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 #3: Skyy is done!

Fall Portrait Marathon, Painting #3: Eliza's Skyy  

Skyy
5" x 5" acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 201

Skyy threw me for some loops.

With her elegantly simple coloring, and gentle gaze, should have been simple, right?  Ah, that's always the way!  It's the simple stuff that's hardest to do beautifully!  But, I couldn't look away from her.  I took her through some pretty strange colors, I changed the direction of her gaze in mid-painting, this particular canvas seemed uncooperatively rough, my brushes seemed to either not let go of the paint, or leave it in puddles ....

But those are just typical growing pains for a lot of my art.  In the end (I think it's the end!), I think it all came together.

Skyy - work in progress
5x5 acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Let's walk through it.  Starting Friday morning at this point. That is a lot of bright color going on there!  If you click on the picture, you can see that I'm not quite clear yet where I'm going to direct Skyy's gaze.  The drawing has turned into the basis for the underpainting by smearing into the polymer medium I used to seal it.  I guess I'll have to just figure that that's the way that works, and control that.

I went at the painting with the Payne's gray to achieve my darkest dark areas, carefully working out the complexity of the ears, and the flow of the hair patterns.  I also worked on the background, glazing the brighter blues with ultramarine, and bringing the cantaloupe orange over into a more Naples yellow range, at least close to Skyy.

Skyy - work in progress
5x5 acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

I decided to move the direction of her gaze up towards us, and started to warm the iris color with a glaze of warm yellow.  But, I'm not liking the effect.  It's too coy.

I also worked on the whites.  Since the blue pastel from the drawing had smudged around so much, it gave me a basis to come UP the scale from, making highlights of whiter-white against the slightly blue-white elsewhere.  I started establishing a shadowed area on her body, behind her muzzle, as well.

Skyy - work in progress
5x5 acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Here you can see I moved her gaze back, but I've messed with the shape of her eye, and will need to correct that as I go.  I've also continued to tone down the background, and push the area behind her muzzle back into the shadows, making her face more prominent.  Notice the pinkish lavender tones now in her lower body.  A lot more detail has gone in, refining the fur, particularly around the eyes.  The nose continues to evolve, and the ears never stop getting more detail and deeper darks.

Skyy
5x5 acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

You can see in the final version that I decided to make some major changes in the background.  I just kept feeling like that wing of orange on the left was too distracting, and tended to stop the eye on its way around the painting.  I also changed the color of the shadowed area of her body behind her muzzle.  That was pretty much a last-minute decision, done while holding my breath, but I like how it came out.  I corrected the shape of her eyes, glazed in many layers of raw sienna (a beautiful red-brown) and raw umber (a very dark brown with much less red in it).  I heightened the white areas on her face by mixing my white with just the tiniest hint of ... well, I don't know what.  Maybe a few things.  That's one of the happy miracles of a slightly messy pallet.  I know there were both browns and maybe even some Naples yellow swimming at the edges of my white.  The effect was to warm the white, separating it even more from the bluish whites around it, and making those warmer areas pop.  I also used my Payne's Gray on the blue areas of the background.  Glazing it in as a transparent layer added a richness to the blues beneath, and also brought them down even darker, allowing Skyy's white face to become the star in the spotlight.

I see a couple small tweaks I want to do on the painting before I send it off, but they won't be really visible here, so I'll leave it at that.

Next up is Lisa's kitty, Spencer.  That boy was loved so deeply, and was such a personality, that a friend of Lisa's who was also part of his life is giving the portrait to her as a gift (which she hasn't been told yet!), and has even written a bit about him.

He'll get his own post, though.

FPM Painting #2: Toni is done!

Toni - work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Fall Portrait Marathon, Painting #2

Toni is all done.  I think.  It's after 11pm, so I may change my mind in the clear light of day.  We'll see.  Right now, I say she's done.

(See the finished version at the bottom of the post.)

Toni's portrait got started 2 posts ago, and we left it in the last post looking like this >>

Above, you can see that a lot more work on the underpainting was done, deepening the darks.  The eyes weren't quite behaving.  I wanted to focus them towards us, with intensity, but they still seem to be looking off over our left shoulder, with an indeterminate expression.  I'll keep working on that.  Watch the shape of the eyes change as I progress.

In this next phase, you can see I've gotten into the highlights, and some more color.  I've dropped in some orange, in the collar and eyes, which are shaping up slightly better, and some pink in the closer ear.  

