mama mallard

From one subject to two subject rabbits then ten cute ducks!

My process in painting is the same as before, starting with penciling in all the guidelines. this way would make me think and worry less about the placement of the subjects when i'm applying paint. i prefer to concentrate on what color to mix for my subject. and as always i begin with painting the main subject, mother duck. i wanted her feathers to look slightly coarse so i struggled a little while painting her feathers.

the duckling on the right was my test subject on which colors i would be using. after a series of trial and errors i found what colors best suit in the painting. after this the rest of the ducklings was easy to paint.

after the ducklings, i immediately started painting the reflection so that the leftover paint from the ducks can still be used before they dry up on my glass palette.

i painted on a yellow green wash all over the background to unify the colors.

painting the water ripples starting from the upper right to left was harder than i thought. i was going fo a slightly blurred background then a much sharper foreground and was having a hard time translating this idea into the canvas.

the next step was to define the details and adjust the color values.

end result. yay!

bunny burrow

It’s been a while since my last post. As much as I want to escape reality and immerse myself in painting, certain household chores and people with authorities always get n the way. It took me twice the time to finish this painting.

I began with putting in as much pencil detail as I can with a mechanical pen. after this I started putting in the oil paint colors. starting with the rabbit on the right side, I played around with the colors burnt umber, titanium white, flesh and yellow ochre tones to get the result that are to my taste.

This is the first time I’ve painted two subjects in an oil painting. I thought it would feel more homely if there where two of them in the burrow since rabbits live in groups. I made the second rabbit (the female rabbit) darker to depict it still inside the burrow where as the other one (the male rabbit) was slightly out. Its like he’s protecting the female and their home.

I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have I liked while painting the background. I sold my camera and was in the market for an upgraded one. Just like the seaweeds in the lionfish painting I painted the grass clockwise starting from the top right. It took more hours for me to complete the background than to paint both rabbits. I had fun while painting and I’m glad its finished ^_^

snow leopard

this 18" x 24 " oil painting of a snow leopard wasn't really in my project to do list. my original plan was to make an amur leopard. this means using a lot of yellow, orange and brown colored paints, warm colors in short. this past month (march 2010) was so hot i decided to make a snow leopard instead. at least, i'll be using "cool" colors in my painting. (its a psychological thing)



as usual, i start with the eyes, then the nose and ears while trying to make the fur look a bit scruffy and coarse, outdoor cats can't look too groomed.



i didn't really know how to draw scruffy fur. so the method you see here was done by trial and error. it took me a while to figure out how to do it too.



the fur at the back and sides of the leopard must have a coarse look while the chest and belly parts have a silkier look.



i chose to blur the background because the snow leopard is already very detailed. having a background that has more details would make the painting unbalanced.



with my experience from painting logs on the fox cub canvas, it was easier to paint the chopped of log under the snow leopard's paw. here's the finished painting ^_^v

fox cub

after painting the old sea turtle i decided to paint a young fox. something cute for a change.

usually after penciling a drawing i start blocking in the black paint but in this painting i had to put in so many black blocks that i decided to skip all of it and start with the main subject. painting the fox was a breeze, it was so cute i had fun painting it.

next is the hard part, this was the first time i've tried to paint logs much less ones with grainy texture. experimenting with what color palette to use and in what order to apply it to the canvas was very tricky to figure out.

i think i did alright. while painting i usually view my work 5-6 feet away. this way i can see the grainy textures better. i put in the reddish twigs last because there just wasn't enough space on my glass palette with all the gray shades for the log.

done.. ^_^v