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

siberian tiger

curious kitty..

oil on artist canvas panel. 22" x 26". i didn't paint until the edges of the canvas for my own peace of mind. This way, if i handle the canvas, i can hold it at the edges without worrying about embedding my finger print on the semi dry oil paint which will drive me crazy in trying to retouch (speaking from experience from the koi-chan painting). I also didn’t clean up the boarder for effect purposes. Besides, when I frame this the un-painted part will be over layed with an extender anyway.

the tiger is a female seberian that's why she's a bit smaller (average 7-feet-11-inches to 9-feet long and weigh 221 to 368 pounds) than the usual tiger pictures. siberian tigers usually have coarse fur during winter time, i hope it's slightly depicted on my painting.

i start with painting all the black parts in the painting. this way when i put in the flesh tone color of wash i can still see the details of my blacks. after this i worked in detail on the head.

when i'm satisfied with the outcome of the head i go to the body. starting with the tiger's left front arm drawing right to left because i'm left handed and to avoid any semi dry paint smudging.

next comes the background. i had a bit of trouble depicting the stone-like texture of the wall but in the end i just used sponges to bring it out.

finally finished =^_^=

mandarin duck

the first time i saw a mandarin duck was on a duck species book my reaction was "is that for real?". it really looked like a cartoon and since then it was my favorite species of duck. it comes in different colors too. when i saw the announcement of an art gallery looking for visual artists to participate in a 12x12 canvas art show. i decided that this was my opportunity to oil paint my favorite duck.



the adult male is a striking and unmistakable it has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". the breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. meanwhile, the female is similar to female wood duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a small white flank stripe, and a pale tip to its bill.

japanese koi

paintings of carp fishes are very common in asia. so i decided this would be my next challenge to paint a subject that's common but in a different light. and this is what i came our with:



a primarily red with black spots and white under belly carp fish said too be prized in japan. i may not be anatomically correct with my spots but this was how i understood it when i was reading articles on japan's nishikigoi (japanese carp or koi) criteria for judging best in show. i think this is what they call a taisho sanke variety. if i'm wrong please correct me.

lionfish

i've always wanted to do things that nobody or only a few have done. that's why for my next painting i've chosen an exotic fish to paint

the beautiful yet venomous lionfish comes in many colors (red, green, navy green, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white) and they also vary in size. generally they reach a size of 30 cm to 35 cm (12 inches), while smaller lionfish, like the fuzzy dwarf, are typically the size of a tennis ball, not including fins. while in the caribbean where lionfish aren't native, they grow to a size of up to 55 cm.



first i draft the painting in mechanical pencil 0.5 lead so that i can see all the details that i want to include in my painting. then i start with the head because the head identifies species from each other. after this i painted the body of the fish minus the spines. since i'm left handed i started the right side background of sea weeds as well.



i continued on the background of seaweed until the lower left because i mixed too much paint and was in danger of the paint drying up before i could finish all the sea weeds part. mixing another batch of paint is not a good idea because i want all the shades to be uniform.



finnshed painting. 16x20" reeves oil on artist canvas panel.



another look at the painting this time this photo of the painting was taken outside the house under normal daylight.

yorkshire terrier

like all 1st day workshops the instructor will tell you to draw a sphere and put the correct shades on it. next comes the cube then a glass bottle test. to tell you the truth i do badly at these exercises because they're boring. but i understand why these tests are needed. it's for the instructor to measure your drawing abilities and to correct any flaws.

usually the teacher gives you free reign on what u want to draw so i chose a simple drawing just to learn how to use the medium correctly.



cute yorky pup 8.5 x 10 reeves oil paint on canvas board

i started with a set of 12 reeves oil paint and cheap brushes that i can throw away and wont feel bad about it. in the end, i actually enjoyed oil painting and have decided to do more paintings.

during my painting lessosns i've learned that buying cheap brushes and have their hairs come of while painting can be pretty annoying and embarassing as the teacher looks at your painting over your shouder. no more cheap brushes for me!! right now, i'm favoring the synthetic kind from japan.

prior to this workshop i've been experimenting on making animal paintings using pastel in hopes that i might have the talent to be a wild life artist. this is why i chose to do a dog to practice fur drawing on oils.

here are my pastel works on animals:



husky pup 15 x 21 rembrandt pastel on watercolor paper



chillin tiger 15 x 21 rembrandt pastel on watercolor paper