Toni - work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

I need to work on the couch, too.  I think that's the next thing I did, really laying on that blue, shaping up the arm, with it's pleats and piping, and suggesting the curve of the cushion as it curves under Toni's legs and face.  

A particular challenge here was to keep the brindling warm and dark, or highlighted  more cool, which is less common than the other way around. 

I also found myself layering a lot back and forth into the red-gold stripes, making sure they didn't get too yellow, or brown, or pink (??!!).  

As of right now, I'm pretty pleased.  I think I got enough attention and focus into her eyes to draw and hold our own attention.  The couch seems realistic enough without being more interesting than Toni.  The strongest areas of contrast are right where I want them: in the area around her eyes.  Yes, I think we might be done.  I'm going to go to bed and sleep on it.  

Toni
5" x 5" acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

FPM Painting #2: Toni gets going

Fall Portrait Marathon, painting #2

"Toni," says her mom,

is a pistol!  She's very much a tomboy girl - always wants to rough house and wrestle and play, though both these pics show her more pensive and sweet side.  She's smart and sassy, loves squeaky toys and balls, and LOVES the water!  Her favorite color is orange.

Well, I'm a big fan of orange, myself!  In the Spring Portrait Marathon, I did a portrait of Toni's sis, Dorie, and the color scheme was a *ahem* rather bold red-orange and sky blue.

Dorie
5"x5" acrylic on canvas
©Xan Blackburn 2011

 Chris asked if Toni's portrait would be "similar or complementary to the background for Dorie's."  So, of course, I started my sketch with that in mind.

Toni - SKETCH
Digital.  ©Xan Blackburn 2011

As you've probably noticed, Toni s a gorgeous dark brindle, with gold and charcoal stroking her fur, where Dorie is mostly white, at least on her face.  Big difference.  If I do the background hot orange, it will compete with Toni's gold stripes, and win all the attention.  That won't do.  I finally gave up trying to cool Toni down enough to win over that hot orange background, and reversed the color scheme.  Now, the blue that shows up in Dorie's pirate scarf appears in Toni's background, letting all her golden glory shine.  Here's my ArtRage sketch. --->>>

The colors are in their approximate places; I didn't want to spend too much time on the sketch.  It's just to work out the concepts.  She looks kind of worried in the sketch, but I'll make sure she looks more poised and alert in the painting.  My goal is to get a sense that she's ready to spring off the couch at the slightest excuse.

My own greyhound, Brilly, had a big dental the other day, losing something like a dozen teeth, which has made a rough couple nights for us all, and a couple of days of cleaning up blood and doing laundry.  It's not even 4pm, but since I was up by 4 AM, after about 4 hours' sleep, it feels much ... much ... later.  I'm not going to attempt something with actual paint that I'll have to fix tomorrow; I'm calling it a day!  Sunday during a Portrait Marathon is no day of rest.  I'll be back at it in the morning.  See you tomorrow! 

FPM: Christine's Hailey is done!

Christine's Hailey
acrylic on canvas,  5" x 5"
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Fall Portrait Marathon: First painting is complete.

Christine's pretty fawn greyhound, Hailey, was simply a joy to paint.  This is what I had in my  head while I was working, from Hailey's mom:

Hailey was diagnosed with osteo when we got back from Dewey.  She started limping while she was there.  

... 

Hailey is my sweetpea.  My special princess.  We call her princess a lot of the time.  Princess, angel puff and sweetpea are her nick names.  J  Hailey is my cuddler, my love.  She thinks she’s a lap dog.  She is the sweetest thing on earth but she also has a funny side.  If she wants something and I’m not quick enough, she will stomp her foot at me!!!  I love her.  She’s my life.  All my kids are.  Fur or skin.  She gives me happy teeth all the time and she looks right through me with those eyes!!!

 I didn't want to make a sad painting.  Hailey is alive, and I want to give Christine something that will always remind her of the joy and simplicity, the love and sunny day memories they are still collecting.

Hailey- stage 1

So, how did we get from this >>>
to that up there?

Well, you might remember I was complaining that I was having a hard time transferring my drawing to the canvas, right?  So, what I did was the same thing I did for the big Mystery Painting, basically. I scribbled the back of the drawing with conte crayon (like chalk pastel), flipped it back over, onto the canvas when it already  had this paint on it, and then traced over my drawing nice and hard.  The pastel made a very good transfer, thank goodness, which I then glazed over with a bit of gloss medium mixed with Naples yellow, so the pastel dust wouldn't get funky with the layers of paint on top of it.  I had to adjust my edges quite a bit, since I only sort of eye-balled the shape in that first step.  So, Hailey 2

Hailey - stage 2

shows you the drawing, glazed over, with the background in the first stages of being pulled back up to the edge of her face, or pushed back out in a couple places, and one pupil painted in.

