African Animals, First Piece

I'm planning a series of paintings/drawings of African animals, because I now have some excellent reference materials, copyright free to me. I have tons of pics taken in zoos, etc., but I needed authentic backgrounds along with images of wild African animals to compare condition, etc., with the zoo closeups I have taken over the years.

Anyway, this is the first piece in the planned African series, three giraffes, 6x12 acrylic on Ampersand panel.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome, and thanks for visiting my blog!

Antelope in graphite

This is a small study in graphite. It's about 7x9 or a little smaller. I might go on with an acrylic of this, but I always enjoy going back to graphite where I can control every mark. Unlike using a brush, which can be very frustrating, to say the least. Anyway, I enjoyed working on this little piece.

"Shadows and Strings" Revisited

You know, sometimes you think a painting is finished and it just doesn't quite get there. After looking at this piece for some time, and visiting with an artist friend of mine, I revisited "Shadows and Strings."

First, this is where I left off:

And this is really the final work. I added the creases and shadows in the back of the vest.

Once more, I have to remind myself about values! It became quite obvious when I looked at the graphite drawing of the same image, and saw the values in the vest. Back to basics, again.

Happy Trader, Take Two

After looking at this piece for a few days, and with suggestions from friend Toni James, I decided to try more layers to deepen the color and give more depth to the image. So, here are more layers, lots more layers. This paper will take a LOT of layers.

Only thing is, the face is smaller than a quarter, and I have had a challenge to get his features placed correctly in a space that small, with the texture of this surface. But I will keep on with it!

Anyway, here is the updated Happy Trader:

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Trying New Paper with Colored Pencil

This is a small sketch, about 8x5 inches, from a photo I took quite a few years ago. I'm trying out a new paper, U-Art sanded, I think about 600 grit.(If that's how you describe it.) Toni James suggested I try it, and handed me a couple of pieces to play with.

This is my first go at it, and I think I can get along with this paper. It's not finished (and may never go beyond this!) but it does take lots of layers, and you can put light over dark which is a great advantage. I will have to try more pieces and more subjects.

 Anyway, here is The Happy Trader as an experiment.

Tony Lama Boots

This is a colored pencil piece I never finished. I love these old boots, but the background was not what I envisioned . . .  one of these days I will try the boots again!

I think it will be in acrylic, so I can modify the whole thing until I'm satisfied with it.

Medicine Hat Mustang in pencil

This is a small graphite piece of a medicine hat stallion. I loved the pose on this guy! I have this one on my wall, and enjoy looking at it yet. I have a great feeling for the tough and hardy mustangs.