rather than try to glaze over the whole drawing, I went over it carefully with Payne's gray glaze, since that's what I'd be doing in the next step anyway.  That worked just fine.  I don't know why I make extra work for myself!

Faye Oops - work in progress
© Xan Blackburn 2011

I didn't take any progress pictures between blank canvas and this point, 'cause I was just on a roll!  I had some classic rock going, and I just kept going to the next bit and the next bit.

You can see a bit of the blue pastel has become part of the early paint layers.  That's quite alright.  I picked that color to work anyway.

I've used three colors so far; the Payne's gray, a raw sienna (the pale tan of the couch, and the first layer of color in the eyes) and some red mixed with the payne's and the sienna glazed into the areas where there's a little pink showing, in her nose, lip, ear and the corners of her eyes.  Also glazed some of that mix into her eye color.

I decided to do some of that pattern in the pillow to give some dimension to the pillow, but also to introduce a sort of natural element (the leaves), and because I just felt there needed to be some more action in that large area of canvas.  I plan to keep it subtle, as in the original pillow in the photo.  I plan to add more shading to the couch and pillow, to keep the focus on Faye Oops' intimate gaze.  Camera flashes tend to flatten shadows out, and make everything the same level of importance, but with ART, we can do what we want!  (Saw that in a gallery years ago, and instantly took that as my mantra!)

Most of the underpainting is established.  Now it's all detail; layering up subtle color, stroking in individual hairs for focus, building up both shading and highlights.

Off we go!

FPM Painting #4: Spencer is Done!

Spencer
Acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"
© Xan Blackburn 2011

Fall Portrait Marathon, Painting #4: Spencer


I finished Spencer's portrait the evening before Thanksgiving, but, well, you know, I got busy and didn't post about it right away.  But, hey, you were busy too, right?

Sleepy boy Spencer evolved from looking like a blonde guy with lipstick to this in the usual pattern of layers of color and detail, highlights and shadow, color washes and then some softening, to bring back that feeling of kitty fluffy fur.

Spencer - work in progress
© Xan Blackburn 2011

Let's see it in stages.  When we saw him last post, this is where we left him.  Blonde guy with lipstick.  

Spencer - work in progress
Acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"
© Xan Blackburn 2011

The next thing I wanted to do was to layer in more color in to his colored areas, and really deepen the darks in the stripes.  I used both raw umber and Payne's gray to deepen the stripes and other darkest details, and just Payne's gray to continue to wash in more general shading, even in the white fur, and in the background. I wanted a sense of a soft warm light coming across the corner of the couch to fall on his face, and just glance off his outstretched paw.  Cat fur is so soft that it carries light through it in an almost fog-like way, creating softer shadows than you'd find on, say, a chair or a greyhound.  Shadows filled with soft light.  The area to our right of his muzzle is a good example of this.  I also corrected the shape of the ear on the left a bit, and started shading the background.

Spencer - work in progress
Acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"
© Xan Blackburn 2011

This stage may only look subtly different, but the difference between "okay" and "That's my boy!" is often apparently minor.  I've started refining the couch fabric a bit here, but it's still fairly crude.  I've added in some higher whites on the areas I want the light to play on most; the triangular zone of his face, a touch on his shoulder, a haze on his foreleg.  In glazing in some white on his nose, I've softened it to more of a real nose than a rough red patch.  I've started adding in tiny white details, like some particular swatches of white fur under his eye on the left, and above it, as well.  I've been working on the tone of the colored fur areas, where in some places the background tone is deeper or lighter, with various glazes of raw sienna and raw umber.  Might have been some Naples in there.  

After that, I moved in with glazes of white mixed with a touch of Naples yellow, to warm up that critical triangle, and continued with detailing overall.  Below is a detail shot of Spencer's face in the finished painting, giving some idea of the overall look of the layering and detailing.  Cute little wink, Spencer!

Spencer - Detail
Acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"
© Xan Blackburn 2011

I hope this little painting gives Lisa joy in the years to come.  It was a joy to spend a few days lost in his gentle spirit.

The next portrait in the marathon is another sleepy couch potato.  This one is a sweet-faced black greyhound girl, and the apple of her dog-mom's eye, Faye Oops.  Gotta love that name!

Portrait Marathon: Hailey Done!

As I'm typing this, I'm waiting for the paint to dry enough to safely scan the portrait, so I'll kill some time showing you the interim steps.

After the last step I showed you, I kept deepening my darks and adding detail.  I also started adding some color, beginning with yellow, as you can see here in the eyes and collar.  Not too impressive, right?

Now, that's some color!  I've also started to lay in my highlights.  Starting on a darker-than-white canvas means I can really pick and choose when and where to add highlights.  They really helped me begin to see Hailey as a 3 dimensional face!  The background colors are ... um ... bright!  It's kind of neat, but I thought I'd eventually tone them down a bit.  I like how the eyes are shaping up.
I'm still pretty worried about how red she is, but there's a lot still to do, so onward.