Next time, I won't bother with the background before I transfer the drawing.  That didn't work out the way I imagined it would.

At this point, I started in with the under painting, laying in my shading, and coming way up with the highlights.  I really liked how this looked.  I like the vague and dreamy feel of it.  Except the one eye is so much darker.  But, it's just a phase!

Onward.  I kept building, darks, lights, details, and then color.  I used some pretty straight blues in the shadows, which I really liked.  Unfortunately, despite my best efforts at reproducing it here, this just isn't showing you the real look of the final painting.  Close, though.  I actually scanned it, and took a photo with my Tablet, then dinked with both in Photoshop, and then sandwiched them together to get as close as possible.

I'm quite pleased with this little painting!  I hope Christine is.  :)

Now, on to Chris's Toni!

FPM #1: Hailey

Hailey-work in progress
acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Fall Portrait Marathon, first painting.

Hailey is up first.  You saw my digital sketch in my last post.  I decided to bring some of that feel to the canvas.  Hope this works!  I used a retarder (an additive to slow down the drying time of the paint, so I could smoosh the paint around with less rush), which means it needs a little time to dry before the next step, so here I am writing about it.

I probably could have skipped the retarder.  Oh well.

Okay, it's still wet, and I don't have anything else to say about it.  So, I went ahead and started working on the next one!

Toni: reference photo

Second painting is Toni, also a greyhound.  A gorgeous dark brindle girl her owner describes as "a pistol"!  This is the reference picture I'll be using.

Her owner also says orange is her favorite color (Toni's, that is).  I'm waiting to hear back if I should use it prominently in the portrait.  Since it's also MY favorite color ... I may go for it anyway!

Hm.  Hailey is still sticky.  I'm going to work on the sketch for Toni's portrait.

Stay tuned!

Mystery portrait wraps up, and Marathon begins

I've been processing photos submitted for the Fall Portrait Marathon, wrapping up my big mystery commission (that ran over into Portrait Marathon time!  :rolleyes: ), communicating with the winners, and sketching up the first Fall Portrait Marathon (hereinafter referred to as FPM) painting.  

Hailey-Sketch
Digital painting, ©Xan Blackburn 2011

I did a quicky ArtRage painting to get the feel of an idea I've been playing with, and I kind of like the sketch, even though I don't think that's how I'll end up doing the painting, exactly.    This is Christine's Hailey (sketch!!!)

She made a special request to use this particular collar, which is really cute.  Don't you love her ears, and that head tilt?  This is going to be fun.  

I'm having my usual difficulty transferring the drawing to the canvas.  Anyone have any fabulous ideas for that??  I use transfer paper, but the canvas flexes away from the pressure of the pen, which means that I don't get a good transfer.  It's a challenge, what can I say.  

But, let me sort of wrap up my mystery portrait's progress.  (Sorry for the layout.  I realize it's a mess.  I can't seem to fix it!)  I still can't give you the full reveal, but let me just give you a series of pictures to show bits of it as it evolved.

Monday 1
work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

 Monday 1: This one shows a little progress since Friday.  This is where I picked it up on Monday morning.  A bit of highlighting, and some color in the eyes.

Monday 2
work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Monday 2: This one shows a little more detail going in.  Still no color.  Working in Payne's Gray on the dilute Naples Yellow background.

Monday 3
work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Monday 3: More detail, some added whites ...

Monday 4
work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Monday 4: Some color going in!  Basic underpainting is done ...

Tuesday 1
work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Tuesday 1: Big jump here.  You can see I have all the basic colors in over the underpainting of darks and lights.  Details and more details will be layered on top of this stage.  

Mystery completed!
acrylic on Gessobord, 16" x 20"
©Xan Blackburn 2011

Mystery Complete:  Well, not really, since it's still a mystery, eh?

When the gift is officially handed over, I'll show you the whole thing.  There were lots of challenges here, involving questionable colors that had to be shifted dramatically, many small heart attacks of the usual sort (I'm such a chicken!), but I think in the end I'm pleased with the final result.

Stay tuned for the FPM progress reports!  I'm so excited.  There are cats and greyhounds in the mix, and I can't wait to get at them.  Wait 'til you see the stripy cats, and the quirky pups.  Oh yeah.  This is going to be fun.

Mystery Portrait: Friday

Mystery Portrait, work in progress
©Xan Blackburn 2011

I was working kind of slowly today.  My usual timidity, where I'm sure I've forgotten how to paint, and will just mess everything up if I dare to actually put visible amounts of paint on my brush. Nonetheless, I did make some progress with my underpainting.

In this bit, you can see how I've begun to be more specific with my darks, even suggesting fur a bit.  This eye is coming along, with plenty of room to get some depth even in the pupil.

A few hours later, I've reached this stage. You can see that I've added some white, which will begin to give the proper hair color in these areas, and also give the whites of the eyes that are so expressive.

There's lot more work, but I can't show it to you.  HA!  'Cause it's such a big secret!  ;D


Just to remind you, the Fall Portrait Marathon sign-ups start at 9am PST (don't forget to set your clocks back!)  Don't dawdle: these always go fast!  ;)

For all the details see here.

Mystery Portrait; shading begun

Mystery painting, shading begun

That looks so awkward, doesn't it?  Well, I promise it makes more sense when you can see the whole thing together. ;)

I'm beginning to glaze in the shading using Payne's Gray to keep the shadows cool.  My intent is to keep the focus tight and high-contrast only on the faces, letting the rest of the bodies to blur into the background.  At this point, it looks a bit like a watercolor painting, and is fairly loose and brush-marked, but it will start to look more like a black and white photo as I go along, later getting the color that will make it "real".

I think I'm done for the day.  Catch you up tomorrow!

Busy Day!

Fluffy, Work in progress. 8" x 10" acrylic on panel. ©Xan Blackburn 2011

Fluffy's portrait is coming along nicely.  As usual, I was a little afraid of messing it up.  Again.  But just pushed on forward.

The background is looking intriguingly like leather, somehow.  I didn't mean it to, exactly, but I like it.  Fluffy is looking less amorphous, though he does need to stay at least a little amorphous!  Glazing in his soft swirly hair is just the perfect way to control how fuzzy he stays, especially at the edges. 

There's a lot of raw umber and raw sienna, with a bit of white, worked into that background, as well as glazed into the fur.  The play of the warm and cool tones keeps him from becoming a fuzzy ice-sculpture, and unites him with his background.  The white fur would reflect some of whatever color was around him, besides just letting it show through at the frilly edges.  I'm really enjoying his flyaway twists of fur!

This is how we left him last time you saw him. 

Fluffy, earlier. ©Xan Blackburn 2011

Shows up a bit more now, eh?  I can see finishing this up in the next couple days.  I'm pretty sure his owner will be happy to finally have his portrait!


I've been asking for reference photos for my demo portraits, and have received some great ones!  So far, I've got a Berger Picard, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, and a Miniature Aussie.  I just need one more.  I'd love to do a smooth dog, like a Xolo.  But I'm open to anything on the ICKC breed list, at this point. 

Little NEWS FLASH:
You can now sign up to get my Xan's Art Friends Newsletter, and/or to be on the Commission Alert List by following This Linky.  Some of you are probably already on my list, in which case you'll still be signed up.  But if you're not, and want to get the highlights, it's a good way not to miss the most important stuff (like, sign-ups for Portrait Marathons, upcoming events that might bring me to your area, stuff like that).  I'm trying to get more business-like around here!  The link will stay in my sidebar, up at the top, and in a few places on my website, too.  I have a newsletter all set to go, but I'll give you a day or two to sign up first.

Another Little NEWS FLASH:
Since I've started taking commissions again, I've updated my website with the info, including my price list.  So you can start planning your gift list for the year.  ;)

That's been my day!  Does that seem like a lot or a little?  You wouldn't believe how long it took me to set up my newsletter thingamabob! 

Silken Windhound Portrait, Hunter, is ... Done! (Probably)

Tangaloor Malden, CGC "Hunter"
11" x 14" acrylic and graphite on Gessobord
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

A lot of careful work went into refining the silky hairs swirling around the ear and down the neck, bringing them in and out of shadows, giving them dimension, giving them some color, making them finer. Much more shadow was needed along the back of the face, and in the mouth.  I couldn't achieve a deep enough dark for the contrast I wanted in the mouth, so I used mixes of Payne's Gray, some red, some raw umber, a little Naples yellow in some areas, to give it the depth it needed.  The nose and eye also got some of this treatment.  I want the focus on the face, with some other interest to set it off, but the exciting busy-ness of the ear had begun to take over the show.  These deep shadows brought the balance back.