It may be subtle, but laying in a layer of the same hot blue you see in the corners (much diluted) helped a lot in terms of cooling off those hot red-browns, and adding some dimension.  By washing on the blue over some of my highlights, I was able to push them back in space, letting her muzzle come forward.

Let's see if my paint is dry enough to scan the painting ....  Yup.  Okay, scanning ....

There she is!

I washed her over and over with ultramarine blue glazes, but that red was just so strong, I eventually had to break down and use some Payne's gray, which has a greenish cast to it, and is very dark, to neutralize some of the red, and get my darks as dark as I wanted them to be.  I toned down the background, went back in to do little whiskery places, stepped back and thought, "Hm.  I could stop.  It looks pretty good.  But maybe just a little bit of that warm blue reflecting in some spots ...."  I mixed up a thin wash, and laid some along the top of her head, and in a few other strategic areas, and decided she was finis!

I really like how she came out.  My husband says her nose just pops right out at you, and I feel her smile is happy and warm.  I hope Maureen likes her portrait!

Tomorrow, it's on to Judy's MikiToo.  There's some real drama in that one!  I'm looking forward to it.

Portrait Marathon: Hailey begins

Hailey's portrait is starting off a little differently than usual.  Typically, I start with a blank canvas, transfer my drawing, and then do the underpainting, usually in dark blues, not working on the background 'til I've got the underpainting well underway.

I decided to try a different route with Hailey.  She's a black greyhound, and I want to finish her off with some blues, both in highlights and shadows, with a warmer background.  So, this time I started by covering the canvas with a layer of Naples yellow, then my drawing, and then this huge departure of doing the underpainting in these deep reddish browns.  It's a bit of an experiment, really.  I'm sure it will work out, I'm just not sure what it will look like along the way.

The first image is where I'm getting  a feel for the mix of color I'm using, and establishing the darker shadows.  It's okay, but it's not getting the darks dark enough, so, as the second picture shows, I went back in with burnt umber in the darkest areas.  I'll probably keep layering in, maybe with Payne's gray, or some deep blues to cool off the shadows.  I'm happy with it so far.

This is the  reference image.  You can see there won't be much left of any yellow when I'm done,.  Nor of warm reddish browns, for that matter!

That's where we're at at the end of work for today. I'll be back at it in the morning!

Bella's Portrait Update

I will sleep on it, but I think ... I'm feeling pretty well finished with Bella's portrait.

I was really enjoying building and building up the layers of watermelon and ultramarine blue and lemony yellow, balancing towards one or the other in different areas.  When I went back in with some tinted white glazes, everything really popped into 3-D for me.  I hope it shows in the scan.  (I'm actually waiting for it to dry right now, and will insert the scan when it is ready.)

Black dogs are their own kind of fun to paint, since, like white, black reflects every color.  You can really play with that, as I have here.  You'd think that a hot pink and purple dog would look like a circus clown's best friend, but she still reads as a black dog.  Don't you think?

Back to the Marathon!

*tap tap* Is this thing on?  *cough! ahem.*

Oh, hi!

I haven't forgotten about y'all, or the marathon I left hanging before the holidays.  See?  Here's Bella, in progress.  Too funny, huh?  She's going to be colorful, very, when I'm done with her.

As you can see, she's in the underpainting stage, with most of the values (darks and lights) established.  Some fine-tuning to do yet, but pretty much there.  Next stage is to start glazing in the colors.

I'm using a glazing medium this time (a clear liquid gel added in varying amounts to the paint on the pallet), which should make the final painting really luminous, like layers and layers of stained glass.  But, you know, not thick or breakable.  Usually, I just use water to thin my washes, because I sometimes feel the glazing medium messes up the surface.  Or, rather, I mess up the surface by trying to work too fast on top of incompletely dried paint, which then breaks the film, leaving hard edges with bald holes in the middle.  They're very hard to correct, those edges and holes.

So, I'm pacing myself carefully with this one, because I really want to use the medium for it's final effects.

It's dry now, so I'm going back to it.  See you in the next stage!

OH, wait!  While I still have you, let me ask you something.  Who's thinking of participating in the free tutorial announced on my Events page?

Here's what I'm thinking about that.  I described it, and posted it, but the more I think about it, it's so NOT "free"!  If you don't happen to have either the specific program or a tablet and stylus, it would cost you in the neighborhood of $150, minimum, to gear up.

I'd like to re-think the tutorial idea in a more user-friendly way.  Is there something you've seen in my work that you'd like to learn how to do?  What tutorial WOULD you participate in?  Painting?  Photoshop stuff?  Drawing?  What do you think?

As always, I value your input!  Thanks ahead of time!
Xan

Portrait Marathon: Bella is up next

Bella!  What a funny picture!

This is going to take some imagination, and some help from photoshop to find some detail in the lower half of her face, but the pose is too funny to waste.  I can't wait to get started.

I hope you'll follow along with the progress!

First things first, though.  Gotta feed my zoo!

Back in a bit!