While working on the mouth, I realized I'd gotten a bit off on the lower lip area, between the canine and the big molars.  It was not thick enough.  Bringing that dark back down where it belonged and marrying it with the areas previously brought almost to a finished state took up some time, but it was worth the effort to get right.

Tangaloor Malden, CGC "Hunter" (detail)
11" x 14" acrylic and graphite on Gessobord
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Getting the hot and cool reds in the mouth is always interesting.  The light may bounce off a wet tongue, leaving a cool highlight, or shine into or through the tongue or edge of gumline, leaving a much warmer color.  You can see an almost flame-hot red at the edge of the lower incisors, and an almost blue highlight along the surface of the tongue, curving round to some warmer reds along the near edge, cooling yet again along the gum below the molars.  It's not easy to see in this .jpg, I'm afraid.

I loved the silky way his fur is streaked with soft gold and pencil-gray.  In greyhounds, we call that blue fawn brindle.  I'm not sure what that coloring is called for silkens.  Anyone?  Another difference between greyhounds and silkens is their noses.  Greyhounds nose leather projects beyond the muzzle a bit, almost like a black clown nose stuck on there for laughs!  But, I'd gotten used to it.  I had to really look and SEE that silkens' nose leather is more compact, more integrated with the muzzle.  That SEEing thing can be so tricky.  We assume we know how something looks, and miss the reality, which can throw everything off.  Impressionism is all well and good, but the essential points have to click.  For me, that is!

By around 5pm, I felt pretty well finished with Hunter himself, and took stock of the painting as a whole, and how, or if, I might shift its atmosphere.  I wasn't sure it needed it anymore, now that Hunter's features were better defined, and his personality was able to assert itself.  But, I had a pre-conceived notion, you know!

After a traumatic evening, where I tried to take this painting away from the direction it has insisted on from the start, and then had to pull it back from the brink of disaster, I think I'm going to keep my hands off it from now on.

I had forgotten my original intent to smudge it up, layer glazes on it, sand through them, and basically give it an aged feel, a sort of lost in time effect.  When I tried laying on some translucent glaze, using matte medium and raw sienna (a rich reddish brown), I was already nervous about wrecking it, and over-worked the glaze, resulting in a sticky, funky mess.  Much grungier than I had intended!  In a near panic, I took a sponge and carefully rubbed off what I could, leaving it just less grungy, but still in an uncontrolled, funky way.  I decided I better stop for the evening.  I retreated a bit depressed, drained.  But not utterly defeated somehow, though I didn't know what I'd do to fix my mess.

I couldn't resist going and looking at it again later, of course.  I remembered I had intended to sand this painting, so I grabbed some fine sandpaper, and started working on the areas I'd goofed up.  That helped, but then I went right through the turquoise and brown gesso underpainting in some speckles, so I stopped and left again.  When I came back after dinner (a snack, really, as I was too preoccupied to actually cook), I pulled out the gesso I'd mixed and kept separate all this time.  It was still wet, so I re-worked the areas I'd sanded, feathering them into the original background the best I could, and left yet again to let it dry.  When I looked one last time before bed, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief: it was back to where it had been before the grunge attack!  My eyes were aching.  I slept like a log ('til about 4:30, but that's another story!)  And here we are today.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get these three paintings scanned professionally, in case I want to make reproductions in the future.  That gives me one working day (well, half a day now) to maybe do a drawing or something small, perhaps, if I want to get that in on the scanning, too.  I'll need everything to be dry, framed and packed for the trip by Friday, a week and a half off.  Plenty to do in the mean time, but I might try to get in a few drawings still.  We'll see!

Let me know what you think of Hunter's portrait, and the others!

Hunter
©Xan Blackburn

Delaney
©Xan Blackburn

Bados
©Xan Blackburn

Hunter gets a name! Silken Windhound #3 portrait update

Work in Progress, "Hunter"
silken windhound
Graphite, acrylic, on gessobord, 11"x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

HUNTER!  Yes, his name is Hunter.  Christina of New York's Hunter.  The cats are yelling at me for their dinner, so I'll be brief.  Here's where we are today, with a fair amount to go.  As you can see, I spent a lot of time in the ear fringe and mane.  I'm mainly happy with this, but I see some saccharine sweetness that may have to be expunged in some way.  Motel art is not my goal, here!  A dog, and a dog with a name like Hunter, and an athlete like a sighthound, should not just be pretty.  My husband said I was expressing the "My Little Pony-ness" of the breed, but that's not what I want, here!

Okay, anyway, the cats are still yelling.  I gotta go.  Enjoy!

Silken portrait #3, Stage 2

Man, I really hope someone guesses who this is, soon!  My titles are going to start looking like a math lesson!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Today started with some corrections, and some timidity.  I got a used Galaxy Tab recently (I might have to give that thing its own post at some point), which has a better camera in it than my phone, which made it convenient enough to choose it over taking multiple stage scans at every little stage.  It also has a nice little display (7") which I can zoom in on, etc., which makes it a great reference tool.  Usually, I print out my reference photo, and have that on my work table while I paint.  But, my printer isn't the greatest, and, looking at the Tab's version next to the printer's version showed me a LOT that I had missed or misinterpreted.  All that might have been okay, for the purposes of this portrait, but once I had the better picture, I had to work from that!

I had gotten a sort of uniform darkness in the mouth that wasn't right.  I had tried to correct it yesterday, but wasn't happy with that, either.  The graphite just would NOT come off the board in the usual way (kneaded eraser, Blu Tack) or the unusual ways (sanding, cursing).  I had dabbed some of the background paint I had kept, but that needed to be smoothed and re-integrated into the whole.  This morning, I decided to return to the Blu Tack.  That's great stuff for pencil work!  As it's actually adhesive, without forming any residue, it picks up the graphite dust rather than spreading it around or rubbing it off.  I made my little wad about the right size, and rolled it repeatedly over the mouth area, re-kneading and re-wadding as necessary to keep a clean surface.  It eventually picked up enough so that I could work back in the shading I wanted.  Yeay!

Now to conquer my timidity!  It's looking so cool the way it is that I was afraid to mess it up, and intimidated by how much work there is still to go to reach my original idea.  I started pecking away with my pencils, taking frequent breaks to compare hardness on various other surfaces, sharpen them, step back and squint, check my reference again ....  I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere like that, so I decided to try using a stump (a blending tool made from soft paper, rolled tightly and with a conical tip on each end) to very softly smudge in some areas of shadow, get me over the hump of treading on all that freshly fallen snow before me.  That helped.  Then I decided I needed a broader stroke, to block in large areas where shadows were deepest.

Using the matte medium I bought yesterday, to keep (hopefully!) enough texture to the surface that I can still draw on it, I diluted a mix of payne's grey and burnt umber, leaning towards the warm umber, to wash in some shadows along the back of the face, under the chin, and behind the ear fringe.  Very light washes, since I'm still feeling timid, and I don't want to commit to too much, nor take away from the pencil work I'm still intending to do there.  All that is in the first picture above.

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

That brings us to this picture.  Next, I decided to wash in some of the subtle tawny color this dog has.  (Now any guesses who this is?)

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Another look at my reference and I realize I've foggily edited out the back of the ear, where it lays against the neck (it's completely shadowed out in my printed reference!)  Trying to decide whether to work it in, or leave it all softly shadowy and vague back there, I look closely at the reference photo, and see all these lovely internal shadows and highlights within that area, including the edge of the ear.  I decide to do it.













I guess I took this photo when the paint was still damp enough to glare.  That's a bummer.  Well, at least you can see the back of the ear, and how I've worked in some of that tawny red tone around and into the eye as well.  I also used that color, mixed with white, to add some warm color to the teeth, and warmed up some of the highlights elsewhere as well.  Now the molars are too light, but that's easy to remedy.

Okay!  Between lunch, making this post, taking the dogs out one at a time *sigh* and answering the intervening emails, it's now quarter to three!  Back to painting!

Silken Windhound #3

And now for something completely different!

Well, it's still a silken windhound, but I'm working on this one really differently.  I figured I'd better write this down before I forgot what I did, and what my original thought is, so here goes.

I wanted to combine a graphite drawing with acrylic.  My original concept is a little vague, since I've never done this before, but it involves layers of paint, pencil, sanding, glaze, more sanding, more paint, more pencil, more of all the above ....  Sort of the lasagna approach, if you will.  I did a couple little sample bits, just to work out the way that might end up looking (which I will not show you!), and then decided to jump right in.

I chose my subject as a head-only portrait.  (Any guesses who this is?)  Working on an 11 x 14 gessoed panel, I started with some acrylic gesso, mixed with blues, burnt umber, and Naples Yellow, keeping the blues where the dog would go, more or less, and the warmer tones around it, loose and vague.  I'm not at all sure how much of that will show in the end, but that's the first layer.  I chose to use the gesso because I want the surface to still have some more tooth than straight acrylics; more like a chalkboard than the side of a water bottle.

I transferred the drawing, using white transfer paper (like carbon paper, but leaves white marks), and keeping it pretty simple.  I didn't want the transfer to interfere with my pencil later, just give me some key locations to work from.  In this first pic, you can sort of see the drawing in places, and the glowy eye is actually where I started working in some pencil, which made a glare.  Sorry!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

I got the eye established a bit before I realized I might really want to get in those white areas first.  

Maybe.  I don't know.

I'm really flying by the seat of my pants, here!  Just in case, I started working on the highlights.  I'm already liking the feel of this, and I hope I have the courage to do the experimental stuff to it when the time comes!

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Here you can see I've got the whites fairly well placed, but only in a ghosty sort of way.  I wanted to work in the pencil some more, starting in the face.

Work in Progress
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Sorry about the shadows running down the side there.  That's my hand rest thingy, to keep me from sludging my hand or sleeve through my work.  I made it myself!






















Anyhow, this is still pretty subtle, but it's got a very ethereal feel to it that I like.  Let's take a closer look at the face.

Work in Progress, detail
mixed media (acrylic, graphite) on panel, 11" x 14"
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

That's better.

I had several days away from my artwork, what with the holiday, a family visit, and a sudden panic that I wouldn't have the stuff I need for the event (frames, mat board, a way to display my prints, a way to take credit cards in case my fancy new [used] device doesn't work ...), so it's good to be back to it!  I think my original idea of how much stuff I'd be bringing was ambitious, but I'm getting to be okay with what I will have, so there you go.

Any guesses who this elegant hound might be, from what you can see so far?

Mystery Silken gets a name, and ...

First: Happy Canada Day, to my Canadian readers!  Being so close to the Canadian border for the last several years has been very educational.  I love listening to the CBC while I work, and today's radio has been full of their nation's anniversary, and the first royal visit of Will and Kate.  Right now is a repeat of a show from this date in 1957, including an interview with a man who was then 80 years old.  Cool.

Allegante Delaney
11" x 14" Acrylic on panel
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

But, back to this painting.  Let's give this girl her name, finally!  This is Allegante Delaney, who has moved to Canada, and was recently made the grandmother of a pretty litter born in California.

I lost a day's work yesterday while enjoying a visit with H's cousins (okay, mostly to housecleaning in anticipation of their arrival.)  When I came back into my studio this morning, it was to see that the elves had been working on my painting.  Or at least it seemed more finished than I thought two days ago.  Yeay!

Looking back at the last stage I showed you, everything is pretty much settled.  What remained was detail, and a bit of balancing working all through the painting, making sure the perspective was clear, and that the focus stays on Delaney herself.

I spent a lot of time with the smaller brushes, as I always do at this stage, working back and forth between shadows and highlights to pull out details of the fur.  I darkened the whole eye area on the shadow side.  I also continued to balance the light reflecting warmly up from the grass and the rather narrow cooler band of shadow coming down from the top edge.  Towards the very end, I washed up some of that yellow-gold into the underside of her face, up her sides, up her back legs.  It surprised me how much I had to add into her front legs and chest area, but I really liked how it brought a sense of atmosphere into those areas.  You can feel the heat coming up from the grass, now.  Every painting is a learning experience for me!  I love that.

Allegante Delaney, detail
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

A bit of red into the tongue, and a touch into each eye, brought a beating heart into her face.  I still had this red on the brush, and dabbed some into the edge of her ear and into her off back leg, to give a sense of the sun glowing through her.  Wild with abandon, I then dabbed some into the dark foliage behind her, to complicate the color there, more true to nature.

The grass got glaze after glaze, blades and blades, too distinct, too fuzzy, too white, too green, too yellow ... until I think I can stop.

Which brings us to the sleep-on-it stage!

Again from the CBC:  One young woman who got to meet Prince William today said "he smelled so marvelous!" Love it!

Mystery Silken in progress

Work in progress
silken windhound
©Xan Blackburn, 2011

I'm bummed!  I thought I'd taken a scan of the painting on Friday, but I guess not.  Well, you'll just have to look at it as it is now!

The underpainting was pretty much set in Payne's gray by Friday, so today I started in on the color in the dog proper (occasionally zipping outside to adjust the background to suit the developing dog.  There will still be work to do in the background: it will need to be lightened up, particularly towards the edge of the grass along the dark foliage, and in a vertical band below the center of the dog.  It seems to have gotten a little muddy in there.  Some individual blades of grass might have to be added zipping off in odd directions to break up the uniformity, and some will be stroked in in front of the dog's feet once I'm happy with them, as well.  The dark foliage is still a little monochromatic, so I'll probably throw in some umber or reddish browns.

But let's talk dog.  At this size, you could almost think this painting is done, but there's much to do, yet.  The underpainting gave me a good foundation, all the shady areas or dark markings established, and the pale yellow giving it all a sun-soaked warmth.  Today's work went into beginning to develop the texture of the fur, mostly.  The longer, more flowing areas on the throat, fringing the front legs, in the tuck and along the backs of the thighs needed to be defined with glowing warm whites, shading into the cooler areas, but also allowing the ruddier tones in the fur to come in.  I'm liking how that's working, so far, with more to go.  There is an area along the lower rear ribs that got too ruddy, but I think building up the tawnier tones on top of that will look great in the end.  The reflected light coming up into the inner thighs and chest region are really a rewarding challenge.  I wasn't quite sure how to handle them, consciously, so I just sort of let my eye and hand work together without consulting my brain so much.

The fringes that interact with the background are a give and take of positive and negative space, working both from the fur out, and then back in with the background to define the hairs where I want them to be clear.  Clear vs. fuzzy is also a consideration.  I don't necessarily want the same level of focus throughout the dog, as that becomes distracting, as your eye darts all around taking in detail, rather than seeing the effect of the whole.  It's just how our brains work.  It's hard to remember when my own eyes and brain are 4" from the painting, seeing it in individual hairs, rather than as a dog, much less a dog running through a field, but that's why we have back pain: to make us stretch and stand back for perspective now and then!

So, this should give you plenty of visual cues to guess who this dog is, if you happen to know him or her.  Anyone want to hazard a new round of guesses?

Bados was NOT done. He's STILL not done!

I am trying to move on to the next painting (follow along, now!), but Bados, it turns out, is a star.  A star needs to shine alone for full effect.  That is, the hills and sky had to go (see that last stage here).

Now, you might think that's easy.  Just paint green over them and voila, right?  As it happens, not so much.  Acrylics are translucent, so it may take many layers to truly obscure something underneath.  In severe cases, such as when one has already tried to cover something with many layers, and it persists in showing through like a stain, one may have to resort to primer or gesso.  If one is smart, one will at least tint it towards the final color.  But not too much, since adding paint to the primer makes it less opaque.  How do I know this, since I never went to art school?  You might say I've been a trainee in the on-the-job training program for ... a good many years.  So, smart = lots of experience with being the other thing, that opposite of smart.*

Okay, so let's now say that one has tried the many layers, then the tinted primer, and are now on to trying to blend in the primered zone with the rest of the existing painting, most of which one is already happy with.  Another plot twist in this adventure is that acrylics do tend to shift color a bit from wet to dry, so one may think one has blended it nicely when in fact one has not, which becomes evident when it dries.

No worries. You need to do layers to get a feel to match the layers in the other part of the painting anyway, so you start layering.  Oh, do you remember how I mentioned that acrylics can also be a bit testy about overworking an area that's only partly dry?  How it makes these bald areas permanently outlined by dense areas?  Yeah.  One must keep that in mind, as well.  So that one doesn't get impatient in frustration.  As one might.  It will all work out in the end, one must keep telling one's self.  Take your time, one says.  One may reply that there is a deadline to consider, but one must again remind one's self that ruining the piece will not get one any closer to a happy deadline.

Let us leave that painting for a moment, while it dries.  Thoroughly.

Meanwhile, the next painting.  I just took this with my phone camera because it's too wet to scan.

©Xan Blackburn, 2011
Work in progress

Okay, now it has crashed photoshop.  Hang on ... Re-launching.  Re-editing for clarity.  SAVING.  Dum di dum dum ...  Okay, that's good enough for now.

So, this silken running through sunlit grass with a backdrop of dark foliage is on a 12"x16" gessoed panel.  I decided to close in on the subject for this painting, and pretty much fill the frame with the joie de vivre of the moment.  I toned the board first with some warm yellow-tinted primer.  Then transferred my drawing onto the board, washed in a few tentative beginnings of shading in the ear and face with some of the payne's gray left on my pallet from Bado's painting.  As I also had a bunch of greens on the pallet, I dove into those next.  Here you see many layers of greens already layering up, from a warm yellow to heat up the sun-lit grass, to deep Hooker's green in the foliage beyond.  It's all very monotonic at the moment, but there will be purples and even some rusty reds working into the background before we're done.

So, any guesses who this happy hound is?

While you're thinking, I will get back to Bados' background.

*If this were the only criteria for being smart, I should now be a genius!